Safe and Sound

I have arrived in Johannesburg safe and sound. But one of my pieces of luggage did not. The airport assures me that it probably got delayed in London....no worries. It will show up.

Checking in at the airport was quite a mess. The lady checking me in was new. She had a hard time communicating things. For instance, She said I definitely needed to have locks on my suitcase....then another lady contradicted her and said I cant have locks on my suit case......a third lady explained that I could have locks as long as I walked the suit cases over to the X-Ray machine and waited for them to go through. There were several more awful miscommunications. Not the best way to start the flight.

I got about 3 hours of sleep on the flight to London. When we got off the plane, the other girls (Alyson and Katie) and I decided to go into London to see a few sights. It was an 11 hour lay over....we had to do something! We found a very helpful man who directed us to the Subway and showed us which transfers to make and where to get off. When we got off the subway and were coming up the steps....low and behold, there is Big Ben! We walked around London for quite a while. We stopped for lunch at a little deli. We saw Buckingham palace and St. James Park. It was raining off and on, so we got soaked and looked a bit like drowned rats, but we had a great time. London has so many beautiful sights to see and amazing architecture. We were so glad to be able to get out, get fresh air, and enjoy a day of sight seeing.

The flight to Johannesburg was a 10 hour flight. I slept about 5 hours. During this flight, I was in the bulk head, so I got to stretch my legs out a bit more. There was an empty seat beside me, so the man by the window and I had a chance to spread out a bit more.

When I arrived in Johannesburg, the line to get through Immigration was not a line at all....it was more like a herd of people who aren't sure where to go. But I got the chance to meet a group from San Francisco who is here to do some church planting in the Northern parts of South Africa.

As I said earlier, one of my pieces of luggage was lost. I had to wait in another long line to fill out forms to make sure my baggage would be delivered once it was found. The lady helping me was very nice.

When the luggage fiasco was finished, we finally got to get out of customs and meet up with Kate Allen. Kate is the director of the Door Of Hope. She was very helpful! The original plan was to take the other girls to the Door of Hope and take me to a luncheon with about 15 people. When Kate was helping us get our money exchanged, she asked "Is there anything you need? How can I help you?" And my reply was "Can you fit in time for me to take a shower before we go to lunch?" Not a problem! Praise God! I had been traveling for 2 days, gotten rained on in London and I was feeling really nasty. I am so thankful that I got to wash up before I met all of those people.

The people I met at lunch were super nice.
There was a 7 person team from Charlottesville that had come to do VBS.
There were 2 volunteers from VA who are here for the summer. (Erin and Russel)
Cheryl Allen (pastor of the church)
Cheryl's family: David and Kate and their daughter Olivia (Kate was the one who picked me up)
Richard (Cheryl's youngest son)
Don (Cheryl's husband)
Carol (my roommate while Im here)

It was nice to get to meet everyone. They were all welcoming and friendly. They were very helpful and were trying to take care of me. The VBS team leaves today. They had a debriefing while I was with them. It was good to get to hear the problems and joys they had while they were here. There were 3 teachers on the team. They told me a little about the kids I will be working with and the teachers at the Day Care. Pray for them, they will be flying home today and will not get home until Tuesday.

When lunch was over, the VBS team and other extras left and I had a bit of time alone with Cheryl and her family. They knew I was a bit overwhelmed, so they let me sit quietly and didnt demand too much conversation. We watched The Bachelor on TV. It was funny because they get our TV shows...only they are many seasons behind. So I offered to tell them who The Bachelor picks in the end....but they didnt want me to spoil it.

When we left Cheryl's and went back to Kate's house to spend the night, I had a bit of a melt down. All of the stress and emotions and lack of sleep caught up with me. I was SOOO tired and overwhelmed. Im afraid I worried my Dad when I was crying on the phone. I dont doubt that God sent me here. I cant wait to start working with the kids. But I do miss you guys terribly! Love you lots!