Two Days of Travel

So this is it: we have arrived in Nampula, Mozambique!  Already we have experienced God’s protection and blessing, and we thank you for your prayers!  Why do I say this?  Read on to find out!

On Tuesday, Hillary’s mom brought us to the airport in Minneapolis around 3:30 p.m., and we sailed through all the security/checking in stuff.  We grabbed a bite to eat and were hanging out by our gate, when we found out our flight was going to be delayed about one hour.  This had us a little worried, because we already thought we didn’t have much time in Chicago for our connecting flight.  So, after having to wait the hour (plus a little more) we were in the air headed for Chicago, with an estimated 12 minutes between when our flight landed and our next flight took off.

Needless to say, we were a little worried.  It wouldn’t have been the end of the world if we missed our connecting flight, because all our flights were booked at once, and the airline would have been responsible for getting us to our destination.  However, we had planned on meeting someone during our layover in London, and we really would have been disappointed had that not worked out.  So we land in Chicago and literally run through the terminal towards our next gate.  The cool part is, God worked it out that our next gate was only five gates away.  So there we are running awkwardly and we see the gate attendant at our gate calling up and down the hallway “London? Anyone for London?”  Frantically waving our tickets and shouting, we arrive breathlessly as they hurry us on the plane, three minutes before the scheduled take-off.  God was certainly on our side there.

Then came the seven-hour overnight flight to London.  Both of us were relatively keyed-up and sleep did not come easily, probably only two hours for each of us.  But when we arrived in London, we were incredibly blessed with a very nice visit with this friend who lives about 45 minutes from the airport.  She took us home to a “real, live English home” as Hillary calls it, where she served us lunch, let us play with her kids, and let us refresh ourselves.  This was a very nice blessing, and although we were a little tired, it was nice to break up our travels like that.  Refreshing for our souls, at least.

Afterwards, she took us back to Heathrow airport, and we spent over ten hours on our next flight (also overnight) to Johannesburg, South Africa.  That one was a doozy, to say the least.  Neither of us slept very well and were pretty out of it as we wandered around the airport.  Our last flight from Jo’burg to Nampula was actually quite nice, as we both slept most of it (about two hours).

Still, 48 hours of travel with only five hours of some kind of sleep and a few periods of upset tummies (not to mention a seven-hour time difference) left us rather incapable of most mental functions, and conversation with the various people and missionaries we met Thursday afternoon and evening was mostly one-sided, to say the least.  Hillary went so far as to say she felt inches from death.  But we slept like a rock Thursday night, and are now ready for the many adventures God has in store for us!  Thanks again for your prayers, helping us to arrive safe and sound in Mozambique!

~Mark