First Blog Post Yay! :)

Hello! I'm glad you're here :) My name is Abby, and this blog is where I will be documenting my travels to Uganda, Africa! 

I'm sitting at the Amsterdam airport waiting to board our flight to Entebbe, so I thought this would be a perfect time to write the first blog entry and maybe give some background as to why I chose Uganda. After quite a few mishaps with flights and bags (some of which were preventable 😂), we will hopefully be in Uganda in about 24 hours haha. Even though we didn't get to fly out of Toronto as soon as we would have liked, we still made the most of our time there and went to Tim Hortons twice! 10/10 coffee, food, people, and price. On the flight from Toronto to Amsterdam, we had a meal with chicken, rice, a salad, a roll, and a brownie. I watched a movie and dad played 2048 for the first time. He played this for almost 4 hours 😂 The Amsterdam airport is SUPER nice, and dad is currently taking a snooze wrapped around a booth. 

As for my reasoning for choosing Africa: After going on a mission trip to Mahahual, Mexico over Christmas this past year and talking with some important people in my life, I decided that I wanted to do some sort of service or mission work before going to grad school. I will be attending Palmer School of Chiropractic in Florida and, graciously, they are deferring my acceptance until I am back in the US. So, they are allowing me to attend whenever I get back without making me reapply or pay extra. Knowing this, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to take some time to do mission work. I thought about working with Friends Network and may even do that some time in the future, but I was not ready to leave for a year or two, especially because I do not want to push off grad school for a couple years. 

In January, my friend Trey and I went to Indianapolis for the NCAA Convention as part of WLC's SAAC program. When I told my dad I was going to do this, and with the knowledge of my developing thoughts of pursuing some sort of mission, he suggested I meet his friend Will while I was in Indy. Will Austin is the executive director and founder of the Institute for Affordable Transportation. The Institute's signature product is the Basic Utility Vehicle (BUV) which is a sturdy three wheel vehicle used for transporting goods, equipment, water vessels, and people fit for the topographical features of many countries in Africa and South America. I did end up meeting with Will to learn more about BUV and discuss his experience with potential missions around the world. He mentioned an orphanage in Uganda called Restoration Gateway, and after doing some research, I called them...and the rest is history :)

For the first two weeks in Uganda I will be going with Will and my dad to talk to potential BUV partners and getting some sightseeing in. After that, I will be at the orphanage painting, tutoring, helping with childcare, shadowing in the hospital, and serving in whatever ways I am needed! Please keep our team of 3 in your prayers :)

Hopefully the next time I write I will be in Africa!!