Thurday, Feburary 19th -- We are in Africa

We don't have any problem getting back to the airport from our trip into downtown Paris. However, we were not that impressed with the security at the airport. There seemed to be only one person working the metal detector and he said that we needed to take off our belts, but we could leave on our shoes. Then we walked through the machine and I even had metal in my pockets that I had forgotten about, but we didn't have any belts on. However, scattered throughout the airport we would see different groups of three soldiers carrying automatic machine guns. They didn't have them on their backs, or strapped over their shoulders, they had them in their hands. It looked like they could start shooting very easily. Just a little disconcerting. Even though there wasn't much security at the security checkpoints, there were many shows of force like these throughout the airport. We got through it just fine, and had a good flight from Paris to Johannesburg. Becca and Andy both fell asleep before the plane took off. Becca slept almost the entire trip, 10 plus hours. She woke up in time for breakfast. They served us dinner right after we took off, which Becca and Andy didn't participate in.

I watched the movie The Incredible Hulk. It was an OK movie, but I guess I shouldn't have watched such a movie before trying to go to sleep. Then I couldn't get comfortable, and I would sleep for a few minutes then wake up and then had a hard time getting back to sleep again. But we made it and we got off the plane. It wasn't hard going through customs. Then we rounded a corner and we saw where people were waiting to meet people from our flight. There was Jennifer! Once she saw us, she started jumping up and down and yelling. Quite a sight. As we were going out, I looked at the surprised person who was guarding the exit to make sure no one was coming in and said, Do you know that person? She was smiling and said that she didn't. Then we went out and hugged her. Great way to be greeted in Africa.

Then we made it out to the van, a big 10 passenger Toyota, pulling a covered trailer. Good thing, because we filled the trailer with all our suitcases. Then we went out for lunch, and got a taste of Johannesburg. Good food and a great time of sharing and catching up. Kelly, a young woman who works at Thrive with Jenn came with Jenn to pick us up. Then we dropped Kelly off to pick up her vehicle from the shop and we started out. We were able to enjoy the sights of South Africa. The country looked at times like Northern Michigan, Southern Michigan, Eastern Washington. The one thing that helped us realize we weren't in America was Jenn driving on the wrong side of the road. If that wasn't enough, we saw people sitting or walking along side the 4 lane highway we were on. We saw that the entire time we were in South Africa. It didn't matter what time of day or night, it didn't mater if we were on a 4 lane, 2 lane, or even dirt road, there were people walking, sitting, even taking care of bodily functions alongside the roads.

We arrived at the Thrive Base in time to eat dinner, then we moved the suitcases into the chalet we are staying in. Then we went to Thrive Church. This is the church service for the teams and for the mission staff working at Thrive. It was a really a neat service. A great way to start our stay at Thrive Africa. We heard about some of the things the other mission team had been doing and the way God is moving in the homes they are visiting.

Then we came up to our home and got ready for bed. The electricity here is 220, but it isn't a problem, we brought converters for the electrical things. And the new CPAC machine Marty needs to be able to breathe during the night has a built in converter. So, we got it hooked up using a long extension cord that was in the chalet, but it didn't work. Jenn and Becca had already left, and it is a long walk to her place, so we were wondering what we were going to do. Then we heard Jenn and Becca coming to check on us. We sent them on a mission to get a long extension cord that worked. They return 15 minutes later and we were good to go to bed. By now it was 11 pm. Even though we were tired, this was just like any new place, we woke up a few times with noise from the other people in the house as well as the creaks and groans of the house. Remember, there were 6 of us in a place that had two bedrooms, a living room/kitchen, bathroom and a loft. Andy slept around the corner in the loft from Marty and I. But he has a very hard time with heights, so we devised a way for him to get up the ladder. This was not a stairway to the loft, it was a ladder like you might have to go to the top bunk. It wasn't that big and had round rungs. We found out the first night that it didn't work to go up and down it without shoes on. Once we got all that figured out, we had a pretty good night's sleep. When Jenn brought the extension cord, she also brought us a spare cell phone so now we can stay in touch. We're finally in bed and trying to sleep, realizing that we're in South Africa. Amazing!!! We are finally here.