African outfits

African outfits
Our crazy family

Friday, January 6, 2012

We Made It!

Thursday morning at 445am our family walked out our front door on the way to the airport.  Arriving at MSP airport, we were met by a stubborn UA employee who did not want to even consider that she could be wrong and we might actually be allowed 2 bags each.  I asked for a manager but she was the manager, so I paid the $350 and we were on our way.  I offered to pray for her because it seemed she was having a rough day but she refused.  We did talk to the travel agent and they are taking care of the bill problem, since it was booked under a special code for a contract with Wycliffe Associates.  We then flew to Chicago O'Hare airport, where the most exciting thing was their cool toilets.  You wave your hand over the back of the toilet and it automatically puts a clean plastic sheet around the toilet lid - awesome!  After hanging out there for a few hours we hopped on a plane to Newark, NJ - this is where my immediate family met 4 other girls from our team.  One of the ladies asked Levi how he liked his first time flying and he replied "It was pretty good, except I would have liked more leg room."  We thought that was pretty funny since he is only 4' 11''!  On this flight I sat by a woman who I thought looked familiar.  After talking a bit, I found out she is a missionary with Wycliffe in Papau New Guinea.  I felt like this was a divine appointment and peppered her with questions about the mission field.  I wanted to know how she KNEW that this is what she was called to do.  We had a great time and it turned out that I had seen her on one of the training sites for Wycliffe that I had been looking at in preparation for our trip.   Finally after flying all night, and watching free movies and getting lots of food (highlights for the kids) in a really nice plane we arrived in Brussels Belgium where we connected with the rest of our team (7 more members).  Everyone was pretty beat at that point so the layover was spent just hanging out with people napping in all kinds of places.  The last leg of our trip brought us to Yaounde', Cameroon where we arrived in time for a late supper here on Friday evening at the Wycliffe training sight.  There were a few other people we met along the way who are also making their way to Cameroon to do different missions work.  It has been a long day and I am beat - just thought I would update everyone that we are all okay.  EVERY SINGLE piece of luggage made it here!!! Praise God - My family alone had 20 pieces.  We have so many tools and gifts for people that couldn't be replaced - we couldn't be happier.  The kids enjoyed traveling... the rest of us endured it.  Tomorrow morning we have an orientation and can spend the day hanging out here in Yaounde' before we leave to go to Ndu.  That will be another adventure since it takes 2 days to drive there:)  We were surprised to be met at the airport by our friends Shelley and Gaston Kingue and their boys - they have been in another country in Africa and we did not think we would get to see them.  Everyone seems to be in good spirits.  I will be feeling better once I have my luggage repacked.  We mixed up everything just in case all the luggage didn't make it, then we would at least have something for all of us.  Now I just want to have all my things in one place.  You should have seen our van loaded with all our bags - Crazy!

3 comments:

  1. Praise God!!! Spent about 15 minutes at the leaders meeting for all of you. Josh already misses seeing Levi and we prayed for all of you tonight. Looking forward to hearing more.

    Tim, Kim, Josh and Annie

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  2. Sounds like a big trip. Thankful for answered prayers!

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  3. Thats awesome that the kingue family surprised you that way. Do they live out there now or continuing missionary work?

    Brenda

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