Getting There is Half the Fun

The Mission Trip 2013 members have just about finished our long, tiring but uneventful trip halfway around the world.

How to wait for your plane in style

Actually we did experience a few incidents of the good kind.  The first happened before we even got on the plane at SeaTac.  As we got to the subway to go out to our gate, I noticed a familiar-looking person standing there waiting, so I called out, "John!!!"  Fortunately, it really was John--UPPC member John Kotje, who works for World Vision and was on his way to some training seminars in Rwanda and Burundi.  John was travelling on the same flight as us as far as Amsterdam.  So we had a great visit with him while waiting for our plane.


Next, as got seated on the plane, Taeler discovered that her seatmate was none other than John's colleague Francois!  So we got to meet him too.

Where did ALL that luggage come from?

After about 9 hours flying to Amsterdam, 3 hours waiting for our next flight, and 8 hours to Nairobi, we were a bit tired; indeed I looked quite giddy. Then when we got to our hotel, we had the further surprise of being met by Joy Mburugu, Josephine's sister Juster, and several other family members!  Thanks so much to all of  you for spending a late night waiting to greet these tired travellers!

Mawiir and his brother Garang

Today we had a short but thrilling roller coaster of a plane ride to Juba--it is rainy season here, and that means lots of thunderstorms and other weather excitements.  But despite that, Pastor Taeler didn't die, the plane landed wheel-side down--just like it's supposed to-- and delivered us to the sweltering immigration and customs office at Juba Airport.  After a dinner with some of Mawiir's family members who live in Juba, we're off to do the good kind of crashing in preparation for tomorrow's final leg of the journey--flying to Aweil and then driving out to the Marial Bai area.

Because it's rainy season and roads are becoming more impassible by the day, we are now planning to stay right in Marial Bai instead of staying near Aweil and driving out each day.  But that means we don't know what kind of internet access we will have, if any.  Stay tuned--we'll be talking plenty of pictures and videos, but you might not be able to see them until next week...

--Kirk

(Next: Getting to Marial Bai)