…And Back Again

It’s been over two years since I last posted. And what a two years they’ve been.

We traveled to the US on furlough — and then got stuck there because of Covid-19 and world-wide travel restrictions. The restrictions lifted and we made tentative plans to return to Uganda, when my father, the pastor of our sending church, had a heart attack. A month later, he ended up in the hospital with a serious case of Covid. These left him weak and tired and without much of a voice. So he asked James to stay and help in our sending church for a few months, until he could get stronger and resume doing it himself. About the time he was well enough for us to come back, Uganda locked down again. This time, the airport remained open, but the travel restrictions inside the country would have made getting home to our house very difficult. So we waited again.

In October 2021, Uganda opened churches again and lifted a few of the travel restrictions. We made plans, got tickets and started packing like crazy.

It’s challenging to reduce all the belongings you’ve accumulated for two+ years into fifty pound pieces of luggage. We sorted, gave things away, stored things we didn’t need here (like winter clothes and the clothing Elizabeth needs for college), and still managed to fill 19 pieces of luggage.

Uganda requires a negative PCR test 72 hours before arrival at the airport. We found a lab and got our tests on Monday, before we left on Tuesday. They assured us the results would be back in 24 hours. 

Tuesday, we loaded up all our stuff and drove to the airport, said our goodbyes to the family who took us, and undertook the long journey, which was supposed to be complete Wednesday night in Entebbe, Uganda.

We didn’t have any test results yet, but the airline attendant allowed us to fly anyway, due to the fact our first two flights were to places that allowed vaccination for arrival. She also waived all the extra fees for our substantial amount of luggage, a huge blessing!

Two of the negative tests came through our email within 24 hours. They let us fly to Amsterdam, under the assumption the final three would be in the email by the time we arrived there.

They weren’t.

And the airline couldn’t allow us on the flight to Entebbe without them.

And it was the middle of the night in the US so we couldn’t call the lab to check on it.

Thankfully, the airline worked with us. The lady assured us this happened all the time. They’d get us on another flight as soon as they could so the tests would still be valid (remember within 72 hours of our arrival). Then we waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Finally, almost 48 hours had passed and we were feeling desperate. We tried calling the lab using voice over internet. We tried to find a way to chat with them online, but the people there said we had to call. A man from the airport hiked halfway across it to let me try using his phone to call the lab, but it still wouldn’t work. 

My sister asked if there was anything she could do to help. Between the two of us, we devised a crazy way to get in touch with the lab. She called them on the house phone and put them on speaker, while she had me on a FaceTime audio call over the internet. What little the lady at the lab couldn’t hear, my sister was able to communicate. Within 20 minutes we had our results and were able to get our tickets changed to fly to Africa!

No flights were available to get us to Uganda in time for our tests to still be valid. However, Kenya’s requirements were for 96 hours and our tests would allow us entry there. Once we were approved in Kenya, we could fly to Uganda without any problems.

So we flew to Paris, spent 12 hours of a layover in the airport there, flew to Nairobi, Kenya, had a short layover, and then flew to Entebbe.

God blessed us so that not once did anyone question the timing of our tests after that initial flight into Kenya. We got retested after arriving in Uganda (negative, again) and went through Immigration. 

Once through Immigration and after our tests, we found our luggage hadn’t been on the flight with us. In fact, it was still in Amsterdam, or possibly on a flight from there that would arrive later in the evening. We put in a lost luggage claim for it, made our way through customs with our carry-on luggage, and headed to a guest house James had arranged for before we ever left the US. 

By this time, we’d been awake for the better part of 4 days. We managed to stay awake long enough to eat some food and take much-needed showers. Then we collapsed in bed and slept until the next morning!

Thankfully, all but one piece of our luggage arrived the next day. Miraculously, nothing in it was broken except for one small plastic container inside a Ziplock bag. Nothing was stolen, even though almost half of the luggage hadn’t been properly secured after going through TSA in the US. God was watching over all of it!

They still didn’t know where that last piece was. A lady where we were staying suggested it might be in Kigali. The KLM flight stops there on its way to Entebbe. She said she knew of people who’d had their luggage unloaded there by mistake. We mentioned this to the people who were looking for it. Sure enough, our luggage was in Kigali. They brought it to us a couple days after we got home.

Below are pictures my youngest daughter took of our trip. The kids managed to see the Eiffel Tower as we were taking off from Paris but she didn’t get a picture of it.