Peter Reiter and myself flew out of Montreal on Friday April 8 at 7:30pm and arrived in Entebbe, Uganda Saturday evening at 10:40pm. What a long day! We were on the plane from Amsterdam to Entebbe for 11hours because KLM decided to make a stop in Kigali, Rawanda for an hour. Anyway it was a joy getting horizontal that night at Pastor Bob & Sharon Wagar's home in Kampala.
The next morning I spoke at Sharon & Bob’s church, “Life Church,” and had a wonderful time. What a great church! I spoke on Mt. 5 where Jesus Demonstrates the Kingdom, then He Defines Kingdom people and finally he Deploys Kingdom followers by giving them an Identity, not a job description! Because of the corruption in Uganda at every level I spent much time on the profile of a kingdom person that Jesus gives us in the beatitudes and finished up with people who live this way are the salt and light of the earth. Christ followers that choose to make right choices just because the are right, and in the process displace the powers of darkness. (Sorry it's a bit blurry, but I wanted to show you 'synchronized speaking'...and yes I am taller than the translator!hahahahaha) 
Following lunch we departed for Gulu, a drive that should take between 4 - 5 hours. After the driver’s truck broke down for the second time about 20km from Gulu, we called our friends from Gulu and they came to pick us up. While we waited we experienced an African thunder & lightening storm, and it was a doosey! Here we are using our expertise to fix the car. 
Here is Christine all fed up with our efforts to try and fix the motor...she decided to push...and we let her!! We sat in the car and prayed the lions wouldn't grab her!
We arrived in Gulu just before 10pm…another long day on the road.
In the morning we met with a University Professor who teaches law at Gulu University and also the most prestigious University in Kampala, Fabios Okumu. He served in the military for 24 yrs, and as a youth he participated in the overthrow of Idi Amin. After serving in the military he studied law, eventually becoming a lawyer, but continued his post graduate studies serving as both a judge and receiving his doctoral degree.
He is considered one of the foremost authorities in the area of understanding the complexity of land purchases in Northern Uganda, as it was a focus of his studies and practice. He had breakfast with us, and for 2hours following gave us the most amazing legal advice for how to proceed in the purchase of land. He happens to be a neighbor to Mike & Victoria, and to be neighborly he is helping Children of Hope pro bono. It was a most amazing experience having a highly trained lawyer, judge and University Professor with a profound understanding of Northern Uganda law to help us in this venture. I teared up a couple of times listening to him speak with such simplicity, eloquence and authority on the subject. After finishing our very enlightening discussion with Fabius, we debriefed for a bit, and then walked over to the home since Fabius wanted to see the home, i.e., the operation of "Children of Hope - Uganda".Following lunch at the COH home we went to look at two different properties around Gulu to possibly purchase, in the regions of "Ugama" & "Awich." Purchasing land in Northern Uganda is anything but simple because it is owned by the Acholi people and often several clan members of one tribe have to sign off on the land if the transaction is to be legal. Also, there are no surveying markers on the land, so you have to view it by wherever the land owner representative takes you. Obviously before any purchase offer is made, a complete survey must be made by the local authorities to insure you are viewing the exact parcel of land. This is one reason the attorney we spoke to this morning was so crucial for us, as he gave us the proper steps to purchase land in order to insure there are no snags and everything is legally correct.
Of the two tracts of land, Ugama is considerably larger tract, but it was at least 10km from Gulu and then 3km off the Gulu-Kitgum road, making it quite inaccessible. After walking the land and trying to figure out the boundaries with the appointed guide from the owner, we were confused and not sure what to do. Here is a picture of some children WAY out in the bush where we looked at the land. We don't think they had ever seen munzungo's (white's) before.
Following this we decided to go see the Awich property which was on the way back to Gulu.
Though it is a much smaller tract of land, approximately 10+, the benefits of this tract of land were intriguing. Not only is it much closer to Gulu, it is very close to the existing COH home. The Awich tract borders wetland which would provide water for irrigation year round as it never drys up there (according to locals), and there is also already a bore hole on the property with excellent water! The land is also very fertile with many fruit trees and all kinds of vegetation on it. Please pray with us as we continue our time here. The connections with people we have made this trip are nothing short of miraculous...so much more to say but sleep is calling me (and if I don't shut the light off I think Pete will smack me!)
Your Friends from Gulu, Uganda,
Love,
Pete, Christine, Don
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