Not Quite There Yet

OK, We were supposed to arrive into Entebbe, Uganda early Friday morning. But, we hit a snag. I’ll explain and I will keep a very long story short. On April 4, I applied for Visas for both of us on the official Uganda Immigration visa website. We had to upload all of the necessary documents but it was pretty easy. I got mine in a day. However, in sending Debbie’s application in, I hit “send” before I paid the $50 fee. OK, nothing major, I’ll get her application number and finish it . In fact, on the website, there is a link that tells you that if you don’t have the application number, type in the email address linked to the application (Debbie’s address) and they will send you the application number. So I did that but no response. I did it again . . . and again, and again but no response. We looked in her spam and junk mail to see if there had been any attempt to contact her. I called the Uganda Embassy in DC several times, but they never answer the phone, and they never return messages. I emailed the Immigration office in Uganda but to no avail. So, I had been told that one could obtain an “on-arrival” visa. I called the airline (Qatar) and was told that she would be able to board the flight if she had in her possession the required documents. So, we flew to LAX on Wednesday and Debbie was NOT allowed to board. At the gate they told us that you HAD to have the completed visa in order to board, despite what another Qatar agent had told me. So, we re-booked for Friday, booked 2 nights in a hotel and felt that if it didn’t work out by then, she would not accompany me.

In spite of even talking with a man in Uganda at immigration, we were told she has to pay the fee . . which we had been trying to do for weeks. So, she flew back home on Thursday evening.

It is sad for me to be on this trip without her. I really beat myself up for making that mistake, but it was correctable and we should have been able to simply pay the fee. God’s will be done. I Don’t know why we could not make this work but when something doesn’t work out, you have to just accept the will of God.

Meanwhile, I am at the airport in Doha, Qatar waiting to board the flight to Uganda in 3 hours. I will get in at 7:20 AM on Sunday morning and will be met by Pastor Zeddie of Calvary Chapel of Kampala and he will whisk me to the church where I will preach at 2 morning services. So, I’m ready but please pray that I stay awake!!

Thanks for the prayers. More to come later.

David