My Journey with God to Africa ~ Day One 20-06-2009

After months and quite frankly years of preparation, the day has finally arrived for my departure from the comfortable place called home to embark on a physical and no doubt spiritual journey that has been mapped by God from day one. I keep thinking of the stamp they use on your passport. I feel that I've had a "God" stamp on my forehead from the very beginning of this journey. I have no doubt it's true.
We race around in the morning with 6 bags of luggage, a carry-on and purse full of Gods gifts for the people he planned for us to meet in Uganda. In retrospect, we had no idea just how far those gifts would go and how many precious people he would lead us too! At that moment all I could think was, I can hardly wait!
To ask me if I was nervous is like asking if women wear high heels..YES! most definitely and my face and neck had all the tell-tell signs of it. Hives everywhere.
As my journey begins from LAX airport, I sit next to a young girl from Germany. She was in the U.S. visiting her sister who is an exchange student in college. She was as cute as a bug and excited to get home and share with her parents the wonders of the United States. The flight itself was good, with minor turbulence. I know God is with me. "Lo, I am always with you" Matt. 28:20 what a comforting thought as you soar above the clouds. I'm filled with anticipation in this once in a life time experience, to go out into the world nad fullfill The Great Commission.
I miss my family already, but somehow I know that this will bring us closer. Two more hours and I arrive in Detroit to meet up with Jan, Jeanice and Sharlyn.
As I get off the plane I text Jan to see if she's arrived yet. She text me with "hey you want to go to Africa with me?" to which I happily replied, "sure!".
We sat in a little diner at the airport to get a bite to eat while we waited for the others. I hadn't eaten all day and was getting the shakes. With my face and neck in the condition it was I didn't need anything more to add to my nervousness!
While sitting in the restaurant I got a text from Jeanice saying "hey, get over here!". We were still waiting for food, so Jan said, go get them. I jumped from my seat and headed to the gate to meet her and Sharlyn. Hugs all around!!
We really had no time to meet and eat, so I took Sharlyn to meet Jan and then we all headed to the gates to board for Amsterdam.
We all had seats scattered throughout the plane. I sat next to a man that worked on military planes. He assured me that the jet we were on was fully capable of getting us to Amsterdam with no problems. The woman next to me was interested in what we were doing in Uganda, but still denied that God had anything to do with all the events falling into place. She was amazed and said, "well it sure came from somewhere" to which I would reply, "yes, it did. God did it all".
When we arrived in Amsterdam I think everyone,atleast myself was tired. We had a few hour lay-over and Sharlyn and I were a bit confused about where we were to go and how to check-in. We tracked down a worker to see if we were ok just going to the gate. We were assured it was all good. There were very few seats to sit at the gate, so I sat on a rail meant for keeping in carts. LOL Not the most comfortable spot in the world. What I remember most was Sharlyn walking and walking to relieve stress I suppose, and the constant annoying sound of "Mind Your Step.." from the walking people mover situated right in front of us..wow if I never heard that sound again I would be ok! LOL
We finally get to board and both Sharlyn and I find out we were indeed not all good and should have checked in else where. It did however work out well and we were able to get seats next to each other on the way to Entebbe Uganda. I was so happy to have this opportunity to get to know her more. What a special lady she is!
Our ride to Entebbe is not the best and the turbulance was CRAZY!! But I still had the comfort of knowing that God had control of this plane and we would make it to our destination. A little more shaken, rattled and rolled than we started that's for sure. At about the 3 hour mark to our destination I began to feel claustrophobic and somewhat panicked. At one point I had to get up and stand while food was being served. The motion and smell of food was not sitting well, and rather than give my new friend a gift she may not want..I opted out and stood until the food service was over. You can see the exhaustion on our faces after 21 hours of flight time..LOL We're almost there!!