News and Notes - July 5

Our daughter Sara arrived yesterday, along with 13 others on the early team for the medical mission. I can't even begin to describe how wonderful it was to hug Sara that first time after not seeing her for a year! We drove to Livingstone to meet the group. Their tickets had been redone to fit the new airline schedule, so they had to fly into Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, and be transferred by a tour company bus to the Zambian side. They almost made it through the Vic Falls airport without incident, but Star Ferguson got stopped with her four bags of pharmaceuticals, and the customs people couldn't let that go without a hassle. To ensure that the drugs were only in transit and would not be sold in Zimbabwe, customs required the tour company to post a deposit. Then the deposit was refunded at the border.

Sara also ended up with one piece of luggage missing. It seems that the bag never made it onto the plane when she checked in at the DC airport! She brought two suitcases--one with her clothes and one with items to give to us--and the one with her clothes is the missing bag. The airline agreed to send it to the Livingstone airport, and we're hoping it will be here before the weekend.

For the trip from Livingstone to Kalomo, the medical mission group traveled in a 24-passenger bus owned by the Mission. The bus pulled a small trailer that held most of the luggage. We were following in our truck with the rest of the baggage. As the bus made its way over and around the huge potholes in one stretch of the highway, a tire on the trailer blew out. This pulled the bus off the road onto the shoulder and gave driver Klay Bartee a chance to show off his driving skills as he managed to keep both bus and trailer upright! A quick tire change and we were on the road again.

As soon as we arrived at the Mission we headed out to Jordan Rock for the traditional Fourth of July wiener roast. Hot dogs, potato chips, Cokes, and ice cream are especially welcome treats over here! Just after dark we returned to the houses to get everyone settled and found the campus completely dark--no electricity--so another set of guests got the candlelight tour as they found their rooms. This proved to be a relatively short power outage since the lights came just a couple of hours later.

We're thrilled to have friends and family here as we get ready to set out on the medical mission next week.