Life on the road

Since I, Rev. Michael (as they call me in Malawi), am only with the team for a week or so, I have volunteered to give our first travel “update.” Be forewarned, the updates will likely grow less frequent as we make our way further and further from any consistent access to the internet ☺.

Everyone is doing quite well, and the travel thus far has been of the best kind: uneventful. Well, minus one small glitch. As we were checking in at the Tulsa airport, Sue (the very nice United Air Rep.) informed us that our flight was going to be delayed at least 1 ½ hours, which then meant we would miss our connection in Chicago on to London. Sue worked her magic and moved us to American Airlines, so before you know it, we were booked on a flight to Dallas and then to London from there. We literally walked off the plane in Dallas, rode the sky tram around to our terminal, and walked right on the next flight.

I reminded the team that “we go nowhere by accident…” and already a few of them have had good conversations with seat-mates about where they were going and what they were doing. While discussing HIV/AIDS, one person asked Austyn if she had any moral dilemmas in helping people who, themselves, had acted immorally to contract HIV/AIDS, to which she replied, “didn’t Jesus offer healing to others regardless of their moral character?” Nice.

As I write, our 9+ hour lay-over in London is nearly complete. We had plenty of time to venture out of the airport, and hopped a train from Heathrow to Picadilly Circus to begin our brief self-guided walking tour of Central London. We made our way through the Theatre district, down to Trafulgar Square, and then stopped at the Tesco to grab sandwiches, chips, cookies, fruit, and beverages for a most-wonderful picnic in St. James Park! It was very fun and quite spontaneous, actually. After dodging squirrels and pigeons we walked down to Buckingham Palace and then back on the other side of the park up to Parliament square, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey. The time went fast, but it was a relaxing way to spend the day.

Many thanks to everyone for your constant prayers and support. I’ve led several teams over the years, and I mean it when I say this group has a great disposition and openness to the Lord’s leading. They get along very well, travel with ease and a sense of great flexibility, and they love to laugh together. All of these attributes will enable them to flourish over the next two months.

“Commit your way to the Lord; Trust in Him and He will act: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noon-day sun.” Psalm 37:5-6