ARUA AGAIN

Early this last Friday morning we headed off for Arua. Amazingly enough, the road to Arua is remarkably good and the last 230 kilometers is considered some of the best in East Africa. Jesus has been preparing the way…literally for our arrival! The journey up was uneventful except for a few random pedestrians whom we passed with great delight (baboons). The trip up took seven and half hours and so we arrived mid-afternoon, road weary but excited and anxious to “be home.” It was the Rinehimers first experience of Arua and thus we took some time to familiarize them with the layout of the town. Some particular sights of interest were: the Eagle Air (line) office; the Indian grocery store which stocks lots of very helpful amenities including bran flakes, Digestive cookies, and yummy chocolate; the “recommended” hospital which is just out of town as well as the “strongly un-recommended” hospital; and the post office. The postal office, as they call it, was one of the highlights for all of us as we began the process of registering for a mail box. While it took some time and finding a place “locally” for “identification photos” was an adventure, on Saturday we were able to official register our new address (come January15th) as P.O. Box 53, Arua, Uganda!!! Hallelujah! Praise God Forever! For all of you who are aware of Joanna’s fondness for mail, it was like a piece of our puzzle, our beginning to call Uganda “home” puzzle, fell into place. We were able to tour again the house that Jesus has opened up for us to rent and it was fun to show the rest of our team where we will call “home.” We spent some time inquiring about other available houses for Rinehimers and talking with various locals and other missionaries. We thank Jesus for opening up several very encouraging missionary contacts even in just our short time there. We left our “Lovely Inn Guesthouse” early Sunday morning and arrived back in Kampala safely – our best pit stop being for three large elephants taking refuge off the main road under an African Acacia tree. We wake up this Monday a.m. a bit fatigued but thanking Jesus for His providential “going-before” grace and for the privilege to live in Uganda. Hallelujah! Praise God Forever!