This is about a week late, but I was waiting for two things before posting. 1: What I am allowed to share publicly. 2: I’ve been sick for the past week, so I’ve been waiting until I feel well enough to post.
Okay, now onto the main stuff! We left Awakening around 9:00am and had crossed the border into South Africa before lunch. We continued driving until we reached the Johannesberg Airport, and that trip was full of games and audio books! We arrived around 4:00, and I took advantage of the Wifi to call my family.
We said goodbye to Alyassa and Jackson Foster, who’d been with us for the past few weeks and were going back to the States, then went through security. We had a few hours to kill before we could board, but I was quite tired, so I spent the time praying and reading.
At 9:45, we were boarding our flight to Dubai. I was praising God when I learned I got a window seat, and spent the 8 hour flight asleep, waking only to readjust or eat the dinner they provided.
Our morning started in Dubai, but we didn’t stay there for long because our flight to Singapore boarded an hour and a half after we arrived. Luckily, traveling through the airport went smoothly, and I was soon seated between Zach and Jess on our next 8 hour flight.
I was determined to stay awake for this flight, because I did not want to become jet lagged and thought staying awake during the day would help, so I played games and watched on the TV in front of me. It was only a struggle to stay awake once we landed in Singapore at 9:45.
We filled out our day pass visas, then we’re given freedom to wander the airport until midnight, when we were going to meet at the Starbucks to find a place to stay the night.
That place to stay the night ended up being within sight of Starbucks. I rested on the ground and tried to sleep, but I couldn’t actually fall asleep. I gave up at 4:00am, because Doves and Rivers left for Malaysia at 4:30, and I wanted to spend some time with them before they left.
The goodbyes had everyone in tears, and let’s just say I’m ready to see them again and for airports to become a place of hellos, and not strictly goodbyes. It helped that we didn’t have long to dwell on it, because us remaining teams had to leave by 5:45.
We took a shuttle to a ferry, waited a few hours there, then took an hour boat ride to the island where we’re staying. Our ministry hosts met us and drove us to our base, where we got a brief orientation. Even though we arrived around 9:00, everyone was so exhausted, it felt like it was dinner time!
The next morning was when I woke up feeling sick, nothing serious, just some sinus stuff, but that gets you all pretty caught up on what I can catch you up on!
I’m not going to share what we’re doing for ministry here (it’s pretty much combined from everywhere we’ve been before) but I’ll still post testimonies and what God’s personally been teaching me, maybe with a few funny stories of life on the Race thrown in there!
Curious to talk to you about Dubai. I wonder if you are going to places where Uncle Marty and Aunt Bevvy have been. Your travels sound exhausting. Putting in a lot of hours.