Hey, guys! This blog is coming to you all the way from Jo’burg, South Africa! We left Monday, August 5 at 12:15 a.m. (Central) and landed safely on Tuesday, August 6 at 9:05 p.m. (Central). Once we got all of our baggage, then said goodbye to squadmates going to different locations, then had a 40ish minute drive, our travel days totaled to around 47-48ish hours.
We started in Atlanta at Parent launch on August 3. It was definitely one of the hardest weekends of my life. Leaving behind my family and Cody for 11 whole months was harder than I ever thought it would be. My mom came with me to launch, and we each had our own sessions on Friday/Saturday, with an overlapping worship session on Friday and lunch on Saturday. (I also stayed the night with her on Friday.)
We said “see you later” at 1:45 p.m. after lunch. Goodbyes stink. I wanted to just pack up my backpack and go back home with her; however, I know the Lord has called me to this and that I couldn’t just back out.
During worship on Saturday night, I was doubting my calling and asking the Lord, “Why would you call me this? Especially when my relationship and family are good? My career was good?, etc.” He gently reminded me why and gave me confirmation through my sweet coach. Jenn. He is faithful and has been present in every single step over the last few days.
Travel Day started by leaving ATL and heading to Boston. We had a 15-hour layover in Boston, so our squad rented a hotel room and split it between the 40ish of us to leave our bags in. We split up in group and left to tour the city. I took the subway for the first time, which was neat! My group walked downtown following the Freedom Trail path, to a restaurant named Pauli’s, We got to meet a couple on the street and just chatted with them (and they ended up buying us pizza!). We visited Mike’s Pastries, Quincy Market, Boston Harbor, and all the touristy sites.
Post-exploring, we picked up our bags and went back to the airport. During check-in, I experienced a little anxiety, not about the flight however, just from leaving home again. Once on our flight (which was 12 hours long from Boston to Doha, Qatar), I felt peace again. No turning back. We landed in Qatar, had a short layover, then boarded again for a 8-9 hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. Luckily, I can sleep anywhere at any time, so I got plenty of rest on both flights.
We landed in Jo’ Burg at 4:05 a.m. local time, said goodbye to squadmates that are in different locations this month, met our Impact Africa hosts, and took a 40 minute bus ride to their campus.
This month my team, Overflow, is at the same ministry site with 3 other teams (Shine, Koinonia, and Kindle). We will be doing various ministry and I will update again once we begin ministry next week. These next few days are for rest, culture immersion, and ministry training.
*P.S. We are getting SPOILED this month with a real bed and hot water!!!* Jesus is so good! It will be a good transition month for us!
*P.P.S. If you didn’t see my FB post, I am officially fully funded for the World Race!* The fundraising process was hard, but stretched my faith in some many ways. He is faithful and I am so excited!
I will update you as I can, and be on the lookout for my PACKING BLOG coming soon!
Much love,
AC 🙂
