IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Coffee and Doughnuts anyone?

Greetings Friends and Family!

The time has come for me to depart on my four-month adventure to the beautiful country of Uganda. Many thanks for the support I have received in preparation for this trip. And that’s not just financial; many of you have generously given your time, prayers, homes, and love during the past several months of preparing and traveling.

I have had a busy summer. I worked at Young Life’s Washington Family Ranch (previously known as Wildhorse Canyon) for three weeks in July. While there I was working hard doing laundry for nearly 1,000 people and also prayerfully working out how to finish paying for this trip. After a few weeks of researching my options my trip was paid for in full with the help of loans and scholarships. Praise the Lord for his faithfulness throughout that process. After camp I spent a few weeks in Southern California soaking up sun and salt water and enjoying spending time with good family friends.

Now I am in the finale stages of preparation for my semester abroad and I want to make sure you know the latest info on what I will be doing, where I will be living, and how you can communicate with me

I will be in Uganda (or in transit) August 23^rd until December 17^th. I will be taking a full load of classes at Uganda Christian University (http://www.ucu.ac.ug/), which is located near the capital of Uganda (Kampala) in a town called Mukono. I will be near the headwaters of the Nile River, which flow out of Lake Victoria, the largest freshwater lake in the world. I will be living with a Ugandan family in Mukono that my program directors will match me up with once I arrive in Uganda. I will be traveling and attending school with 44 other students from the U.S. and Canada, but there are over 2500 Ugandans and other Africans attending UCU. I will have Internet access, but it will be limited and slow. So the ways you can contact me include e-mail (but I may be slow to respond), Facebook (again, I may be slow to respond), and the U.S. Postal service (aka snail mail). Actual letters are my favorite, and you can send a first-class letter to Uganda for a mere 2 stamps! You can also send medium or small padded envelopes if you want to send more than a letter. My address there is:

Joy McCracken, Uganda Studies Programme

Uganda Christian University

P.O. Box 4

Mukono, UGANDA

But please do not send money, or something worth a lot of money, via mail. If you wish to send a monetary gift (which is always helpful) you can send that to my mom and she will make sure I get it. Her address is:

Joy McCracken

C/O Mary McCracken

231 Tibbling rd

Selah, WA 98942

I don’t recommend sending boxed of any size to me in Uganda as packages are expensive and I may have to travel into Kampala in order to pick it up. Packages also take quite a while to reach Uganda, so I may never get it.

I will also be keeping a blog during my travels where I will post updates, pictures, and prayer requests. You can also find my address on my blog or my Facebook profile. My blog address is http://joyrainbow.blogspot.com/. I will try and post at least once a week.

Finally I want to wish you all a blessed and renewing Autumn season and thank you again for the unique and very special roles each of you play in my life. I look forward to telling y’all about my adventures through the next four months and hearing about yours as well.

With much love,

Joy