Arrived Alive! September 30th, 2009
ALL PRAISE and THANKSGIVING TO GOD FOR HE IS GOOD and THANKS to all those that are praying and supporting this mission:)!!!
I left LAX, on time, 5:25 pm on Monday the 28th. I sat next to a Belgian guy, who spoke little English. I knew none of his language. We attempted a few niceties, but not a lot more. You can only look at a guy so much and smile until it gets a little creepy LOL! We arrived (everyone on the plane:)at London Heathrow at 11:25 am the next morning. We arrived early, because of a strong tail wind. This gave me time to go to, guess where, Starbucks and buy some coffee beans, which I had forgotten to buy before leaving. Yes, I did bring a French Press and small coffee grinder with me for my “comfort food/drink.” It was a little dicey going through Heathrow’s Security. My carry on baggage was screened out for hand search due to the 240,032 or so electronic components in it! Duh…
A very talkative and pleasant young lady was the one searching my bag. She was very thorough. She pulled out me coffee grinder with its shiny blades, looked at me; now tears are flowing down my cheeks, so she just didn’t have the heart to take it away (kidding but there was likely a look of horror on my face). She had already “pinched” my scissors, again duh….I bought an electric hair clipping set (due to high incidence of people getting AIDS from a haircut, really), but forgot to take out the dang scissors. It took me a good 15 minutes to repack the bag because Anne Ringer had packed it PERFECTLY and I could not get all that stuff back into it no matter how hard I tried, really! So I ended up putting a big book of Africa in my laptop bag. Thanks Anne:)
Our plane left on time at 2:25 pm for Accra, Ghana. I must admit, a wee bit of stress started to set in due to just the thought of going through Ghana Immigration and Customs. Right then, I thought of all you praying for me and God going before me; regardless of how the situation turned out, God would be faithful so I became relaxed. Thanks again for your prayers. I sat next to a very, shall we say, large African man; dressed in formal business attire. I had about 6.5 hours of sitting in about 3/4 of a seat, LOL. You just gotta laugh at the subtle ways Satan tries to get us frustrated or mad at life’s little inconveniences. He wasn’t interested in any conversation, so again had a quite flight to think, read and pray.
I arrived at Accra, Ghana’s Capital, at 8:24 pm, tired but excited. My luggage came out right away, oh ONLY 1 piece came out. I waited another 30-40 minutes for the last 2 to come out on the last cart! God gave me plenty of opportunity to pray through each circumstance, so as not to get anxious or discouraged. Oh by the way, when you land in Accra DON’T tip the luggage porter at the baggage carousel, especially don’t show a $5 bill as “porter panic” sets in to help you out. Oh why not tip, because apparently all they are allowed to do is pick up the bags, the same bags I had been lugging around, and put them on the cart at the carousel, because they are not allowed through immigration or customs…duh duh duh…anyone see a trend here.
Of course, I felt obligated to tip him the $5, since he knocked out two other porters to reach me before them. Handing him the $5, he says; oh not so open its ILLEGAL! You see I have done a lot to get to know the culture before going! LOL
Anyway, the immigration agent was very very nice. He commented I was staying for a long time and then promptly stamped my passport. In like flint so I thought, however it was stamped 60 days visit allowed. No problems, now I just have to go register with Ghana Immigration to stay. This cannot be done in advance, unless a quota has been issued by the government to the organization one is working with. Center of Good News tried, but was unable to get it issued, so I will be applying now for a work permit.
Please pray that it get issued or that they determine I can stay with one which they might since I am not employed by any Ghanaian entity.
Lastly for this blog…I was met by two very welcoming and friendly faces; Rev. and his wife. It was now about 10:15 pm. They had been there since 7 PM, because they wanted to be sure they did not miss me coming out! Bless them. The first thing we do standing in front of the airport, Rev. prays thanking God for my safe arrival, for Seabreeze Church for sending me, for the good plans He has for us all and much more. We have prayed in public or semi-privately no less than six times in the first 18 hours together. God is real. I’m blessed by Rev.’s example of acknowledgment and dependence upon Him. We went straight way to Rev.’s brothers home, where supper was waiting. Then went to bed one tired but peaceful man. Yet there is the lingering sting of leaving my loved ones and dear friends behind. Blessing to you all from Ghana! Akwaaba, You are Welcome HERE!
Please pray for wisdom, understanding and for me to yield and be totally dependent upon God through the many circumstances ahead. Especially pray for Rev. and his family for protection. Pray for peace and comfort too for his family, we will all be attending Rev.’s mother’s funeral next week.