Uganda... the Back Story...

As a child I don't recall watching much television... EVER. But somewhere in the late 80's I recall watching a 'Sunday Night at the Movies' and a commercial came on. I could support A very frail and hungry child with an extended belly and flies buzzing around him, in Ethiopia, for only $1 a day. I was so on board. Shortly thereafter I couldn't get enough of "feed the world" blaring on my ghetto blaster. Truly I had a determination that burned a desire to find Africa and serve these hungry babies before I die. Little did I know that my very own Nate would aspire to building water systems for under developed villages all over the world... When I learned such a thing I was certain that together had a worthy goal to work towards; Water to Africa. After leaving South Carolina and moving to Utah in December 2015, I found Tiffany. She was in my ward at church. I admired her first for her blunt honesty. You never have to wonder where you stand with somebody who is honest in their conversations and feelings. For me, this establishes a 'safe zone' and 'safe' friend. I drew strength from her determination to overcome. I loved her ability to put into words the feelings that were in her heart and I was inspired by the depth of her testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and her understanding of her place in Heavenly Father's plan. And then I learned that she goes to Africa to do humanitarian work. OH! MY! WORD! Game OVER! Funny thing, she was planning a humanitarian expedition for November 2016 and I knew that I had to be on it. The back story of my life in 2016 didn't support a this event for me. We had just opened our own company a year earlier so financially we were using all of our money... however, I knew that a whole lifetime couldn't make up such an opportunity. While timing couldn't have been worse, it really couldn't have been better. And so I booked myself on the Global Life Vision Uganda tour and committed to myself, my family, my Heavenly Father and to Tiffany that I would be there. It did not disappoint.

Miracle Doors opened. Miracle windows opened. Miracle people happened. Truly, that was kinda the theme of 2016 for my entire family. While our world seemed to be falling around us, we just kept seeing miracle after miracle pop into our life... so the Uganda tour was par for the course. In the Salt Lake airport I had plenty of time between check in and boarding. The woman at the front desk allowed me a free bag because I told her it was full of humanitarian kits for girls in Africa. She totally waved the baggage fees. After a true blonde hour and a half of reading books and watching election news in the wrong terminal I had the thought to check my flight and realized that I was about to miss mine. I sprinted across the airport to a different terminal only to find that my name had been called multiple times and I was the last on the plane that was closing the doors as I ran up. Sheesh... that was CLOSE! TO my surprise and delight, my torn I.T band in my knee had been so painful that I could hardly walk for the previous 3 months, which in turn pulled my hip out and wreaked havoc on lower back... somehow it magically repaired, swelling went down and I enjoyed 2 weeks absolutely pain free. I like to think of it as Divine intervention... after all, you can't get ahead of the Lord.