Hey Friends,
From the start, I want to be transparent: this email might feel more like a therapeutic session than an inspirational email about missions.
Our departure from SeaTac Airport in Seattle, Washington resembled that of NASA’s struggle to get our astronauts outside Earth's orbit, almost like it was never meant to happen.
The journey began promisingly enough, with us boarding our first flight on schedule. However, just 15 minutes after settling into our seats, we received the dreaded announcement: we needed to deplane due to a fuel issue. After a thirty-minute delay, we reboarded, only to find ourselves grounded for another hour. Then, a voice crackled over the intercom: "Dear passengers, we regret to inform you that, due to exceeding FAA regulations, our departure window has closed. A new flight team will need to take over, resulting in the cancellation of this flight. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience."
Despite all these hiccups, we did our best to roll with the punches and keep a Christ-like attitude—emphasis on "did our best." We hunted down alternative routes and made some big changes to our plans, just trying to keep things on track amidst the chaos.
Our connections to Johannesburg were already quite tight, and our schedule upon arrival was packed. We planned to rent a large van and embark on an eight-hour drive north to the top of Kruger Park for a self-guided tour to the south gate before meeting up with Pastor Surprise in Nelspruit. Landing in Johannesburg meant sacrificing a day to travel, so a 24-hour delay would entail rebooking our rental car and rearranging our rest camp accommodations in the park.
Andrea took charge, diligently researching alternative routes from Seattle to Johannesburg. After much persuasion, she managed to secure us a flight departing six hours later from Seattle via Paris en route to Johannesburg. However, there was a hiccup: someone forgot to inform our luggage of all the changes, and it ended up on a different path, passing through Atlanta before reaching Johannesburg, where it sat in airport purgatory for about 72 hours. We scrambled to cancel and rebook reservations, making significant adjustments to our plans. Finally arriving in Johannesburg, we found ourselves waiting in a customs line for over three hours, with around eighty-hundred people funneling through only three customs agents.
However, amidst all the chaos, we found ourselves cruising down the rugged gravel roads of Kruger Park, living out of our backpacks, where we narrowly avoided running over a massive Black Mamba Snake. As if on cue, a gang of misfit giraffes swaggered onto the road ahead of us while another group blocked our path from behind, bringing us to a standstill. Meanwhile, a friendly ostrich casually munched on tree leaves by the roadside, and we stumbled upon a lion couple enjoying a siesta in the shade, with the female lion gracing us with a curious glance. At one of the campsites, a family of hippos lounged in the pond just outside our sleeping quarters, serenading us with their grunts through the night and serving as our unconventional alarm clock the next morning.
There is no place on Earth like Africa—the diverse terrain, the captivating wildlife, the rhythmic music, the spirited dancing, the infectious smiles—all woven together to create a life-changing encounter. And the revelation always hits differently: you can travel to the farthest reaches of the globe, and you will find brothers and sisters in Christ. We're not just part of something grander than ourselves—we're part of something downright epic: the vast, extraordinary, and super cool family of God.
We are deeply grateful for your prayers and emails and for sowing into this trip! Your support has been instrumental in our journey and we couldn't have done it without you. Thank you.
I'll provide more details in a separate email about our time with Pastors Surprise and Tryphina yesterday. But for now, please pray for us today as we travel across the border from South Africa into Mozambique.
With love and blessings,
Darren and Family