Tuesday, October 23 11:45am
We made it safely to Project Mercy last night, arriving around 8pm local time.
Everyone enjoyed the uneventful flight from Dubai into Addis where we were greeted by Deme and the Project Mercy drivers, as well as some old friends.
The task before us was to try to get all 38 pieces of luggage through customs. After several hours which included some tense moments including having passports held, some item by item searches through team medical bags, we were able to load the team bus and truck with 33 of the 38 pieces. The remaining 5 bags were held by the customs officials while awaiting clearance from higher authorities to allow us to have the bags.
Phil Strong, Sarah Finnegan, and Deme remained in Addis overnight in order to try to shepherd the bags through the approval process. The remainder of the team loaded onto the two team buses and began the trek to Project Mercy.
We were protected on the way - one of the bus tires began to come apart en route. Our excellent driver was able to sense the problem, pull over, and change tires - all at night, in the Ethiopian countryside. Having a blowout at speed could have been a very big problem - as we have sensed throughout our preparations and travels, we were protected by a very big God.
Being delayed in customs and by a busted tire, we made it to PM later than we had planned (again, our agenda is written in pencil and held loosely!). We enjoyed an excellent dinner of soup and salad followed by a very meaningful time of devotions.
Sleep came easily and we awoke this morning ready to begin the setup for our pediatric clinics and work in the hospital.
More to come on today's happenings (they're happening as I type!). Pray for continued safety, endurance, and health for the team. Most of all, pray that we would be open to what the Lord has for us to learn and become.
MVN
We made it safely to Project Mercy last night, arriving around 8pm local time.
Everyone enjoyed the uneventful flight from Dubai into Addis where we were greeted by Deme and the Project Mercy drivers, as well as some old friends.
The task before us was to try to get all 38 pieces of luggage through customs. After several hours which included some tense moments including having passports held, some item by item searches through team medical bags, we were able to load the team bus and truck with 33 of the 38 pieces. The remaining 5 bags were held by the customs officials while awaiting clearance from higher authorities to allow us to have the bags.
Phil Strong, Sarah Finnegan, and Deme remained in Addis overnight in order to try to shepherd the bags through the approval process. The remainder of the team loaded onto the two team buses and began the trek to Project Mercy.
We were protected on the way - one of the bus tires began to come apart en route. Our excellent driver was able to sense the problem, pull over, and change tires - all at night, in the Ethiopian countryside. Having a blowout at speed could have been a very big problem - as we have sensed throughout our preparations and travels, we were protected by a very big God.
Being delayed in customs and by a busted tire, we made it to PM later than we had planned (again, our agenda is written in pencil and held loosely!). We enjoyed an excellent dinner of soup and salad followed by a very meaningful time of devotions.
Sleep came easily and we awoke this morning ready to begin the setup for our pediatric clinics and work in the hospital.
More to come on today's happenings (they're happening as I type!). Pray for continued safety, endurance, and health for the team. Most of all, pray that we would be open to what the Lord has for us to learn and become.
MVN
