As the weeks passed and the time to purchase plane tickets drew closer, our group encountered a myriad of obstacles. Leo had a heart catheterization, almost flat-lined, and wasn’t given travel clearance from his physician. Harden couldn’t take an additional two weeks off from his job because he had already requested time off to drive our oldest daughter to freshman orientation week at Cedarville University at the end of the summer. The Alvarez family had a set-back and weren’t able to raise all of the funds needed for traveling to Africa. This left Kimberly and me. I remember how hesitant I was to call her and share my news that it would only be the two of us making the trip. I was afraid she would have reservations about continuing with our plans, but thankfully, her enthusiasm hadn’t waned a bit. Our husbands gave us the ‘green light’ to proceed with our travel itinerary. We updated our passports, purchased airline tickets, suffered through travel immunizations, and packed our luggage.
The first leg of my flight was a 5:30am departure from Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta on Thursday morning, July 25th. I had planned to make the drive from Jacksonville to Atlanta on Wednesday afternoon, leaving myself plenty of time to rest at my parent’s home before making the short drive to the airport at 3am (they live about 35 miles from Hartsfield). However, I got a late start and didn’t leave until 8pm on Wednesday evening. I was tired after a busy day of tying up ‘loose ends’ before leaving home for 2 weeks, but I felt really good and was relieved to finally begin the journey. I spent the entire 5 ½ hour drive to Atlanta talking to the Lord. I thanked him over and over again for the opportunity to minister. I thanked him for orchestrating all the details to make the trip possible. I thanked him for every person that had provided their prayer and financial support. I thanked him for the faithfulness of Kevin and Savannah Pestke. I prayed a hedge of protection around my family while I was away. I prayed for travel safety for Kimberly (she and I would begin our journey from separate airports and meet in Washington, D.C. for the remainder of the flight). I wrote poems in my head, and I thought about the scripture that I wanted to share with the Zambian women during our bible study time. It was a peaceful drive, even though I arrived at my parent’s house in the wee hours of the morning with only minutes to spare before my father and I needed to leave for the airport.
The first leg of my flight was a 5:30am departure from Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta on Thursday morning, July 25th. I had planned to make the drive from Jacksonville to Atlanta on Wednesday afternoon, leaving myself plenty of time to rest at my parent’s home before making the short drive to the airport at 3am (they live about 35 miles from Hartsfield). However, I got a late start and didn’t leave until 8pm on Wednesday evening. I was tired after a busy day of tying up ‘loose ends’ before leaving home for 2 weeks, but I felt really good and was relieved to finally begin the journey. I spent the entire 5 ½ hour drive to Atlanta talking to the Lord. I thanked him over and over again for the opportunity to minister. I thanked him for orchestrating all the details to make the trip possible. I thanked him for every person that had provided their prayer and financial support. I thanked him for the faithfulness of Kevin and Savannah Pestke. I prayed a hedge of protection around my family while I was away. I prayed for travel safety for Kimberly (she and I would begin our journey from separate airports and meet in Washington, D.C. for the remainder of the flight). I wrote poems in my head, and I thought about the scripture that I wanted to share with the Zambian women during our bible study time. It was a peaceful drive, even though I arrived at my parent’s house in the wee hours of the morning with only minutes to spare before my father and I needed to leave for the airport.
Hartsfield International is a HUGE place, and my dad and I had a little trouble finding the rental car return terminal. However, once that was done, everything went pretty smoothly; the airport is really quiet at 3:30 in the morning! I arrived before the United Airlines ticket agents, so there was nothing left to do except wait for them to show up and check me in. I was a little nervous about the 50 pound weight limit for luggage, but I skated by with about 3 pounds to spare on each of my suitcases. I breathed a sigh of relief once my carry-on baggage and I passed through the security scanners. All I had left to do was check in with Kimberly (her flight was leaving from Chicago O’hare an hour later than my flight), send a couple of text messages, and enjoy a cup of coffee while I waited to board my flight. Then the bottom fell out…
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