FIrst entry for summer trip to Chad

July 7th 2010

Greetings in the name of the Lord! We have arrived safely. Thanks to God. Believe it or not, the hardest part of our trip was getting out of North Carolina. Our flight from Greensboro was delayed 3 hours so we would’ve missed the Atlanta-London flight. We were shuttled to Greensboro but missed the connection by 10 minutes. Our desk agent spent over 30 minutes on the phone (can you believe it? even gate agents get put on LONG holds), but was able to transfer us to another airline, we made London on time, were able to collect and recheck our bags, then Afriqiyah Airways delivered us uneventfully to Tripoli and then Ndjamena. The hardest part (other than the anxiety about getting to London) was the 5 hours in Tripoli with two tired boys (and two tired parents). We got through customs well, all our bags were there, including the oxygen concentrator, and the Propsts were there to meet us. They drove us to the guest house and we quickly fell asleep (3am local time, about 10pm home time).



This evening (still today) the Propsts had us and several other missionaries over to their house for dinner. We met Justin and Krista Clermont (Krista is one of the Propst’s daughters), Debbie and Laurie (teachers for the new missionary school), Naomi Duff (Northern Ireland missionary ministering to vulnerable women, mostly prostitutes), and some friends of the Clermonts visiting from the States. The boys played with the Clermont’s three boys. It was a wonderful dinner with great fellowship.



It was a busy day but we’re glad to be here and in God’s hands. Our initial impressions:

It’s hot. When the electricity works the fans help (THANK YOU for the battery fans!)

It’s quite a bit like Togo – the buildings, the heat, the French.

We heard our first call to prayer tonight.

Many head scarves and burkas.

The cheese and chocolate were well received.

I quoted Phillipians 4:16 in our last email before leaving and Cari reminded me about “not being anxious” several times during the trip (especially in the shuttle on I-85 trying to get to Charlotte). Let’s all give thanks to our God who has us in the palm of his hand!



Thanks to all for your support. We leave for Bebalem on Friday.