A Long Journey

We left for Africa on Thursday but that didn’t mean that would be there by Friday. First stop, Washington D.C. Last year, we had an overnight stay in South Africa, this year, our overnight stay was in D.C. Don’t get me wrong, D.C. is a really cool place but I would have much rather overnighted in Rome, Italy. While in D.C., we did some team building exercises. One thing that we did was share major turning points in our lives and it was really cool to see where people have come from and the differences that it has made in their life. In addition to team building, we did get to cram in a few sights that night. Like the Jefferson Memorial, the Capitol, a glimpse of the White House, and a few others.

We probably could have seen more if it was just easier to get around the city. On the way home, we were starving...mind you it’s 11:00 at night (we had a late lunch). There wasn’t many things open that late, but one thing you can count on is Taco Bell. We got out to go in, but it closed at 11:00, it was 11:10...UGH! So we went through the drive thru and we wanted 6 separate orders, they could only do two orders. Guess what we did, yep, we drove through the drive thru three times. Each time we left the window, we would say, see you in a minute. We all got our food so it was all good!

Oh that reminds me, I didn’t mention who “WE” were. This year’s team is totally different from last years team. Last year, I was the second youngest. This year, I am the second oldest (well at least for a few days until our other team members get here) then I guess you could say that I am the 5th youngest or the 4th oldest...depends how you look at it, but I am going with the former, it just sounds better. On this team, we have Matt and Ellie, who like me are returning for our second trip. Ken, is our team leader and our missions pastor so of course he has been here before. Betsy and Morgan represent the teachers of our team. They are recent college graduates and this is their first trip to Malawi. Hillary, Ken’s daughter, has been in Malawi 6 weeks prior to our arrival and is a return visitor as well. Lastly, who will be joining our team a few days later, is Pete and Lori. Lori is a teacher and will be helping with the teachers and well Pete, well he wasn’t planning on coming initially but is a part of our team. He will be working with T.K. and helping train pastors.

Now back to the journey....we left Washington D.C. pretty early the following morning. We had a long day of travel ahead of us. First stop, Rome, Italy via Ethopian Airways. I have to admit, I was nervous about flying this carrier but it wasn’t all that bad. I did however make a smart decision to by a Subway footlong prior to boarding. I couldn’t risk airline food. Unlike my last trip here, I did have someone sitting beside me on this leg, so it made the time go by a little faster. After stopping to refuel in Rome, we made our way to Addis Abba, Ethopia. At this point, we got off the plane and boarder another plane headed for Labumbashi, Congo. This airport had to be one of the strangest airports that I had ever been in. I have never landed on a runway only to turn around on the runway and come back to the airport. At this airport, we saw the people loading lots of cargo into jets like a ford explorer and several motorcycles. After leaving the Congo, our shortest flight was to Malawi. I was so happy to have land and finish our journey but not happy that our luggage did not make it. This meant having to go to church the following day in what we had on. We prayed that it would come the following day. It’s just hard to believe that half the flight did not get their luggage.

That night, we stopped by the grocery store, picked up a few things like cases of water for the next day and I wanted to purchase some salt and vinegar pringles. I was so excited they were only 70 kwacha (40 cents). That’s awesome! Well, at the checkout, they informed me that it was 670 kwacha!!! What, no no no....that’s going back on the shelf. I am not paying $3.82 for some pringles...so sad. After the store, we went out for dinner at Cafe Delight were everyone ordered pizza. The pizza was so yummy. A great break from our 24 hour inflight meals. Hillary and Blessings (T.K.’s daughter) as well as T.K. joined us for dinner.

After dinner, we headed back to the lodge, where Ellie (my roomie) and I fell fast asleep at 8pm. Only to awake in the middle of the night and stay awake for a few hours before falling back asleep. What can I say, it was a long day.