After leaving Moldova on Tuesday we drove one hour to Chisinau the Capital city. At 530 pm on that evening we caught a train bound for Bucharest, the capital city of Romania. We arrived in Bucharest at about 730 the next morning. We all hung out until about 11:45. During our time there we grabbed a bite to eat and scavenged what little wifi was there. We then headed out to the airport to check in and catch our flight at 5. It was an interesting time at the airport as we all found out that our bags and daypacks were probably overweight. We all scurried to throw stuff away and lighten up our packs in any way.
I made it through without a hustle until I made it to security. Just a few days prior I had put my mini survival kit in my daypack to make sure I was never without it. The reason I made this move was because I found myself in the woods of Moldova without any means to make a fire and just a raw piece of meat and bread. This kit consisted of wool, a knife, matches, string, and other miscellaneous items. As I approached security I pulled off my belt, took all things out of my pockets, and took out all my electronics. As I proceeded the security man frisked me pretty hard. I got cleared and waited for my bags at the other end; however, it would get rejected and scanned about 5 times. The guy then pulls me aside and checks my bag thoroughly, pulling all suspicious items out. He eventually realizes I have matches and a knife! He tells me that these items are not permitted and I may want to consider getting rid of them ON THE NEXT FLIGHT! That’s right this guard saw a white middle-class American bound for the Middle East and he just lets me on board with my matches and knife. Good thing I am a Christian and would never attempt anything ridiculous, but how many other people has he let slide through?
After catching our flight out from Bucharest we land in quatar sometime during the night on Wednesday. We have a few hours there and then we catch our flight heading to New Delhi, India. After a few hours we arrive with no problems. We have about a 4 hour layover there before we head to Kathmandu. During this time we had to recheck our luggage and get things squared away with passports and whatnot, which seemed to take an act of congress. We board our plane to Kathmandu sometime during the morning on Thursday and head out. We land for the 3rd time in a day with no problems and hurry off to get our visas and luggage. After several hours we break with prayer and everyone heads to their spots. Five teams, one of which was mine, head to a local house right outside the city for a few days until we can get to our ministries. We arrive late that night and are welcomed by X squad. Luckily I get to meet Val who is an X squadder from the big city of Swainsboro. How crazy is it that the first time we meet is in Kathmandu, Nepal! We chill out for about 5 days until we head to our ministry site on Tuesday. We head out at 6 am on Tuesday morning. We take a very rocky and crazy drive in a 4-wheel drive van to our destination in Sarlahi, Nepal. It took about 7 hours and was one of the wildest rides I have ever taken. We drove over many mountains on one-lane roads, honking the horn every time we neared a curve to warn other vehicles that we were coming. The scenery was so breath taking though. Easily some of the most beautiful sites I have ever had the chance to see. At about 2 pm we arrive at our pad in a small village in Sarlahi. This place is in the back woods! We are in the Bush of Nepal, not too far from the Indian border. Meeks, Ga can’t hold a flame to how far out in the boonies this place is. Things are going great though and we are here in our spacious hut.
A video will be posted shortly on how sweet our crib is!
