Traveling Troubles

Before I write a post about how marvelous it is to be IN IRELAND and one step closer to home, I really want to tell you about my traveling troubles and why I'm quite proud of myself for overcoming them. Before I left for Mombasa, I was nervous.Scared. Terrified. What if my plane crashed? What if I missed all my flights? What if all my stuff got stolen? These were the kinds of thoughts that were flooding my mind as I prepared for my journey. When I was dropped of at the Mombasa airport and left to fend for myself, new fears came up. What if I wasn't allowed out of the country? What if something went wrong? As you can tell, I was really trusting in Jesus and thinking positive thoughts. Finally, I decided that if something did indeed go wrong, I might as well be on everybody's good side. So everywhere I went I was bright and cheery and as adorable as I could possibly be (I toned it down a little after a Kenyan guy started relentlessly flirting with me. Actually I toned it down all the way because I pretended to be asleep for the entire plane ride.)

Anyways, I landed in Nairobi and had a seven hour layover (from 9pm to 4am) during which I Facebooked and smiled and had a lovely chat with a girl who reminded me vividly of Luna Lovegood and of Stargirl. Then it happened. My worst nightmare came true. I was feeling so happy and quite prideful that I'd gotten myself this far when, at the imigration desk, those fateful words were uttered. I had smiled and had attempted to be as perky and as nice as was possible at 4 in the morning, but the man at the counter crushed my joy by tersely informing me that my Kenyan visa expired one month ago. My face crumpled and I stammered and let out an immature but quite understandable tear or two as I racked my brain and thought of all the terrible things that awaited me. A massive fine? A lifetime in JAIL?! My terror and distress must have been transparent because the man actually looked taken aback. He then condescendingly explained what had happened, looked concerned for me, let me say a few things, and let me go. No fines, no jail, no missing my flight. Nothing. My smile returned and up the escaaltor I went, completely aware that Jesus had rescued me from (maybe not a lifetime in jail) but a pretty sizeable fine. From then on in my travels I went to the Lord about everything!

I was feeling sick and cramped and clausterphobic on my flight to Istanbul, and I prayed that maybe during the next flight there wouldn't be anyone sitting beside me (kind of crazy since the flights are usually packed) because I'd love to have some space to spread out. And, of course, during the flight to Ireland there was nobody next to me and I was able to sleep happily for almost the entire time. Then, I got held up at the Irish immigration desk (seriously?!) and after stuttering and wondering if I'd be sent back to Africa, a peace came over me and I figured out what to say and (after lots of complications) got through.

All that to say, God is good all the time! I love Him and I LOVE IRELAND.