First Part of the Trip

Merry Christmas Everyone!! So much has happened since we left Georgia which feels like ages ago. I could not have even imagined half of what I’ve seen or experienced while sitting in Chicago Sunday afternoon. Now it is Thursday evening and I have so much to talk about, it’s hard to keep the events of the past few days straight. However, I will do my best.

Dec 20-21 From Chicago to Brussels

The adventure really started to take form with the additional two hour layover in Chicago. It really didn’t hit me how significant this was until I realized our layover in Brussels was only four hours, now reduced to two. Still, we would have plenty of time to catch our next flight. As we sat waiting at the gate my excitement grew as I heard people speaking German and French. I truly was leaving the country! The plane was late arriving to the gate. This was ok so long as we ended up making it on time with at least an hour in Brussels to switch planes. We got to our seats and, to our dismay, we were not sitting together. I was on the left side of the plane on the isle of the two window seats. Dad was in the central section of the isle closest to me but slightly to my front diagonal. For awhile we each had our rows to ourselves. We started praying, selfishly of course, that no one would sit with us in our row. As we sat, we watched our arrival time grow later and later. From 11 to 11:10 all the way till 11:30. Our next flight left at noon. Due to my planning style personality, this was giving me a slight panic attack. I began formulating a plan B if we were to be stuck in Brussels till Wed (which was when the next plane comes to Liberia). Then again, that would be as successful as me trying to build an airplane. I have an idea of what you need to do it but no real knowledge of how to do it. At the last minute, Dad has a father and daughter sitting in his row and mine remained empty. Apparently God likes me better. ;-) We then took off and I had to come to the understanding that everything was out of my control, like I ever really had control in the first place. The plane ride itself was uneventful and it was a beautiful sight to fly over snow covered England and to land in Brussels that was equally covered in snow. However, as soon as the plane landed, our uneventfulness ended quick, fast, and in a hurry. Dec 21 From Brussels to Monrovia… I hope First lesson in international travel is when you get to the airport, you follow signs and you ask people. First signs we saw when we got off the plane at 11:20 were Starbucks. Yes it was a joyous sight to behold and, if I had more time I would have stopped. Just a side note, I was personally amazed that O’Hare airport in Chicago has a Starbucks almost every 20 feet. It’s like being in downtown NY! Anyway, we start following the signs to the T terminal/gate or whatever it is and suddenly find ourselves in the main lobby area of the airport with a security line that reminded me way to much of Atlanta but with fewer stations to go through. Dad asked a guy if we had to go through security again and he said yes. Apparently the Belguns don’t know what sort of things we could accumulate between Chicago and Brussels. Completely unaware of the time but knowing that our flight leaves in 30 mins or less and we have a secutiy line to go through that will take 30 mins or more, the numbers were not adding up. My Dad refused to let me look at the time and there were no clocks in security, so I had to just cope with the situation. The whole “worry about nothing” phrase kept popping into my head, thanks Mom. We finally get through and are little less than running down the terminal trying to find out where we need to go. We finally find a ticketing place to get our boarding passes and Dad starts talking to the guy and explaining. The gentleman starts calling everyone trying to see if the plane was even still there. I finally got a glance at Dad’s watch and saw it was 11:55. Major no no when flying I’ve learned, don’t try and get on the plane without a boarding pass 5 mins before your plane is suppose to leave. The guy finally looked hopeful and said if we followed the sign, we could grab the bus to the terminal and there would be someone there to give us our boarding pass. What a relief! So we took off, again a little less the running, to catch the bus to get to the terminal to get on the plane that was supposed to be leaving while we happened to be boarding. We had to stuff our stuff under our seat since there were no more overhead bins, strap ourselves in waiting to leave. And there we sat, for 2 and a half hours. Oh yes, you know you’re having fun jumping from 8 hour trip to 9 hour trip with only 20 mins of jogging to help you loosen up. The pilot came on and said first they were waiting to get the rest of the bags since a lot of planes were delayed. Ok, that fine. We played 50 dollars for an extra bag to get through Europe so I’ll wait to make sure it goes all the way through. Then, they had to deice the wings. While they couldn’t do this white waiting for the luggage I’ll never know. Again, everything is out of my hands. So we sat on the plane for the 7 hours to get to Liberia and arrived at 8:30 and got through customs rather quickly. Standing there in Liberia waiting for our bags, I was so excited and nervous I could hardly think straight. Then, the belt stopped and we were told that there were no more bags and the rest of them would be arriving on Wednesday and we had to fill out a lost luggage form. This would not have been so bad if they hadn’t forgotten the luggage for about half the plane. Remember we waited two and a half hours in Brussels so they could load all of the luggage. So, we and the half of the plane had to fill out forms and hope our luggage got there on Wednesday. To add to our misfortune, neither of us brought a change of clothes in our carry on. We will not make this mistake twice I assure you. We met Robert Cuppah, Peter, and Victor outside and headed back to Christine’s. We arrived around 10:30 and she had dinner waiting for us. She also blessed us by having clothes for me and Dad along with other necessities like portable battery powered fans, hot water to shower with, and working A/C. Apparently I am a spoiled girl or so I was told to have all these things here but I personally was eternally grateful. We were then told that we would be having breakfast at 9 and leaving at 9:30 for the school. Somehow, after being in a plane for 20 plus hours and hitting three continents, waking up before noon didn’t sound very appealing. And still, I knew everything would work out according to God’s plan so I went to bed that night unaware of what tomorrow would hold. Dec 22- Isaac David School I slept like a rock that night and only woke up when the generator went off and I had to turn on my fan. Dad slept equally as well. We headed to the school at around 10, Dad wearing Bimba’s shirt and same sweatpants and me wearing one of Christine’s Africa Dresses. I learned quickly two lessons in Liberia. First, time is relative and doesn’t mean as much as it does in the US. Second, you NEVER know what to expect until you get to where you are going. We got to the school and fed the kids breakfast. I’d guess there were 30 or so students between the ages of 8 and 22. The school is one that Christine supports through REAP and has a huge influence in.Most of them were Orphans we were sponsored by people in the states who pay their tuition to go to school. One young girl we met named Gertrude, came back to the compound with us that night. We told us she walked an hour and a half each day to get to school, has to leave at 5am and, when she gets home, has to do her studies by candle light. She often does not get to bed until 2am. Yet, she is dedicated to her studies enough to go through all that which was awe inspiring to me. Her story is just one of many and I will get to read the rest of their stories because I will be typing them up for their sponsors. I also got pictures of all the students to go along with their letter which was a great gift to Christine. We had a time of singing and praying then Dad and I spoke to the students about the importance of authority and education to their lives. I shared about my story and what I learned which was only a couple things here and there ;-). Afterwards, the pastor of the school spoke, we prayed and went to have lunch. Getting use to the food here is an experience. I am learning it is better not to ask sometimes what something is. Also, they LOVE spice and pepper, something I am NOT use to. I am just popping tums and praying. After lunch, we were asked if we would council the students. We didn’t know we were speaking and we didn’t know we were counseling but we just prayed that God would provide. The counseling was probably one of the hardest things I had to do. First of all, I didn’t know what I could really council them on. Second of all, there is a language barrier. Yes, they speak English but it is NOT the English those of us in the states grew up hearing and speaking. It’s hard to describe but it’s even harder to understand. It’s like knowing a little Spanish and listening to people talk in Spanish. You pick out a word here and there but not enough sometimes. So, talking to the kids was hard b/c they didn’t understand me and I couldn’t understand them and round and round we go. I mostly just prayed with them and talked to them about their hopes and dreams and what they loved. It broke my heart though to hear about what these kids had gone through. Yet, they still have joy and dreams that they are fighting for. We left soon after that because we had to get back for Dad’s teaching at the Robert’s church. Victor picked us up at Christine’s compound and we headed over. Victor, so you know, is our driver and will be throughout the trip. He is an AMAZING man and a spectacular driver considering all that we had to drive through.

