Home Safe

Wow, so today is Saturday and as you can see what time this is being updated we are still not fully adjusted to Oklahoma time.  We apologize that we have not updated you sooner about our progress this last week.  So much happened and as we have arrived home our first objective was not to squander so much time on the computer/facebook/internet

Summary:
Traveling back to Kampala was wonderful.  We reconnected with all our friends at CLD and even got to make a few new ones.  On Sunday night we made our way back to Entebbe where we visited with all our brothers and sisters at Calvary Chapel on Monday and Tuesday. Grant came down with malaria Tuesday morning around midnight so that kinda spoiled his last day.  He went to the doctor first thing in the morning and got some anti-malarial drugs even though it was too early to test positive. Taking anti-malarial drugs just in case was a much better option than traveling with malaria (and Nigel). So the first 12hrs of traveling was pretty hard on Grant but God is good and so is Excedrin.  After arriving in Dubai at 1am on Wednesday he was able to lay down in the airport and get some rest.  By sunrise he was feeling somewhat better.  Nigel loved the Dubai airport. He quite literally walked laps around the entire thing (its has over 300 gates).  This calorie burning activity was perfect for us as with every step he took we saw his nap-o-meter for our next 14hr flight to Huston get a little bigger. And nap he did!  Time gets a little fuzzy on a 14hr plane ride but we were pretty sure he slept somewhere between 7 and 9 hours. (Praise God!) And perhaps even more we praise God for keeping Katie strong and healthy during all this time of travel. God's grace was undoubtedly sufficient for her to be able to entertain Nigel on the plane, walk laps with him in the airport, and take care of a sick husband, all the while getting VERY little sleep.  Upon arriving in Huston we ran into our biggest disappointment.  Our 1hr flight to Oklahoma City had a 3.5hr delay. So instead of arriving home around 9pm we would not get home until after midnight.  Wow, thanks Continental.  41 hours after departing from Entebbe, Uganda we made it home safe.  ~Amena (Amen in Luganda)

A few extra thoughts:
We made it safely from Kayunga to Kampala on Friday the 16th and it felt like a different city because of the bombings.  Everyone was afraid of everything.  Some churches even set up metal detectors and hired security teams on Sunday morning to search everyone before entering the church.  Of all the security around town the church's response was the most disappointing. We constantly reminded ourselves of Isaiah 8:11-14a
¹¹ The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said, ¹² “Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do,
      and don’t live in dread of what frightens them.
 ¹³ Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life.
      He is the one you should fear.
   He is the one who should make you tremble.
    ¹⁴ He will keep you safe....

Because of all the unnecessary security and the disappointment of the prosperity gospel in the villages Grant decided to give the Nasana Anglican church a try (shout out to Laura and Clint!).  It felt like a spiritual oasis in the desert.  That might sound extreme but our time in Kayunga had involved so much preaching in various churches that the entire family felt a little worn out.  It was encouraging to be part of a group that prayed on their knees quietly and humbly, asking God to hear their prayers instead of just shouting at Him.  It reminded us how much we need to be praying for the global church.  Too often our only prayers for the global church are for the secret churches in Iran or China.  Well we feel like it is the not-so-secret ones that just might need those prayers even more.

**Update on Frank**
As we went back through Entebbe we made a few calls to find out more information about Frank.  How he was doing and if any progress was made finding his mother.  It was discovered that his mother is a prostitute and sadly he is likely a byproduct of this. So looking for his father would be pointless. His mother is still no where to be found and from the looks of it has no interest in being found.  We were told at this point even if she is found Frank will not be returned to her but she will be charged with child neglect and be put in jail. So either way Frank is going to be staying with Susan for quite awhile if not for a few years.  Now they think he is closer to the age of 5 or even 6 not 4.  Susan decided that he should begin school soon. We have told Susan that we want to make sure Frank is taken care of and provided for.  Which opens up an opportunity to you and everyone who reads this.  Beginning this August Frank needs ~$170 for his school fees. The cost covers everything: tuition, books, supplies, a uniform, lunch and even transport to/from school.  Uganda is on a trimester system so this cost would be 3x a year. We would love to partner with you in this.  If you are interested in contributing please send us an email: grantadavis@ou.edu and we will give you more information as we work out all the details.  Any contribution will help (even just $10 once every 3 months) and there is no overhead so every penny goes directly to the school to help Frank.

We love you all and we thank you for your prayers, we felt them. Now that we have good internet we uploaded more pictures on some of our previous posts (and a video of Nigel walking).  Feel free to look back through the archives of our summer to see more stuff.
Love,
G&K
I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. - Romans 15:13