Here at Last…

You’ve all heard the horror travel stories trying to explain to you just how long the flight was, how incredible bad the food was, and how that stupid airline lost their luggage! So to make it a whole lot less painful for you here are the just the cold hard facts:

• 4 takeoffs and landings
• 4 cars and 1 bus
• 16 checked bags (2 still missing)
• 22 hrs from A to B
• 1 novel read cover to cover
• 5 different airports
• 2 toddlers to keep entertained
• 1 failed takeoff attempt (some guy got on the wrong plane)

Well now that we got that out of the way let me just say what an amazing day of traveling. I could not feel more blessed for the way God brought all of us to Kigali safe and sound. As we flew out of Switzerland the view from the plane was spectacular (See below) and the airline even waited an extra 45 minutes for us to clear customs. There was a little mix up for me to get through because I did not have an arrival stamp in my new passport. This I found out was a 600 CHF  fine and some time filling out paper work in a detainment center. But because I never listened to my mother and God is so great we received the first miracle of out trip! Without any explanation the security guard said “you better hurry if you are to catch your plane.” 3 hours later I was flying over Egypt following the Nile River below to Rwanda.

Flying over the Swiss/Italian Boarder

The first few days here in Kigali were spent trying to ease our way into the culture. Seeing as it was everyone's first time to Africa we spent the first day exploring our new home – the YWAM Rwanda base. And the second day was spent mostly finding our way into the city center to exchange money and buy some necessary supplies. Now I talked to  a lot of people and read many books about life in Africa, but I don’t think anything could have prepared me for this. Being here is such an amazing experience already, the culture and climate is very different from that what I am used to.

We got lucky temperature wise and just missed the rainy season, we are  now in + 30 degree weather.  ( 78 degrees Fahrenheit)  It really caught me off guard and I have made good use of the 4 sweaters I brought as a make-shift pillow. Secondly the public transportation and city life is hectic. It’s so busy and wild but doesn’t have the same “gotta get there” attitude like the west. And most obvious is the lack of running water and the flakey electricity at our base. Although it is difficult at times I am so thankful for the opportunity to be here. It’s funny to think how tree planting and working at the Kids Camp this past year has prepared me for the challenges I am facing on the other side of the world.

I will definitely be keeping this blog updated as much as the electricity permits and I look forward to hearing from you guys.  Hope you enjoy the snow and the cold!