We got to the church at around 6:00 and there were around 20 men there. They were all so sweet and let me stay even though it was a men’s fellowship. Dad spoke to the men about their role in the church. He covered everything from the diamond to the importance of prayer and prayer for the pastor. You could see the men grasping what he was saying. As I sat there listening, I was so amazed at my Dad’s wisdom that he was pouring into these men. I could see them really absorbing it and processing through it. It made me so proud to be his daughter in that moment. A real adventure came on the way home when our headlights went out. Victor pulled over on the side of the road and at first we didn't know why. Turns out the headlights would not turn on and he couldn't figure out why. So we kept driving and it was fine till we got on the road to Christine's compound. For those if you who dont know, its not paved and its very bumpy and holie. So, lacking headlights is a bad thing. However, thanks to our beloved PK and his ingenious gift of a friction powered flashlight to my Dad, we were able to get home with my Dad shinning the flashlight out the window at the ground in front of the car! We came home that night worn out and ready for bed, but not after eating some cake courtesy of Ester. We also hung out with some of the students from the school who were staying with Christine for the night and watched boxing. We headed to bed at around 9:30 or 10.

I realize this is only through Tuesday but it was A LOT. I will post about yesterday and today 2morrow. So much happens every day it is so hard to take it all in. I hope everyone back home has a Merry Christmas!! Keep looking for posts. Miss you all! Lindi