Africa Day 1-2

Another year has come and gone and there are 4 men in Africa again. We have been praying and preparing for this day pretty much since we left last year. There were two things that really caused us anxiety in the past two weeks: political issues and weather. The politics are in negotiations and we were assured that there have been no problems. The weather began to set in at O'hare and then in Kansas and Oklahoma. We began to be concerned whether we would make it or not but the roads were cleared and everything went fairly smoothly.

PRAISE BE TO GOD!

Our travel began at 6:30 am as we loaded up the suburban and went to Wichita. I want to thank Amy Hall for driving us to the airport again this year. Being the morning person she is I know it was not as hard for her as it was for us...haha! As we went through security an odd thing and a regular thing happened.

The regular item was that Pete was "randomly" selected for review. This is usual. In fact, he was randomly selected at every transfer. That is some kind of random, but thatwoudl lead to a whole other discussion...let's not today! Honestly, he took it in stride though it did get annoying for him and I understand. The odd thing was that I got selected for a search as well. i have traveled for 20 years and this was the first time. Probably won't be the last!

Chicago was our next hurdle since we only had a 45 minute layover and left late. As we landed we prepared to sprint through two terminals to reach our next flight before the gate closed. As I rounded a corner sucking wind hard...I caught a glimpse of the departure monitors. They had delayed our flight for 20 minutes! We were able to slow down grab some lunch and board calmly.

PRAISE BE TO GOD!

As we landed in Newark we needed to get our boarding tickets. Our ticket agent was able to get our passes all the way through to Niamey. He also informed us that our luggage was checked all the way through. We all looked at each other and simply smiled. We would be able to go through Paris customs with only our carry-ons!

PRAISE BE TO GOD!!

Our final leg of the journey was the hardest because we were tired! The good doctor was selected again and then we had some coffee. Our arrival in Niamey was uneventful except for the discovery that the suitcase with Bill's clothes was not on the plane! We are praying that it arrives on Thursday. Pray with us! We all came through customs easily.

I have praised God for a number of things because it is He who guided us all the way through and provided a smooth path. God watched over us and will watch over us. When we left it was 20 degrees and now it is 90. What a difference!

Tomorrow we pack up for the bush where we have no electricity. I will catch everyone up when we get back. The first set of pictures will come with that update.

PRAISE BE TO GOD!!