The Other Side of the World, The Other Side of the Road

Wow, what a day (or so) of travel!  We are now on the other side of the world, driving on the other side of the road!  What a world we live in where that is possible so quickly.  I don't think there is really any way that it could have gone any better!  We left Regina at 8:50 AM on Saturday, hit all our connections through Minneapolis and Atlanta perfectly, with comfortable time to spare for meals. We arrived in Johannesburg at 5pm Sunday ending our 16 hour flight from Atlanta on time.  I'd like to check the fuel gauge on that one!  Thank you for your prayers for our flight connections and safety.  Ardon already said, and I agree, that "you can tell that was a God thing, having everyone from across North America make all their connections with all their luggage!"  Thank you Lord!  How sweet it was to pray together as a group with our sisters and brothers in the Lord in the boarding area of the Atlanta Airport as we embark on this mission together!

Some quick highlights from our travel!
1-Taking a picture of our Canadian component of the team, with Ardon on the other side of the glass (because he didn't want to be late).
2-Feeling like the plane was going to skid out of control as we landed in Atlanta. No comment by the pilot but something did not go as planned
3-Finding the members of our team in the Atlanta Airport, and feeling like you were reuniting with long lost friends, whom we had never met before!
4-Praying as a team in Atlanta Airport and again once the whole team was together at the Lodge.
5-Eating three meals and two snacks on one flight, along with reading almost a whole book (yes, me reading), plus two movies.
6-Basically being robbed at the airport by a pushy helper who assisted us in loading our trailer with our luggage and then aggressively looking for tips while suggesting "20, 20, 20".  I feel good he only got ten bucks from me, but he walked away with several twenties before we even knew what hit us!
7-Three hour van (or shuttle bus) ride to Shikwaru Lodge in the dark, that felt oddly like our shuttle bus ride to Hermosillo on our Mexico Missions Trip.
8-A hot meal, that was waiting for us on our arrival, along with the African hospitality to wind up our day!

How exciting to be here and to meet together to learn about the ministry we will start tomorrow.  Here we have the freedom to share our faith in the schools and to even speak individually with kids, including praying with them to accept Christ as their Savior. We are happy part of the team came early to prepare for tomorrow.  We will be in a nearby middle class school of 800 kids (K-grade 7). A local church is sponsoring/partnering with this school to bring Centershot Clubs to the school as a continuing outreach to share Christ with them.  Tomorrow starts with an Assembly at the school where Christ will be shared. The rest of the day is our teams way of introducing all the kids to this opportunity, by letting them try archery.  We start early with a 5:30 breakfast and then off to the school to set up!  Our goal is to have 800 kids shoot 4 or 5 arrows each with our instruction.  We could use a little prayer!  But do it Sunday night before bed or it will be over when you get up in Canada on Monday morning. We are 8 hours ahead of you all.