Met with the group at Magnolia Avenue Baptist Church parking lot at 5:30 pm.
Naomi & Gary Lawrence came with their truck to help carry all the luggage, and wow was there ever a lot of luggage!
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| we weighed luggage in the parking lot to be sure we were all under the weight limit! |
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| Gary and Noami bring their truck for luggage, wow did we need it! |
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| Christy says goodbye to her daughter |
It was a mere 103 degrees outside. Way too hot! We were all dripping wet before we ever left for the airport!
Everyone said their goodbyes to family and friends. A bitter-sweet moment. We all held hands, and prayed for Gods blessing on the trip. Twenty people in all. God, we are the light of world, we ask that you're light shine brightly and brilliantly through this mission and ministry!
Traffic for Friday night going to LA was the best anyone could have imagined. Not one time did we have to stop. Got to the airport in an hour. Brilliant! Had some struggles with the check-in process. Due to our "group" ticketing, no one was able to check in, a desk worker sent us all to the end of the counter to check-in as a group. We by-passed a very long line. What a blessing to us!
Happy, together and checking in, Sommer looks over at me and says,'"mom, you know we're missing someone, right?". As I searched the faces, I noticed it was Julie.
Looking frantically around I saw her standing in a long line of people by herself. I waved her over to us and asked, "what happened?" She was told by an attendant to wait in the line. What a disaster that could have been!
This would be our only set back for checking in. With as many of us as there was.. it was all good!
The group were all getting hungry, and began looking around for the last American meal. I believe it was McDonald's that was chosen. Ugh.. of all things LOL.
Around 10pm our time I got a call from Scott telling me Keegan was having an allergic reaction to his malaria medication. He was feeling sick, had a rash and feeling lethargic. Scott and Keegan had traveled from Odessa, Texas and were now in D.C. waiting for the rest of the team to arrive the next morning. After our conversation, and looking online for malaria medication reactions, I told Scott to have him quit taking the medication. Then I spoke to Keegan, and from his demeanor thought he was ready to go home. He was concerned about his parents wishes, and at this point he said that they felt it was best if he came home. I wanted to know what he wanted to do. Although he wouldn't come out and say it, It seemed that he wanted to abide by their wishes.
It was apparent to me at this point, that he was probably going to turn around and go home.
I called Jan waking her up in the middle of the night to see what she could do, since she was in the same hotel. She said she'd go down and see what was going on. A phone call shortly after confirmed that he was having a reaction, he was sick, but that he was going to stick it out and wait until morning to see how he felt.
Praying for Keegan!
The following scripture immediately came to mind... Keegan wasn't fighting against medication, it was something much stronger! We would see more evidence of this kind of attack throughout the team members as the days (even hours) moved forward!
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Eph. 6:12
Boarded the flight for DC around midnight, and slept most of the way there.
We landed at Dulles (DC) airport, which strangely is actually in Virginia. Got on the train to gate B. No one was around in the terminals to see where to check-in. In fact it was pretty deserted...so we got back on the train to go to the main terminal to check-in. The information clerk stopped us and told me not to go through check-in, to go straight to the gate and they'll issue our tickets there. So, back on the train we went, to our original destination. This was just a tour of the airport! After all, how many of us had been in this airport before?
The desk attendants arrived about 3 hours early and we began our check-in process. The clerk said he only needed one person with all the passports at the desk. That person was me. Sylvia stayed by to make sure she got her assigned seats. We had all called days prior to get re-assigned seating. Doing this actually added to the problem. There was some confusion over our group itinerary. The clerk began raising his voice on the phone and pointing to the screen in front of him, speaking in a foreign language, suddenly he looked up and quietly apologized. He told me he would upgrade two of the seats to business class. Sommer and I were upgraded. I felt like I had just stolen something and gotten away with it, yet it was given freely.
The rest of the group showed up about twenty minutes later, and were checked-in. We all met our new team members by having our lanyards given to the wrong person. We would have to look for whom ever might have ours and introduce ourselves. Then we all sat and waited to board. Keegan was still not feeling well, but he was there. He really didn't look well, but I'm glad he chose to work it through.
Boarding started at 11:00 am.. Sommer and I got in the " cloud nine" line and walked into the first class section. We stepped on board and were whisked behind the curtain to the left, while the rest of the team was escorted to the right. We couldn't stop laughing and felt a bit guilty for having such royal treatment. The flight attendant said, "mad'am Sommer this is your seat, and mad'am Denise this is yours". Wow, that was weird! God has definitely shown great favor on the trip so far. We thanked him for that.
The flight is 13 hours, and even in our comfortable seats it's a hard flight. Sommer kept asking if we should go and check on the others. I was worried that if we went outside the curtain, they might not let us back in! I hope the others are ok.
When we landed in Addis Ababa the struggle against sickness spread throughout the team. Cassandra was very ill. We weren't sure if she was having a reaction to the malaria medication as well, or if it was motion sickness. All we knew was that she was miserable! Just not the way to start a mission ministry.
As we boarded in Addis Ababa, Keegan was feeling better and Cassandra was much worse. She couldn't get any relief. The only good thing was that the flight to Entebbe was under 2 hours. Most likely the longest 2 hours of her life!
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| After 15 hours of flight time..we reach Entebbe! |
Did it end there? Nope. Christy comes off the airplane and says, "look at my feet". From her toes to her mid-calf she had a serious rash. Not only was there a rash, but it was swelling as well. There was nothing we could do at that point but get through customs and then figure out a plan.
We start finding our luggage. All 63+ suitcases! Surprisingly we only had one missing case!
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| we needed a separate vehicle just to carry our luggage! |
Cassandra is sick, Christy is dealing with her rash and swelling that's now getting worse, and we're looking for Aaron's one lost case. We spent a good hour or more at the airport running back and forth trying to get the information the clerk needed to find Aarons suitcase. By this time, I'm a wreck, the team is tired and we're ready to get some much needed rest!
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| waiting to go to the Hotel and rest! |
We finally get all things sorted, and situated and head to Lubowa Gardens. We can all agree that God has something spectacular he's going to show us, and do through us. Why else would we have so much distraction? We'd been hit head-on from the moment we left for the airport. We would find out that the Iowa team had trouble too! Actually, it started for most of us, the day we said, "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." John 9:5 Lord use us! This would be the first day of our lights shining..and they would burn brighter and more passionate as the days would unfold before us!
Thank you, Jesus for allowing us to hold a light, your light! Though it may seem but a twinkling at times in a world of darkness, it's still our responsibility to let it shine even through some dark times. Light dispels darkness..may our light during this trip attract people in darkness to it!
We would start the trip with shining a light and end the trip reflecting on it... Praise God!
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