What a Week

@ the Airport -> training
Bamako - Going through the airport was quite amusing. As soon as we got out of the car someone said my African name so I answered in Maninka, the guy just looked… (yeah I don’t think he was talking me) then kept on walking. Once we got in other people kept greeting us and even found out our African last name and every one w/ that last name stopped to greet us. Through every stop – check in, boarding, shuttle bus… there were people that stopped to greet and even blessed us, which made going through the airport pretty easy and hassle free…

Niger - So we didn’t have a visa to get into Niger… but Praise God we didn’t have too much trouble getting in. At the airport there were some workers who could speak a little English, and were kind to show us where we needed to go. By the time we got to the immigration office the one picking us up could speak French and was able to take care of it all. We had to leave our passports with them and fill out some papers and pick it up 3 days later.

One Story Training
It was great hanging with Q3 and Judy and the Stringers. Along with the Forts, Jesse and Emily, and lovely volunteers that so happily cooked our meals PRAISE GOD again for them. The nights of competition in badminton, and b-ball were also very enjoyable and entertaining. And I got to see some camels (didn’t ride on one… maybe on another day) and about 47 giraffes.

The training itself had parts that were challenging, sometimes tiring, but for the most part it was encouraging and a blessing, and I really enjoyed going through and learning from the stories.

@ the Airport -> home
So our flight was scheduled to leave at 8:50p so we got to the airport around 6:30p, then had to wait a little while to finally be able to check in, and a after checking we notice on our tickets that they changed our time to leave to 11:50. So we waited a while… then when we were finally able to go through customs and board we still waited a long while at the gate. We finally took off around 1:30am and got to Mali around 2am – Mali time. (Niger is 1hr ahead) After getting our things and a cab and then our key we finally got to the guest house by 3am - I was knocked out and got to sleep in – Praise God!!!