IT'S TIME.....we are on our way!!

Thursday morning, we met and drove to ATL to be driven to the airport by my cousin's sister-in-law, Joy, who I am so grateful for.  On the way to ATL, I got the bright idea to open facebook, where I saw a status update about a bombing of a refugee camp in South Sudan.  They reported that 4-5 bombs were dropped, but they suspected no injuries at that point.  What an overwhelming bit of information to get as we are now on our way to this country.....although, it will be a couple of days before we actually make it there.  Of course, this just increased my anxiety a little more about the journey on which we are embarking.  But, Daniel reminded Bethany and me that God is sovereign over this and everything on the planet.  He also reminded us that if God can keep us safe at home, He can keep us safe in South Sudan; but if He can't keep us safe at home, He can't keep us safe anywhere.  What a truth I needed to hear.

The things we know now - 25 are suspected dead and the Sudanese government is suspected to have orchestrated and carried out the attack on South Sudan.  We know that the people at refugee camp had fled Sudan for freedom that they could find in South Sudan.  And, the bombings took place in an oil rich area called the Unity State which is where fighting is still occurring near the borders of Sudan and South Sudan.  We know that we are traveling into an area where spiritual warfare is very present and where satan is living and working to distract from the glory that is due and will be paid to God alone.   WOW......God has trusted us to take His gospel to the nations and that's what we'll do.  Apart from Him we have no life anyway, so in His will, although dangerous and scary often times, is the safest place to be.  I used my judgement not to tell my family about these bombings, hoping that they won't hear from another source because they were also more anxious about this trip than any other that I've been on.  But, I did send an e-mail to some friends asking them to pray for the people that were affected and also for us with our increased anxieties after the events of the day.  We now know that this area is far north of where we were going to be working, which was very comforting to find out (just being completely honest).

We all met in Atlanta at the airport, checked our bags and walked through security.  We got our last few phone calls in before leaving the convenience of being able to talk to people anytime you want.  At the time called, we boarded our plane heading for Amsterdam where we were able to get some rest before the stressful week that we are heading into.

My bags altogether weigh around 60 pounds......we are only supposed to take 50 pounds with us on the MAF flight.  I wonder what I'll have to leave in Uganda???

One last picture at the ATL airport before leaving.