" 'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams."
We spent months preparing for the trip to Kenya. I have yet to face a challenge as great as raising the funds to go. By May, with only two weeks left before the deadline, I still needed nearly 2,000 dollars. Thankfully, I had a miracle: during those last two weeks I received 1,990 dollars! Can you believe it? I went from having only a third of the trip paid to having more than enough. The only way I can see how this could be possible is through God. Some people had less money raised near the end and they were also blessed.
Before departing, the team spent the preceding week together in Springfield to pray and go over details of the trip. One of the most important parts in our preparing was organizing resources.
Chrissy and Nicole were both teachers on the team; they did an amazing job of collecting school supplies that we could take to Sevo's (a Chi Alpha staff member from Kenya) parents' school. In our second week in Kenya, we would be working with a school in Butula that would be receiving these school supplies. We wanted to help the school by creating a better environment for the students to learn their education. By giving resources to the school, it helped break some of the limitations they had on teaching. As for our objective, we wanted to teach them about Christ and other Bible role models, as well as bring the message that each of us is of value and that they are loved immensely by God. After what happened in December 2007 all the way to February 2008, it comes as no surprise that many of the children were affected by the violence and hence were confused and didn't know who to trust.
We brought hundreds of colors, scissors, books, and other miscellaneous school supplies. During our week in Springfield, we worked for hours to organize the endless amounts of materials that we were taking-- also we had to strategically pack our luggage so that we could take every last item for the children. As well, we spent days on perfecting our vacation Bible school lessons.
I never thought June 7th would actually come; everyone was ecstatic even though we would be flying for nearly two days. In the morning, we met at the Springfield airport with our families and loved ones from the Springfield area-- I had already said goodbye to my family nearly a week prior. My mentor and friend from Chi Alpha, Nicholette, came with her husband Ross to see April and me before we headed to Africa. A part of me wished that she could come with us. She had planned to take April and me to lunch. Unfortunately, the flight was moved up a couple of hours; I believe because we were trying to avoid an impending storm.
We shuffled through our bags to make sure we had everything. As we were rushed into the first set of security checks, Andy, another Chi Alpha staff member, informed us that we needed to sleep on the plane, and then he acted heart broken that we were leaving. It was a sight to behold. Fourteen individuals, including a baby, were going from Springfield, Missouri to Africa.
While on the plane to Chicago, I sat by a middle aged man who was headed for North Carolina. I talked to him about the trip which he found highly fascinating-- and disturbing. He was under the impression that I was about six or eight years younger. My friend April overheard the conversation and then politely told him we weren't fourteen. This wasn't the last time this happened to April and me on this trip alone. Each time it happened, it was a little more entertaining; I always took it as a compliment. This man from North Carolina shared with me hi experience in the Vietnam War-- also he said the flight to Kenya will be long but nothing compared to flying over the Pacific.
It was a short and smooth flight. Along the way, I attempted to learn more Swahili words. Every once in awhile I peaked out the window; I'm still amazed by flying and I think this was the first time I flew over a body of water.
I was feeling a little under the weather; I was dealing with a normal stomach problem of mine. I remember eating Chinese and thinking there was no way it was worth 10 bucks. I called a few people before boarding our plane-- it would be the last time I could talk to anyone for 18 days. The seconds ticked away on the flat screen; it would only be moments before we boarded for Amsterdam. Before I knew it, we were in a line with a majority of Europeans-- a good percentage of them speaking Dutch.
For me, our plane was entertaining to watch. Several people had switched seats-- including people on our team. Many of us wanted to spend the seven to eight hour flight with someone we actually knew. Everything was going smoothly until near the end of boarding two elderly ladies came to their seats and were extremely confused, and they thought maybe they were on the wrong plane. One of the flight attendants went ballistic; she vented about passengers and rules as she moved people around until each person had a seat. It was overly dramatic, especially since our plane didn't end up taking off till much later. Chrissy sat next to a raging pessimist who couldn't help but comment on everything; she was annoyed by what she called "musical chairs." She blamed Chrissy for everything when she found out Chrissy had been a part of the whole silly situation. I sat by Nicole and Josh, which I'm glad they stayed; at this point, I probably knew them the least from our team. Plus, I would much rather have company on such an exhausting flight.
As every American knows, Chicago is infamous for delays and cancellations; it came as no surprise that we just sat on the plane for two hours before flying. I believe the malfunction was a storm, but that made rushing in Springfield pointless. It was entertaining, for me, to watch the flight attendants frantically go up and down the aisles while attempting to make the passengers feel at ease; I found that to be delightfully ironic. If anything, they were agitating the already annoyed passengers since we were commanded to sit. I felt like I was watching a terribly scripted sitcom. It also reminded me of my job from Disney World: Soarin'.
I thought to myself, "Did I act like this when I worked at Disney World?" For the most part, I would say no, but there were times where things were hectic-- yes at just a mock airport ride attraction. We moved people through the line and ride incredibly fast, which was hard on top of dealing with the myriad of guest situations with at least 87 in the theater and 87 in the boarding dock-- along with the line that reached three hour waiting limits during the busy season. On New Year's Eve, we had a personal record of a five hour waiting line. Sometimes people were afraid of the ride, there was a "potty accident", or a real medical emergency. Not to mention, Disney has a high turn over rate since most of the employees are either hired off the streets or imported from college campuses from around the world. Because of this, there were many times I would do my job, be done and have to wait for a new employee to quickly go through all the seatbelts and safety criteria in his or her section. Of course, there were real issues and guests were naive to this; in fact, one lady sneaked a baby onto the ride not realizing the danger of only wearing an adult seatbelt and being sent at least 50 feet into the air. Also, the ride itself has an insanely powerful computer built into it and does checking procedures on itself all the time and so it was common that the ride would stop itself if it sensed danger-- which considering how much weight was being sent fifty feet into the air it could easily be a dangerous place. Also, the new employees, mentioned earlier, were unaware of the severe safety requirements; it was imperative to watch them because they may accidentally set off the ride while you are still on the floor of the theater-- scary! So, back to the flight from Chicago to Amsterdam, I could somewhat see why the flight attendants felt rushed. There was, however, a strange moment when a lady asked people for water and decided not to give a cup to Josh because he was on the wrong isle; on a side note, he never got a cup of water.
Finally, two hours after this peculiar display of unnecessary drama, our flight begun. We were flying over the ocean at last! I watched 27 dresses and Fool's Gold, then I attempted to sleep. Then, I listened to the pop station radio; I figured it was better to entertain myself if I couldn't fall asleep. The airplane food was better than I anticipated. I had a box of pasta for dinner and a pastry and mixed melon fruit for breakfast. This was going to be my first time in Europe, and the idea of another continent was exciting to me. As well, I had a friend in the Netherlands. He had worked with me at Soarin'. We had loosely planned to see each other in Amsterdam. I never thought I would see him again; I hadn't seen any of my friends from my Disney internship since returning back to the Midwest.
The flight was an eternity.
Micah 4: 2-3 "Come, let's climb God's mountain. Let's go to the Temple of Jacob's God. He will teach us how to live. We'll know how to live God's way...." "He'll establish justice in the rabble of nations and settle disputes in faraway places. They'll trade in their swords for shovels, their spears for rakes and hoes. Nations will quit fighting each other, quit learning how to kill one another."
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