Have you ever woken up to find ants have eaten through your mosquito net and are now crawling all over you? Or have you lathered your hair with shampoo while in a shower to find that the water tank has just run dry? Or have you gone to take a shower and realize the solar panel electricity has run out, you will now have to take a shower by flashlight?

Awh, welcome to a world that is so unfamiliar to our "first world" mind set. All three North American families on our outreach have experienced at least one of the above situations. The phrase "First World Problems" is so far from our reality yet we are doing great! Each situation has only made us stronger with more character development!

Each challenge does come with incredible blessings. Currently I am writing this blog from our new beautiful home in Arua. Yes, we don't currently have running water but we DO have a living room, a dining room and a kitchen we are sharing with our team and one of the guest speakers at base. Such a blessing to be able to cook a few of our own meals.

We started our journey to Arua at 5am on July 21st. Rubbing sleep from my eyes, and holding a delicious cup of hot coffee (curtsey of my new missionary friend Beth) I climbed aboard our new home for the next two full days. Each of us were filled with expectation and excitement for the journey ahead. Expectation for what God is going to do in Arua and excitement for our halfway stop.

After a twelve hour bus ride we were all ready to stretch our legs and crash for the night. The next morning we rose early once again ready for an amazing day. After breakfast we all piled back into our 20 passenger van and headed for a Safari adventure. We were blessed to see herds of wild elephants, giraffe's, monkeys, hippo's, with crocodiles and many other animals as well.

Our taste buds exploded at lunch when we got to feast at an all you can eat buffet. Taylor was the most content I had seen him in weeks as he pushed back his seventh plate with a broad smile spreading across his face.

Now was the last part of our incredible adventure. We climbed aboard a 20 passenger boat and headed to the Murchison Falls. On our way we saw hundreds of hippopotamus, alligators, snakes, elephants and much more.

This journey couldn't of been more complete without a handful of stops as I held Esperanza off the front of the boat so her upset tummy could feed the fish. Awh, the magical moments in having a child. One such moment was a special place in history. As the rest of the boat watched this poor little girl hunched over bearing all to see we noticed an old marker posted at the river banks edge. Our river boat captain informed us this was the exact location Ernest Hemingway survived a plane crash. Now Esperanza was the second person to survive a wreck at the banks edge.

The Safari journey wrapped up and we all climbed back into our van. Daylight began to fade, the beautiful African scenery whizzed by and we all happily relaxed as the hours past. With only an hour to go darkness embraced us. Esperanza and Gryphin had fallen asleep and everyone else was enjoying a movie.

Then the jerking began. The sputter. The halt. Sixteen "Mzungu" (white people in Ugandan) stranded in utter darkness with nothing but African fields surrounding us.

 Fear?

Actually no. We began to pray. The Lord then dropped a vision in my head.

I was reminded of something I had seen earlier that day. On the back of a boda boda (motorcycle taxi) was a woman all decked out in a white Muslim headdress. It floated behind her as the boda boda swirled pass us.

God then reminded me of a play I had seen years before. There was a young woman dancing in rags but when she accepted Christ her rags turned to a white beautiful rob that she so elegantly danced in. It was breath taking.

I shared this vision with the team and felt strongly this was a spiritual attack. God had called us to Arua and we were to do mighty things there. We prayed again and began to worship God! Over the next hour the bus sputtered, starting, and stopping. Finally, the drivers were able to clean out the filters and we made it to our new home.

Expectations now are rising as we look to what the next four weeks will hold. We have learned that Arua is about 50% Muslim (Jinja was less than 10%) and our schedule is full of ministering to the people in Arua. Multiple orphanages, schools, churches, communities and hospitals to visit. So many opportunities to share the power of the cross!

It is clear there are strongholds that need to be broken and Jesus's light needs to shine brightly through us! Thank you for your continual prayers. I believe without a doubt you are tearing down strongholds with your prayers so we can set the captives free!