(Emily’s Post)

So I’m sitting in bed, going in and out of stages of adrenaline-fed excitement and complete exhaustion, the computer resting on my rock-solid pillow. But hey, after today there is no doubt in my mind that I will sleep well tonight.

It’s hard to believe that about 30 hours ago I was blindly drifting through my last day of high school (wooo! Just one final exam and 2 papers left to go!… haha). With a half day of school on Friday and home by 12:30, I threw some clothes in my backpack and we headed to the airport. The fact that our family starts a prelim pack for Africa at midnight the night before and then finishes the bulk of it a couple hours from leaving the house is a pretty great picture of our travel mentality hah. So, after an uneventful flight to D.C., we enjoyed a scrumptious dinner at Potbelly’s and prepared to board the flight to Accra, Ghana. Of course the gate wasn’t too hard to find considering it was more than half Africans who were gathered, and I began to get excited just being around them. I know this is a pretty broad statement, but I love African people… there is just this relaxed, friendly, and fun atmosphere that is such a joy to be around.

I don’t think anyone would say that any flight over 9 hours is fun, but especially not when the plane is 100 degrees as you’re boarding (yes, that is a bit of an exaggeration hah), the plug for your earphones doesn’t work and the only good movie anyways is Finding Nemo, your brother has a migraine, and it is a redeye flight where they turn off the lights (and you feel bad turning on your personal light when everyone around you is trying to sleep) so all you can do is sit painfully in the same position for 11 hours straight, wishing you could sleep and nodding off every one in a while only to wake up in more pain than before. But now that I have you wondering if I even think its worth it to get to Africa, I would like to say that the moment the plane touches solid ground, I forget about the pain of the flight and am filled with joy for not only the fun experiences I know we will have, but for the work of God I will witness and the growth He will spur on in all of us through this trip.

So yes, there were some difficulties getting through customs, but being greeted by Jim, Michael, and the whole Mensah family as we stepped out into the humid (but surprisingly cool, considering our expectations) air, we quickly forgot our troubles. After a very bumpy ride to our guest apartments, they realized that our key was with a group who had gone to lunch about 2 hours ago and were still waiting for their food… oh African time ha. While waiting for them to return though, we had fun playing candy land, blowing bubbles, and playing our djembe with the Mensah kids—Joseph, age 5 and Essie (not quite sure on the spelling), age 9. Once the rest of the team arrived, along with some missionary friends of Michael who have a daughter about the same age as Hannah, we moved into our apartments living room just to hang out for a while. My mom was very excited to learn that the father in the missionary family went to the same high school has her and was a year ahead. The small world became even smaller as they realized they had lived one street away from each other.

With our stomachs starting to grumble since our last meal was the light airplane breakfast, the whole crew headed out to the mall where we had some chicken, french-fries, an interesting salad thing, and some rolls for dinner. Even though the name of the restaurant was different, it was exactly like a restaurant called Nando’s that our group ate at every day while in Botswana. After a bit of grocery shopping for breakfast foods for the week, we were half rocked to sleep, half jolted awake by the crazy road home. So, I guess it’s time for bed now and as my dad just said to me, “it’s nice to be here in Africa and feel so at home.” I couldn’t agree more. We go to bed excited for tomorrow’s church service and the incredible singing and dancing we know we will either eagerly jump into or unwillingly be pulled into :).

-emily