07.12.2011 Part One | Luggage Optional

We lacked only two more members of our team: Mimi and Blaise.  They were set to arrive in Entebbe at 1:15am, so the rest of us (Kerry, Nancy, and I) decided to try to catch a few hours of sleep before we headed to the airport.

I was later incredibly thankful for those few precious hours of sleep.

We arrived at the airport at 1:00 am along with a hoard of other bleary-eyed people waiting to pick up passengers from the red-eye flight.  1:15 came and went, then we watched as 1:30, 2:00, 2:30 came and went as well.  The board showed that the flight had, in fact, landed, so where were they? It had been over two months since I had seen Blaise, and I was very eager to see him again, but I was growing weary of standing outside being eaten alive by hungry mosquitoes. 

Finally, at somewhere around 3:00am, Mimi and Blaise came through the door! I rushed into Blaise’s arms and simply held him.  It was SO good to have his arms around me again, but our teary reunion was brief.  I greeted Mimi, and we quickly figured out what had taken them so long after landing: BOTH of Mimi’s bags had been lost in-transit and they had spent all of that time filling out lost luggage paperwork.  Mimi was crushed, and we were crushed for her…our MAF flight was leaving for Sudan in only five hours and the next Lufthansa flight wouldn’t come in until the following night.

We drove silently back to the guest house, where Kerry, Kerrie, and Mimi sat down to figure out the next move.  They called Peter and MAF, but Kerry knew that we couldn’t change our flight because MAF was booked solid.  The choices were really just to leave Mimi behind and try to get her on another charter later in the week, if at all, or for Mimi to go into Sudan without her bags. 

Blaise and I went to bed in our lovely suite for a few hours while they sorted through everything…

Then it was up again to eat breakfast at 6:00am.

When we arrived at the breakfast table, Mimi still had not reached a solid decision.  That would be a tough one to make, but after our encouragement along with the knowledge that she had Ashley’s stuff to use, Mimi decided to go into Sudan that day.  Ashley was on our Tonj team, and she had left a LOT of stuff (clothes, bug spray, ladies’ things, etc.) in a women’s trunk so that if something like this should happen, at the least the unlucky lady would have some things to wear and use.  Nancy and I agreed to pitch in whatever else Mimi might need. 

Mimi was BRAVE, but ultimately she made a decision to serve the Lord and we are SO thankful that she did! She was an integral part of our team, and she was really our fearless prayer leader as we encountered situation after situation in which we were helpless to do anything but turn it over to God in prayer.  I admire Mimi SO MUCH for her dedication to serving God over herself, and it is such a bold testimony of her faith and of the Lord’s faithfulness in caring for us.

Here’s our team prior to boarding the MAF plane at Kajjansi (Kerry, Nancy, Mimi, Blaise, and I)…

Highs:
-Pizza with half of our team in Entebbe for dinner
-Time to journal and prepare for Blaise’s arrival at the guest house
-A few beautiful hours of sleep
-BLAISE ARRIVING IN AFRICA!!
-Hopping on the MAF plane to head back to Nasir

Lows:
-Mimi’s luggage not arriving in Africa

I will have Day One Part Two up very soon!