56 Hours And Counting...!

Hi Friends and Family!

Well the countdown is beginning, in a little less than 56 hours we will be taking off from LAX en route to London and then Entebbe, Uganda. We’re looking at almost 20 hours of flying consisting of two back-to-back overnight flights. Sweet! And while Crystal, being the world traveler that she is, has experienced several multi-day flights across the world, I have never been on an airplane longer than 6 hours at a time.

Five months ago tomorrow was my (Ryan’s) last day working as a Service Center Representative for LPL Financial in San Diego, CA. I graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a Finance Degree in June 07 and then worked as a wakeboard coach (my third summer doing so) before landing my first “real” job for LPL last fall. I answered phone calls, about 50-60/day for 50 weeks before finally breaking down and giving my two weeks notice on the day the Dow Jones dropped 777 points (September 29, 2008). Terrifying? Yes, who quits a finance job on the brink of a global financial crisis?

Over the next three months Crystal and I were looking pretty seriously at moving to Colorado. I applied to nearly 60 jobs in Colorado and San Diego and Crystal sent resumes to at least a dozen companies. No leads. My only job prospect was a position as a financial advisor with Edward Jones. I went through the interview process, which took five weeks and included going door-knocking in my neighborhood to survey people. I was pretty sure I would land the position based on my degree and experience in brokerage finance, but on Friday January 23rd I received a letter from Edward Jones. The line that stood out the most was, “Although your background and experience is impressive, we have decided to pursue other candidates for this position.” Slam! One door closed. I almost felt a sense of relief, the prospect of having to knock on 75-100 doors a day for the next two years was a little intimidating to me anyway. Hmmm…what now?

At 8am the next morning Crystal had an email from an individual that we had been referred to in Gulu (Northern Uganda) that was looking for roommates. She said she’d hold a room for us and we could move in when we got there in March. One door open. 72 hours later we bought plane tickets from LA to Uganda. After a year of searching and praying for the “next chapter” in our lives, in 24 hours it had become clear.

Crystal gave two weeks notice to the Alumni Office that she would be stepping down as Communications Assistant, and she resigned her position on the board of Professional Women’s Fellowship. We packed up everything in our little backhouse in Ocean Beach and moved out at the end of February. We painted our walls back to white—the brown living room, the red kitchen and the smurf-blue bathroom (which took multiple coats of primer).

Now we each have one backpack and a small suitcase of consumables. I’m bringing 3 pairs of pants, 2 shorts, 4 shirts, a mosquito net, a rain jacket, a small video camera, 3 tubes of superglue, 156 Malaria pills, 75 Clif Bars, and a pinstripe business suit from Goodwill that was $18 including the shirt and tie. That should cover it for about 9 months right?

Thank you all for the tremendous support we have received. We have been prayed for, we have been given checks, hundred dollar bills, boxes of Xperia, old suitcases, books, countless meals, and loads of encouragement. We look forward to taking this journey with each of you by sharing pictures, videos, and stories. We hope you will see Uganda not as a distant place with complex issues, but as a beautiful place with beautiful people who are filled with love and joy. That you would feel like perhaps you have more in common with someone in Uganda that you do with your own neighbor.

We are doing this in order to learn about each other. To experience something extraordinary in our first year of marriage that will for decades be a glue that bonds us together more and more. We believe that Jesus is engaged in a worldwide conspiracy of love and that he is up to something special in Uganda and we want to see what it is. We want to learn to listen to and love people that seem different than us but perhaps are really more similar than we ever imagined. We want to learn to pray. We want to inspire those who, like us, are as average as can be but have big dreams. Go! Do what it is that is on your heart to make a difference to someone somewhere.