Travel days to Africa
We left our ministry in Panama on the 6th of January. On the 5th our ministry host had a dinner for us. It was nice fellowship together. And they gave us all a coffee mug with a group picture of everyone at the fellowship the first Sunday, it was so special. They came by once more on the 6th to say final goodbyes before we left that evening. It was hard to say goodbye. They said we always have a place to come in Panama now if we ever wanted to visit again.
We were told our first flight out of Panama would leave at 3am and that we’d have a 14hr layover in FL. So a lot of us planned to send heavy items that we weren’t using back to our homes in the US. Some of us were wanting to go shopping to replace some items of clothes and some of the squad were going to see their families. So we were all very excited to get this chance and had big plans for those hours.
 The evening of the 6th we left our hostel around 8:45pm to head to the nearest bus stop on foot with our packs. Luckily it was close! But we then waited an hour for the bus going to the airport to arrive. I had packed some unnecessary things in a separate bag then my check bag so that I could ship them home. I just got tired of my pack being so heavy with things I’m not using so this was an extra bag I was going to be carrying until I could get to the FedEx in FL.
When we arrived to the airport and got to our airline to check in we realized our flight to FL was being delayed for 12hrs! And our hopes and plans for a 14hr layover in FL is now not going to happen because it is now only 2hrs. Hearts sank and we started to cope with the realization that we won’t be shipping stuff home, or buying those items we can only find in the states, and our squad mates might not get to see their families that traveled to see them and that they were so excited to see. After being in the airport for over an hour waiting for them to tell us where we needed to wait or if they wanted to go ahead and check our luggage. They tell us that they are providing rooms at the Westin, a 5star hotel. And that they were providing us busses to get there. At first I was thinking I’d rather just stay here over night and not have to move my luggage again, but we went to the hotel. After getting to this luxurious hotel I was so thankful. Not for the luxuriousness of it although that was nice. But for the amazing soft bed! I’d almost forgot what an actual mattress felt like. This mattress was sent from above! With what seemed to be weighted blankets that were so calming and soothing. I may not have gotten a full nights sleep but I felt like I did! And the shower! Don’t get me started….it was HOT!! I felt like a queen! All this calmed some of our disappointment about plans for FL. I was able to cope with carrying the extra weight at this point I’d accepted it after a couple breakdowns with gator tears, Just kidding. But what I was most disappointed about was the people with family that had come into FL to see them. I still had high hopes that maybe they could still see them if even for a few minutes. But even that is stretching things with such a short layover.
We woke up in the Westin and had the breakfast of royalty. Anything you can imagine they had it at their buffet. And the coffee, so good! After breakfast we headed to the airport to get on our flight to FL. The line was so astronomically long so we set in for the wait getting a little anxious about catching our flight in time, but trusting the Lord that He is going to get us on the plane.
My best friend is on the squad and she had decided to become a member at the church we go to back home. Our pastor is retiring before we return and she wanted to become a member before his retirement. So my church set up a skype call for her to be able to go live at church and become a member over skype. It was all planned out we’d be in FL for this call during the 14hr layover. Not anymore since our flight delay so she would now have to try while waiting in the line for us to check in. She was pretty far up the line from me with her team. When my church called her on skype she hollered for me to come be a part of her becoming a member so I’m climbing over bags to get to her! I finally got to her and by then she had shown our church the whole squad standing in line and then I got there and we were able to say Hi to our church and it was so cool! Then they prayed for her quickly since the line was starting to move and they gave my parents her membership certificate. Speaking of my parents they had no idea we’d be on the big screen live that morning so they walked up to the computer and got to say hello to us. It was a special moment!
We got to FL and grabbed our bags. Mine is 55lbs with everything I had to put back in it. We went through the airport to get to our next luggage check in. And had a pleasant surprise. The family members that planned to come were there waiting for them!! Yay! There were family members willing to take extra stuff home for us too! I rummaged through my bag grabbing those things while some others were doing the same and handed it off. I felt so blessed and now my coffee mug from our host in Panama would be safe. That was a serious load off my back, literally.
The families followed us as far as they could until we had to go through security. I was so happy that they were able to see their loved ones after driving far to see them. Then we waited to board our flight to Dubai. It was a 14hr flight with Emirates airlines. This airline is so nice! When I got on this airline I saw my seat has a blanket on it with a pillow and a little bag full of goodies for the flight including socks! And when I sat down I saw this huge movie screen in front of me. My very own movie screen. I haven’t watched hardly any movies since leaving 3 months ago. So I may have watched 5 movies instead of sleeping. But I still slept for 4 hours They actually feed you square meals on this flight and snacks and provide drinks throughout the flight. I was amazed. Again I felt like a queen!
When we got to Dubai we had a 4hr layover until our next 8hr flight to Johannesburg. I bought an ice cream shake that cost 9 dollars for a small. Dubai is an expensive place. But the ginger ice cream shake was delicious!
We got on our flight with Emirates again and head to Johannesburg. I watched more movies and ate more food. It was really weird to lose half a day while traveling and seeing the sun come up when you feel like it should be going down. We reached Johannesburg in the morning, I couldn’t tell you what time. We then had to catch a transportation to the bus station from the airport. We hopped on a bus that took us to a church we had arranged to stay the night at before the next travel day to Lesotho. The church where we stayed had the nicest cafe called Grounded. We were able to rest on the floor and couches and chairs of the church and eat at the cafe. Huge blessings!
The next day we headed to Lesotho and got to our hosts early evening and were able to grab groceries for the week before being taken to our house.
This is my interpretation of how our 4 days of travel went, well 5 if you count the hours we lost.
We are now at our ministry site and I think we’re past the jet lag.
Stay tuned for an update about what ministry looks like in Lesotho =)
