I am on my final flight home! And I am so ready to just be on the ground. I have spent the last 36 hours in the air and for the last 48 hours I had about 3-4 hours of sleep! So I am extremely exhausted to the point that I am slightly delirious and find everything extremely funny.
We left the Envision center around 5 on the 12th and headed to the airport. Everything felt extremely surreal. Especially when it came time to say goodbye. Pastor Jacob prayed for us and then the hugs were exchanged. I tend to be a chain cryer so once I saw Mama Mer with tears in her eyes I lost it. In Gabon we said goodbye to Mama Mer, Papa Tim, Jon-Marc and Heather. So with tears shed the first round of goodbyes was complete and was extremely hard.
We boarded our plane and for the first part of the flight we were able to sit near eachother because all the rest of the people would be getting on in Accra Ghana. So I sat next to Nate and then Drew came up to join us. Caitlin, Morgan and Brittany were just across the isle. We had to make the most of the time we had left together. As the plane took off my good brother Nate did his best to keep me calm by telling me a story about his grandpa and corn. I guess it was a pretty good distraction and rather random which describes Nathan completely. Once in the air Nate has this crazy, he-can-fall-asleep-instantly-anywhere skill, which I am rather envious of seeing as I can’t fall asleep on a plane for the life of me. So he was out without a few minutes. I spent the next hour or so talking with Drew. We were both extremely tired and out of it so our conversation was fairly random but it was great to get to share with each other what the Lord had showed us in our time in Gabon. I am always inspired and challenged by the things my brothers and sisters say. So I really just appreciated that we got to get to know each other better.
When we arrived in Ghana we moved back to our assigned seats and the plane filled up. The next 8 hours I spent watching “The Last Song,” listening to my Ipod, journaling, and just processing all that was going through my mind. We also ate a meal at some point in time. When you travel everything kinda meshes together. Anyways by 5am the next morning I felt like death. And pretty sure I looked like it too. :) They fed us breakfast and we arrived in Frankfurt shortly after that. I had the craziest realization as I sat there staring out my window at 5 am and it felt like a ton of bricks fell on top of my head. I am actually going to college in 3 weeks!!. It really didn’t set in until that moment and it was the strangest feeling in the world. There has been so much going on in my life the past 5 months that I have literally felt like my life is on pause and I am in a dream and now college feels the same way. I am not exactly sure when reality will set in. So that was just a Woah! Moment for me early in the morning.
We got into the airport and the next round of goodbyes began. Each time just as hard if not harder as our family got smaller and smaller. First Liz left for Chicago then after an hour as a group of siblings we found a place and stood together holding hands to pray. We did it Gabonese style, all at once, and as sad as that moment was I will always remember it. We then said goodbye to Drew, Nate, and Bethany and bahhh goodbyes are so sad. Its insane to leave a place so full of love and unity where we were bound together in Christ. It was then time for Cait and I to board to Chicago and we said our final goodbyes to Morgan, Mariah and Brittany. And onto the plane we went. It was a total act of God that me and Cait got to sit next to each other and truly a blessing from the Lord. We were able to spend the next 8 hours reminiscing and processing things that the Lord showed us while in Gabon. There was a German lady sitting next to us and I will never forget the moment that Caitlin was cutting a white layer off her cheese and the lady asked, “What are you doing to your cheese?” All I could do was die of laughter as tears flowed and wouldn’t stop. I could just imagine how American we looked not knowing anything about their cheese. She was a very sweet lady and we had some great conversation with her throughout the flight.
We arrived in Chicago around 12:40 and Caits plane was due to leave in about 1 hour and 20 minutes. I am not sure why they thought that was a good idea. Because we had to go through customs, move our bags, then take a train and then go through security before we were even by the gates. Cait went ahead of me and so I eventually found my gate and thought she made it. Until I received a phone call from her. I wandered my way up to find her since I had about 4 more hours until my plane left. Liz finally found us and was incredibly hyper but it was just good to see her face again. We spent the next hour getting Caitlin on standby and getting stared at by some old man due to the fact that Liz was going crazy and I was so tired and had a bloody nose so I was just enjoying Liz’s randomness. Their gates were on the opposite end in another terminal so I journeyed with them to say goodbye. We prayed together and Liz got on her plane. Then we went to see if Cait could get on standby and unfortunately she didn’t get on the first one. By the time I walked her to a different gate I had to leave. I am praying that she is on her way home! I know how bad she wanted to just get home. But I was encouraged when she held herself together as we remembered that the Lord was in control and that He had his reasons beyond our understanding. I love Caitlin so much and saying goodbye to her was extremely hard! I just wish I could have stayed to make sure she got onto a flight home. I miss them all so much already!
