Out of Africa

One last experience. Holy Tolito!!!! One last experience i got to have was with Jacob and Philip when we went to do an AIDS outreach. This one last time of ministry together was very good. It was upbeat and blissful. On this last outreach that lasted 24 hours I got to know Philip and Jacob more as we endured the windy, bumpy and dangerous roads- trying to concentrate on talking and not the instability of the vehicle. The Almighty does something amazing when we're just together. You know- we just hang out. We will be waiting outside of a store for the other leaders to come retrieve us, and we begin joking with Philip. Then we all laugh and talk and people wonder what gives us joy. People want to know why muzugu's can kick back on the ground with the African's and laugh. But the next day was departure day. So as we kept it in mind we spent the night eating "samosa's" which is a really great African dish. It is basically fried bread with minced beef inside. We spent that last night staying up and telling stories. The good-bye was tough yesterday but wholesome. We know that It was His plan for us three to leave for India on Sunday.

January 11th, 2009 at 4:20 p.m. As we left we definitely felt that deep sadness. Our longing to continue being together. When you have those people in your life that just make you laugh and you laugh with them, you don't ever want to leave them! The way Philip lived his life - his fire and living in the moment attitude was something we have taken from him. A real quick story that impacted my life about Philip was one night we went to Philip's house. Out of no where he invited us over to his house to meet his family. There we were treated like his real family. We sat down as he served us an Indian ice cream with frosted flakes over it. We watched the second half of Johnny English enduring the scratches and skips. Philip was so content to be able to serve us in this way- to bring us into his home and love us. I loved this about Philip. Countless times Philip did things like this to serve us and try to make us feel comfortable. We became great friends with our room mates. We became good friends with Hanifa and Betty our hostesses. But we knew that fateful day had to come when we would fly to India. After a good bye and a long sit in the Entebbe air port, we realized we really were "pamoja-pamoja." This means "one" or "unity." This was our thing since it was us four and jacob now. We we're all pamoja-pamoja working for our Father, helping each other to become those people He wanted us to be. "As iron sharpens iron, a friend sharpens a friend." Proverbs 27:17. This was a great time of accountability; and opening up our lives and hearts and problems and struggles and what we felt He was doing around us. Real close relationships were being built. But time came. At 4:20 p.m. we departed Entebbe, Uganda for Dubai (our connecting flight to Chennai, India). We met a guy from Boulder in that air port which was bizzarre.

As we checked our luggage Christian remembered one of our room mates saying, "Ya'll haven't lost a bag yet? man ya'll are lucky!" And as i kissed my bag goodbye i started thinking if this one would be it. What would by my reaction if all of my backpack and goods in it were gone? And i realized how possible that was. I prayed the prayer, "If it is your will God... then may it be..." Keep that in mind. We take a few long flights- a first pit-stop in Ethiopia, then our connecting flight in Dubai. We arrived sometime (what they called morning-yes the a.m. but in the middle of the night).

Both flights were amazing, because the seats had tvs in them! And they had multi-player games so Andrew and I played battleship, pong, checkers, chess and WARZONE! A WHOLE LOT! I even called Andrew and Christian from my seat right next to them from the phone in the seat in front of me. One of my favorite games is to push the steward button when Andrew or Christian are not looking. We got into India this morning exhausted. We pulled the all-nighter, because there was NO sleeping on these flights due to multiple infants that were not so happy to be traveling at that hour. So we go through customs as usual and come to the luggage carousel. All four pieces of luggage show up (Christian and Andrews back packs and guitars = 4/5) And right as the belt stopped and all the luggage was present -- except my back pack. I began to laugh because i called to mind those thoughts of surrender of my luggage. So after filling out forms and such (the lost luggage is expected to arrive at our residence here in India within a week or so but i don't know how that will work just because of the communication factor) in a whirlwind we leave the airport to the next gauntlet. We travel through the tunnel of staring faces and shouts of "Taxi!" And our thoughts are- "Alright! here we go!" Having no idea who is picking us up but assured someone is going to be there with a sign. After meeting Michael from IREF we hop on a taxi and travel to a YWCA for a bit. We are going to get some lunch then catch a train to Repalle. Who knows what this adventure is going to hold? We are thrilled to see whatever the One who sent us has! And whether or not i will see my "house" again? I DON'T KNOW- BUT ITS SUCH AN ADVENTURE AND WE KNOW WE ARE WALKING RIGHT IN OUR FATHER'S PATH FOR US. HOW CAN WE FAIL? So we move forward into the cafeteria to eat our first real meal, then Repalle.

So yes, we are safe, alive, tired, well- and 4/5 luggage is alive and well too. This experience was great for us. Traveling went well- we were given good health and strength. The strength was provided for every moment.

Thank you for support. And take comfort in the fact that our Father has His hand over us, and we are resting right in this midst of His love like little blind and helpless sheep in India today.