day 5

internet is a sparse thing here in Gulu. well...power is rare period so the opportunity to sit down and update you all has not come to me until now. trust me, once i get back to the states i will post my written journal entries for each day before this.

so much has happened within these 5 days that it seems so much longer. where to start? i'm not sure...so i'm just gonna type:

we stayed in an IDP Camp last night (Koro Camp). we were privelidged to be hosted by the bracelet makers of Koro. Sean and I stayed with Martin and his family. This evening very well was the most awkward but beautiful experience. The most surreal aspect of the night was when Martin and ourselves were sitting around chewing on some sugar cane listening to the radio in the moonlight. I was startled when I heard the words LRA and Joseph Kony on the announcement. It was basically an announcement about the state of the peace process and the fact that Kony again refused to show and sign the final peace agreement. Martin's face was just perplexed but definitely not stunned. If you can imagine the picture of kids screaming and crying, smoke billowing in the air, the moonlight and lightning in the distance, and us...sitting around each other in silence listening to the news. Erie.

but, needless to say...we were taken care of...so much Acholi food and so much attention to just us, the kids who travel around America telling the stories of the Acholi tribe. kids doing what we are supposed to in life. know. live. tell.

more updates will follow but for now this is enough.

day one

you can consider it day one, i suppose even though we traveled for nearly two days to reach Kampala, Uganda. Yea...Uganda. I cannot believe that I am finally here. A lot of emotion has been building up to this moment. This moment of actually being in Africa. I am siting at an internet cafe in the heart of Kampala at Garden City Mall. I just converted my dollars to shillings and am ready to go. In a few short minutes, we are headed to the US Embassy for a meeting with the ambassadors. Crazy, right? They wanted to meet with the Americans that work for Invisible Children. Easy enough.

Its beautiful so far. The people, the land, the heart of this place. After the Embassy, we are traveling north to our actual destination of Gulu where the IC offices are. Its about a 6 hour van ride on crazy bumpy roads. Looking forward to it. The unknown.

slow down

..."slow down!" i tell the world.

the world looks at me and smirks,
it of course says, "are you kidding? keep up!"

the story of our lives, i suppose.
ok...well i can't speak for everyone
but this is the story of my life as of late.
God has been tossing experiences at me...
and i've barely had any time to sit
and realize the magnitude and the goodness
in each thing, each person, each conversation.

tour has just ended.
tonite was our last screening at UCLA.
3 months of touring...
3 months prior of booking...
and then 3 months prior of waiting...
have come to an end.

an end.
a thing that happens to be reoccurring in my life.
but, then its friend follows...a beginning.
weird how this beginning just began.
weird how this "end" may not even be the end.
am i making sense?
regardless, i'm on my way...
to what? we'll see...

one year anniversary

it was a year ago today.

a conversation.
words.
thoughts.
emotions.
the inevitable.
it happened.

i'm not sure how to adequately reflect
on this past year.
i mean...how do you actually measure
what good reflection is or isn't.

my world for sure has been rocked
since last St. Patrick's Day.
a lot of highs and certainly
even more lows.

i definitely don't know
what this next year has instore.
my hope?
restoration. reconciliation.

orange county

i've definitely come to learn
that it is almost
impossible
to keep up with blogging
while on the road.

our tour to orange county
has been jam-packed with
all sorts of events.
from basic college screenings,
to benefit events, and to art showings
we we're pretty much all over the place.
i don't think i have mentioned pink berry...
but we found something...better.
yogurt land. frozen self-serve yogurt.
.30 an ounce.

aside from yogurt land,
we met some solid folks
through out orange county.

i'd probably have to say
at this point
the most challenging aspect
of tour
has been affirming people.
i have just recently realized
that one of my love languages
is most definitely not
words of encouragment or affirmation.
i normally always internalize my
affirmations for others,
but never realize in the moment
how essential it is to verbalize these words
to an individual.

we are now a little over 5 weeks into tour
with 7 left.
we've been in the Inland Empire
for about 5 days which i will
attempt to brief you on later.
but we are on to Vegas soon...

check out this video that my teammate
andrea made post orange county.

san luis obispo

unfortunately the central coast's weather
has not been extremely kind to our SoCal mindset.
the further north we get (which SLO is as far as we go),
it seems to get colder and more rainy.
we had to endure a minor tropical storm
that blew through...which we survived...
so no worries.

on friday we had a screening at
Nautical Bean Coffee Shop.
it was somewhat expected to be
the less exciting screening for the area,
but ended up being super (or as we learned from
Cal Lutheran "sup-sup"...sounds like "soup") fruitful.
we met some solid folks that are involved in
campus crusade which is the organization at Cal Poly
that we teamed up with for Tuesday's screening.
and of course out of our dependence for people
we meet on the road...we are staying with them
for the next few nights.

since nautical bean we've seen almost
all there is to see of SLO and AG (Arroyo Grande).
we were blessed enough to stay
with my friend Peter and his parents.
they have hooked us up for sure.

after church today we went to an abandoned
insane asylum so that our photo-happy teammates
could take some creative shots.
as you can see below...it was well worth it.

the scene leading up to the great asylum near downtown SLO.

a picture of us downstairs (we have masks because of asbestos).

the hallway downstairs leading to private rooms.

the grand room of the asylum. (notice the large hole in the floor)
photos taken and edited by Ben Sasso

we have two day left
of San Luis Obispo
so a lot is still yet to unfold.
on wednesday we will be in
Orange County.

until then...

santa barbara

so yet again my attempts to keep everyone updated
has failed.
i am oh so horrible at being consistent.
right now, i am in santa barbara at jessica fairchild conrad's house
laying on the couch
about to go to bed.
tonight, we had a screening at Westmont College
and was quite an intimate screening.
unfortunately, the whole night i felt somewhat
under the weather.
fever, body aches...
the whole shibang.
thus, we went to von's and bought
chicken noodle soup and ingredients for grilled cheese sandwiches.
so i guess i'm on my way to being better...
...eh.

we are two weeks into tour tomorrow.
it seems like a couple months already.
a good couple months...don't get me wrong.
we have experienced so much thus far
that i wish i had the energy to explain right now
but i don't.
i can say that in the past week...
we've had a fake proposal on valentine's day,
a graffiti'ed van,
stencils to tag the towns we've been in,
and amazing fresh oranges from the
Ojai Valley.

my spirits are high but...
my energy is low.
tomorrow we leave for
San Luis Obispo...
we're only getting closer to
Hawaii.














and remember that time that I have the best team.
ever.