Traveling Mercies

I woke up at 5am to make sure I could say goodbye to my brother.  I finished up the last packing tasks, said my goodbyes to Alivia (those puppy dog sad eyes are REAL!!), and we were off by 11am, arriving at the airport by noon.

I put my bag up on the weighing stations.  57.5 lbs.  Sorry ma’am, unless you want to pay $200, you’re going to have to rearrange your items.  I had another bag that was under 50lbs so I wasn’t worried.  However, when I looked online the night before, it said I could have a bag up to 70lbs.  But I didn’t argue, I just asked if they could take the weight of both bags into consideration.  “No”. 

Ok, what to move around?  This suitcase is my “mission bag” filled with many items for people in Rwanda and Kenya and different projects.  I had it all sorted and then the lady finally gets completely into the system and was like, “oh.  It looks like it’s not going to charge you for the extra weight.   Would you like to put anything back in the suitcase?”  Again, I rearranged some items that I really wanted to make sure wouldn’t get damaged because my other bag was my airporter with my backpack.  I was finally checked in!

My mom, uncle and I waited an hour and then I decided I better go through security to make sure everything I had would go through okay.  (I had some musical items for a friend in Rwanda).  Everything went well.  No extra checks, Praise God!  I got to my gate and my first flight of three was delayed by an hour.  Thankfully, I had a two-hour layover for my connecting flight.  As time passed, we were told that the plane was coming in later.  They started calling names and giving people new connecting flights.  I was strangely calm.  I did message some friends to pray that I make my connecting flight, which might have sounded like anxiety, but it was more like urgency for prayer because I know it works!  As I was sitting there, a couple I had been chatting with since they arrived were starting to get very anxious.  Pray for them.  There was another woman sitting there who was also anxious but trying to hold it in.  She just found out her mom, who was on vacation in Florida, was having a medical emergency and was trying to get there.  Her connecting flight left even before mine.

God is so good.  The plane that came in was not our original plane, but was going to take us to Dulles.  On the plane, it ended up that I was sitting across from this couple I met.  And my seat partner?  Yeah.  You guessed right, Stephanie, the one trying to get to her mom.  We didn’t talk much as first, but I felt her anxiety rising.  The anxious leg shake.  Wanting to get to her mom in time, as she had been admitted to the hospital and was getting a lot of tests done because they thought she had a stroke. 

After fighting it (the fear of man), I put my hand on her leg and asked if I could pray for her.  I asked for her name and her mom’s and I prayed.  For peace. Comfort. Healing.  Answers. Ability to make her flight.  As I was done, tears were running down her cheeks.  We ended up having a lot of conversations about family, our jobs, the WR, Africa… 

Surprisingly (or not), our connecting flights were in the same general area.  You know that scene on Home Alone where the family is running through the airport to make their flight?  Yes.  That was us.  The good news?  I got some nice cardio in.  I’m so thankful for lungs, legs, and breath!!  I made my connection with time to spare, so I know she made hers too. 

The rest of the travel day(s) went well and God kept planting people for me to talk to.  On my next flight I sat next to a woman who needed loved on.  She was going to meet her fiancé who she never met in person.  She spilt her soda (thankfully most of it missed me and my belongings). She didn’t have her phone charger. She needed help with the movie selection.  All which I graciously loved her through and shared what I could. 

After we landed and as I was waiting to be shuttled to my terminal, I met another girl who was going to Uganda.  She was meeting up with her fiancé.  You could tell she was filled with Jesus just by all of her interactions.  We ended up talking about the world race and my time now in Africa.  It was such a life-giving conversation.

I finally met up with Ashley, as our last flights worked out to be the same flight!  Praise God again!  

We didn’t sit next to each other, but were blessed again by the people we sat with.  I had lots of conversations with the guy next to me.  Planting seeds one by one.

Our flight arrived in Kigali.  Excitement arose!  We are back!  Because of the Coronavirus, we had some extra “screening” which was just asking us some questions.  And then the wait in the passport control line.  God was teaching me patience, because my line was moving at a snail’s pace.  But I knew it would only be a matter of time before I was reunited with my family in Africa.