So now I find myself here writing this. And I am not sure how I feel emotionally right now. The last 36 hours has been torture saying goodbye to some of the most amazing people I have met in my entire life. They are truly friendships that will go beyond this summer and transform my life. I guess the best way to describe what I am feeling is excitement to see my family and friends! and share what I am feeling but as for leaving Africa and those people I just feel numb. Like I will wake up tomorrow and see them all again. And even in the hurt of the numb I know that the Lord has filled me with His peace. I am not sure how the transition will go but I want God to set me on fire as the verse in the bible says, “Iron sharpens Iron.” This last month was something special, the greatest summer of my life and I will NEVER forget it. I truly look like I have been traveling for 36 hours. I have shed sweat , blood and tears… no joke. I don’t think my nose has appreciated the change in elevation and I have had three bloody noses today and some of it is on my shirt. And then my head just decided to get a cold and my throat is sore. I think my body is ready for some real rest! And so am I.
I was completely exhausted as my plane landed and I made my way up the escalator to baggage claim. I then saw my parents, Kevin and Patti Craig, and Kristy holding a sign that said, "Welcome Home Mufasa" All I could do was smile and hug them! I missed them all so much! Then Brandi, Shannon and Kayla came out of nowhere and attacked me from behind sending me over board as tears flowed from my eyes. I really didn't know what to do with myself. I love them all so much! It meant so much to see all of them. And to visit with them a little bit on the way home. We made the 10:30 ferry home. My parents so generously brought me a piece of "Adam's Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Ripple Cheesecake and I had some of it tonight with a cold glass of real milk. It was unbelievable.
I feel so blessed right now. By all of you and by all that God has revealed to me. Your prayers and thoughts were with me the entire time and they truly surrounded me with the Lord’s protection. I want to sincerely thank you for following me on this adventure of a life time. I have felt God place it on my heart to continue writing. So as I leave for college I have decided to keep a blog. It will not be an everyday blog but a weekly blog about how the Lord is revealing himself to me and where I am finding Him. So If you are interested I would love for you to follow along. As I share my thoughts and spiritual challenges in this turning point of my life. I have really enjoyed writing and I hope that you enjoyed reading them, I realize that they were a tad long at times. Thank you. I will be sharing at church and youth group sometime soon if you want to come and hear more stories and see some pictures. I don’t know exactly what I will share but I know that the Lord promises to speak through us if we look to Him. I love Jesus. I love all of you. I truly think that Love is the greatest ability that the Lord gave us as humans and the greatest way to spread the Good News. So may you be filled with the same love and peace that I feel right now in this moment.
God Bless and Goodnight!
I will be writing on this one a few more times before I switch to the new blog . Thanks :)
We left the Envision center around 5 on the 12th and headed to the airport. Everything felt extremely surreal. Especially when it came time to say goodbye. Pastor Jacob prayed for us and then the hugs were exchanged. I tend to be a chain cryer so once I saw Mama Mer with tears in her eyes I lost it. In Gabon we said goodbye to Mama Mer, Papa Tim, Jon-Marc and Heather. So with tears shed the first round of goodbyes was complete and was extremely hard.
We boarded our plane and for the first part of the flight we were able to sit near eachother because all the rest of the people would be getting on in Accra Ghana. So I sat next to Nate and then Drew came up to join us. Caitlin, Morgan and Brittany were just across the isle. We had to make the most of the time we had left together. As the plane took off my good brother Nate did his best to keep me calm by telling me a story about his grandpa and corn. I guess it was a pretty good distraction and rather random which describes Nathan completely. Once in the air Nate has this crazy, he-can-fall-asleep-instantly-anywhere skill, which I am rather envious of seeing as I can’t fall asleep on a plane for the life of me. So he was out without a few minutes. I spent the next hour or so talking with Drew. We were both extremely tired and out of it so our conversation was fairly random but it was great to get to share with each other what the Lord had showed us in our time in Gabon. I am always inspired and challenged by the things my brothers and sisters say. So I really just appreciated that we got to get to know each other better.
When we arrived in Ghana we moved back to our assigned seats and the plane filled up. The next 8 hours I spent watching “The Last Song,” listening to my Ipod, journaling, and just processing all that was going through my mind. We also ate a meal at some point in time. When you travel everything kinda meshes together. Anyways by 5am the next morning I felt like death. And pretty sure I looked like it too. :) They fed us breakfast and we arrived in Frankfurt shortly after that. I had the craziest realization as I sat there staring out my window at 5 am and it felt like a ton of bricks fell on top of my head. I am actually going to college in 3 weeks!!. It really didn’t set in until that moment and it was the strangest feeling in the world. There has been so much going on in my life the past 5 months that I have literally felt like my life is on pause and I am in a dream and now college feels the same way. I am not exactly sure when reality will set in. So that was just a Woah! Moment for me early in the morning.
