No Turning Back

Good news - I made it to the ship safe and sound.  I got here Saturday evening and have slowly started to settle in.  Laura and I were supposed to meet up in Toronto and then make the long flight over, changing planes in Germany and then eventually ending up in Pointe-Noire.  Well, like many instances, things don't always go as planned.  Unfortunately, Laura's flight got delayed which forced her to miss the remaining connecting flights.  She's a trooper and somehow handled all the curve balls thrown and arrived last evening thank goodness.

Aside from that ridiculous hiccup, the flights on my end were pretty good - I don't really have any complaints.  Well actually I wasn't really a fan of the first plane I took from Connecticut to Canada.  I mean, I knew it was going to be a small plane because it was such a short flight - but propellers, really?? Thankfully I was able to settle down after a couple minutes of really psyching myself out.  I'm sure the flight attendant thought I was a little crazy because I pretty much bolted off that little thing. 



Other than that, it was actually kind of neat, I felt like I was sort of able to promote Mercy Ships during my travel.  While I was waiting in line to go through security at Bradley Airport, the gentleman behind me asked if I was part of Mercy Ships.  I had the privilege of telling him my little story and how I was actually on my way to my first field service in the Congo.  On my next flight, I sat next to a girl from Canada who was on her way back to medical school in Germany.  We had a nice little chat about working in the medical field and various mission trips.  Then while I was walking to my gate at the airport in Germany I spotted a few people who I thought might be potential volunteers.  Thankfully, my gut was right and they didn't think I was a complete creeper when I went up and introduced myself (well if they did, they didn't show it).  Before long, there was quite a group huddled around eager to board the long awaited flight to the Congo.  We piled onto a bus that took us over to the plane and loaded on up - there was no turning back now.

It was another long flight, but I managed to get a little shuteye so that was a relief.  As we sliced through the clouds the grounds of the Congo started coming into view.  I really didn't know what to expect; and at times I was quite surprised at the seemingly strong buildings that rose from the ground.  As we got a bit closer I could see that yes there were buildings and houses, but not all had windows.  Some areas looked like little villages with tiny shacks side by side.  The paved roads were a little surprising to see, but I quickly noticed the dusty clouds that rose up as cars sped by.  The grass wasn't very green on this side of the world...

As we piled out of the plane, man did it feel good to walk, I was immediately greeted with a somewhat familiar smell.  It was quite similar to the one I experienced after landing in Haiti - and I realize these countries are worlds apart, but I was instantly reminded of how lucky I am to have fresh air.  The things we take for granted...I'm sure that list will grow throughout these next few months.

Let me tell you, Mercy Ships has their stuff together.  There were representatives right there at the baggage claim immediately after we made it through customs, directing us where to go.  They navigated us to the land rovers that were waiting outside for us and shuttled us back to the ship.  It was only around 7pm but man oh man was it dark.  Cruising through the streets of Pointe-Noire with the windows down was nothing like cruising around in my jeep with my top down.  Although, I did see an advertisement for The Kardashians on MTV - made me chuckle a little bit.  People were hanging out along the streets, enjoying the somewhat comfortable temperatures.  After about 20 minutes of driving - and I'm talking no lanes, anything goes kind of driving - we thankfully made it to the port.  I was pleasantly surprised to see the amount of security we ran into.  At the gate entrance to the port there was security standing guard and checked all our passports.  Then as we got closer to the ship there was another line of security we had to check through.  Then we even got ID badges that we have to scan when we get on and off the ship. 

We made it.  We tumbled out of the land rover and emptied our bags and stood in awe of the former train carrier turned hospital.  I had many times throughout this trip that I questioned if what I was doing was right.  Should I really be leaving my family?  Should I really take this much time off of a well paying job that I love?  What am I doing in AFRICA?!?!  But then I looked up and saw the Africa Mercy.  At that moment I realized that I became a part of something great.  I am supposed to be here after all.