bloom to love

Kenya, Africa

July 7 – July 22, 2009

.the journey begins.

from the very beginning of the trip, including getting our flights in chaotic “order”, His hand was in, over, and throughout every intricate detail. after arriving at McGee-Tyson Airport at 8am to check our luggage, we were asked if we had a Visa for Ghana since we were to have a 36 hr lay-over in the city. our response to that, of course, was no. we were unaware of needing a Visa b/c we were only in transit to await our flight to Nairobi (not to mention the fact that our flight schedule had been changed 3 times in the past 2 weeks and we were honestly just glad to have our flights scheduled and “in stone” a week before we headed across the world to a country to which none of us had ever travelled). much to our surprise, we were told that unlike Kenya (where we could receive our Visa upon arrival), there was a 48hr pre-approval requirement to obtain a Visa for Ghana. too bad we were to land at the Ghana International Airport in less than 24 hours. thank God, however, the lady with Delta that was helping us figure everything out, started making phone calls and had our flights rebooked to make it so we would only have a 12hr lay-over in Ghana, and therefore, be able to land and get off the plane without headache. not to mention, we’d be arriving in Kenya a day early. thank God for iPhones at this point, because i had to send Denise an email to let her know that we were going to be arriving in Nairobi a day earlier than expected. things were looking good 🙂

while on the first flight from Knoxville to Detroit, i kept feeling the urge to read Psalm 91. because i had come to find that when the Lord lays something heavy on my heart, i should probably obey without hesitation, i opened my bible to Psalm 91 and began to read…only to be stumped, amazed, taken back, and thankful to read the very first verse. Psalm 91 states, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.” you see, a week or so before the trip, i began to notice shadows as i went for my walks/runs in the park…it was kinda strange b/c the shadows of the trees, branches, birds flying overhead, flowers, weeds, etc began to really stick out to me. i wasn’t sure the reason at the time, but in asking God why i was noticing all these shadows, He told me that even though i may not always tangibly feel Him there, He’s still there in the shadows…still shading me and protecting me from the scorching sun…still ever present and guiding. Not to mention, i had noticed that i had been looking at the clock at 9:11 several times in the past few weeks leading up but wasn’t sure the exact reason just yet. and the fact that a week before leaving for Africa, while making a journal for my friend jenny, i was told by another friend, ashley, to find a cut-out of a bird and use the her favorite verse of Psalm 91:4. upon opening my bible to read the verse, a picture of a bird was marking that exact page…a piece that i had torn out of the Metro Pulse about 3 months prior and just stuck ‘randomly’ in my bible. when i pulled the “bookmark” of the bird out, ashley and i just laughed and sat in awe of how awesome God is. of course i would already have a picture of a bird cut out and placed in my bible to mark the exact page of the verse to which Ashley was referring. 🙂 anyway, all that to say, everything was fitting together that God really wanted me to know Psalm 91 to the core.

On our 2nd flight from Detriot to NYC, i had a seat next to a woman from Barbados whose name was Mavis. we started talking right away, and i loved hearing her share her stories about how the Lord had healed her 3 different times and how in the process, several people around her and the situations came to know the True Savior. i’ll hopefully remember to share her stories more in depth soon. she began to encourage me about my time in Kenya and stated that i needed to know that, “no illness or disease will come nigh thy dwelling.” after saying it a few times, (i guess she could tell by the confused look on my face that i didn’t really understand) she explained that “nigh thy dwelling” meant that no illness or disease would come into me or near me…that i was protected. although i didn’t realize it at the time, Mavis’ words brought sooo much comfort to me several times throughout the trip. it wasn’t until i was back in the states and reading Psalm 91 more in depth, that i noticed that Psalm 91:10 in the King James translation states, “There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.” wow…God is surely good 🙂 there again i can all the more say with confidence…no such thing as “random”.

while on the same flight, our plane was deterred to Pennsylvania d/t weather and after arriving in PA developing a maintenance issue in the cockpit, we ended up missing our flight from JFK to Ghana and had to be rebooked for the next day at 5pm to fly out. so much for arriving in Kenya a day early. again, thank God for iPhones at this point b/c i had to email Denise and hope and pray she would get my message that we would not be in Nairobi 24hrs ealier, and would instead land as planned from the beginning. after sitting on the floor in the JFK airport completely exhausted, we finally decided to get a hotel for the night and ended up extremely thankful b/c our beds in the hotel were the most comfortable beds any of us had ever slept on in our lives 🙂

we got on our flight as scheduled the next day and arrived in Ghana on time to endure our 12 hr lay over in the unairconditioned international airport where we slept in shifts on hard plastic chairs that made us appreciate the hotel beds the nite before all the more! (we later found out that President Obama was to arrive at that exact airport within the next 12-24 hours. too bad we missed him.) we made it on our flight into Nairobi and landed right on time…i can’t even begin to describe how relieved i felt when i saw Denise and William’s smiling faces standing outside the airport. thank God they had received my emails about all the crazy changes in our flight schedule, right? well, let’s just say, thank God our flight from NY to Ghana was missed and pushed back a day to get us in Nairobi as scheduled from the beginning. Emails from the US to Africa apparently don’t exactly travel as fast as they do from state to state. all that aside, we had arrived. we were safe.

to be continued…