We got into the airport and the next round of goodbyes began. Each time just as hard if not harder as our family got smaller and smaller. First Liz left for Chicago then after an hour as a group of siblings we found a place and stood together holding hands to pray. We did it Gabonese style, all at once, and as sad as that moment was I will always remember it. We then said goodbye to Drew, Nate, and Bethany and bahhh goodbyes are so sad. Its insane to leave a place so full of love and unity where we were bound together in Christ. It was then time for Cait and I to board to Chicago and we said our final goodbyes to Morgan, Mariah and Brittany. And onto the plane we went. It was a total act of God that me and Cait got to sit next to each other and truly a blessing from the Lord. We were able to spend the next 8 hours reminiscing and processing things that the Lord showed us while in Gabon. There was a German lady sitting next to us and I will never forget the moment that Caitlin was cutting a white layer off her cheese and the lady asked, “What are you doing to your cheese?” All I could do was die of laughter as tears flowed and wouldn’t stop. I could just imagine how American we looked not knowing anything about their cheese. She was a very sweet lady and we had some great conversation with her throughout the flight.
We arrived in Chicago around 12:40 and Caits plane was due to leave in about 1 hour and 20 minutes. I am not sure why they thought that was a good idea. Because we had to go through customs, move our bags, then take a train and then go through security before we were even by the gates. Cait went ahead of me and so I eventually found my gate and thought she made it. Until I received a phone call from her. I wandered my way up to find her since I had about 4 more hours until my plane left. Liz finally found us and was incredibly hyper but it was just good to see her face again. We spent the next hour getting Caitlin on standby and getting stared at by some old man due to the fact that Liz was going crazy and I was so tired and had a bloody nose so I was just enjoying Liz’s randomness. Their gates were on the opposite end in another terminal so I journeyed with them to say goodbye. We prayed together and Liz got on her plane. Then we went to see if Cait could get on standby and unfortunately she didn’t get on the first one. By the time I walked her to a different gate I had to leave. I am praying that she is on her way home! I know how bad she wanted to just get home. But I was encouraged when she held herself together as we remembered that the Lord was in control and that He had his reasons beyond our understanding. I love Caitlin so much and saying goodbye to her was extremely hard! I just wish I could have stayed to make sure she got onto a flight home. I miss them all so much already!
So now I find myself here writing this. And I am not sure how I feel emotionally right now. The last 36 hours has been torture saying goodbye to some of the most amazing people I have met in my entire life. They are truly friendships that will go beyond this summer and transform my life. I guess the best way to describe what I am feeling is excitement to see my family and friends! and share what I am feeling but as for leaving Africa and those people I just feel numb. Like I will wake up tomorrow and see them all again. And even in the hurt of the numb I know that the Lord has filled me with His peace. I am not sure how the transition will go but I want God to set me on fire as the verse in the bible says, “Iron sharpens Iron.” This last month was something special, the greatest summer of my life and I will NEVER forget it. I truly look like I have been traveling for 36 hours. I have shed sweat , blood and tears… no joke. I don’t think my nose has appreciated the change in elevation and I have had three bloody noses today and some of it is on my shirt. And then my head just decided to get a cold and my throat is sore. I think my body is ready for some real rest! And so am I.
I was completely exhausted as my plane landed and I made my way up the escalator to baggage claim. I then saw my parents, Kevin and Patti Craig, and Kristy holding a sign that said, "Welcome Home Mufasa" All I could do was smile and hug them! I missed them all so much! Then Brandi, Shannon and Kayla came out of nowhere and attacked me from behind sending me over board as tears flowed from my eyes. I really didn't know what to do with myself. I love them all so much! It meant so much to see all of them. And to visit with them a little bit on the way home. We made the 10:30 ferry home. My parents so generously brought me a piece of "Adam's Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Ripple Cheesecake and I had some of it tonight with a cold glass of real milk. It was unbelievable.
I feel so blessed right now. By all of you and by all that God has revealed to me. Your prayers and thoughts were with me the entire time and they truly surrounded me with the Lord’s protection. I want to sincerely thank you for following me on this adventure of a life time. I have felt God place it on my heart to continue writing. So as I leave for college I have decided to keep a blog. It will not be an everyday blog but a weekly blog about how the Lord is revealing himself to me and where I am finding Him. So If you are interested I would love for you to follow along. As I share my thoughts and spiritual challenges in this turning point of my life. I have really enjoyed writing and I hope that you enjoyed reading them, I realize that they were a tad long at times. Thank you. I will be sharing at church and youth group sometime soon if you want to come and hear more stories and see some pictures. I don’t know exactly what I will share but I know that the Lord promises to speak through us if we look to Him. I love Jesus. I love all of you. I truly think that Love is the greatest ability that the Lord gave us as humans and the greatest way to spread the Good News. So may you be filled with the same love and peace that I feel right now in this moment.
God Bless and Goodnight!
I will be writing on this one a few more times before I switch to the new blog . Thanks :)
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