Sat afternoon Oct 30
We had to leave quickly once Pastor Peter and Donna arrived back. The children’s lawyer from the Ministry of Justice, who was in charge of writing the clearance letters, wanted to see Winnie. I quickly hugged and kissed Michael and said good bye and jumped into my place in the truck. I didn’t know then that it would be the last time I would see him before I left. I am thankful that I didn’t know, for both of us. Quick good byes are much less painful and God was merciful on me.
We picked up the children’s lawyer and took her to Winnie’s home. She asked the mother a few questions and saw Winnie’s condition. She agreed to write the clearance letter for her because she could see it was an emergency. She would not write Brown’s letter because his case is not as urgent.
We returned to the hotel late, tired and a little frustrated. We had hoped to eat at a Chinese place, but no one really had an appetite for it. One of the things that amazed and impressed me about my American teammates was their acceptance of unpredictability. There were seven of us and I don’t remember a complaint all week. We all went with the flow. No one demanded American “timeliness”. We trusted each other to do the best we could and that was enough.
I also continued to grow throughout the week in my respect for Donna. I am amazed at her ability to bring these multiple and diverse teams together. I was impressed with the cohesion of the American team. We got along really well. I was impressed with the board meeting and staff meetings I was part of. It seems that the common denominator is Donna, which has led me to say, “Any friend of Donna’s is a friend of mine.” I have rarely been close to someone as passionate and focused as she is. She has outstanding character and integrity. She is aware of her strengths and weaknesses. She brings out the best in the people around her. She is always challenging us to take the next step. Her excellence calls excellence out of us.
Sun Oct. 31
Two out of three ain’t bad. My top three desires for this trip were: seeing Michael, visiting Kpeletayama, and going to Pastor Peter’s church. I ended up spending more time with Michael than I had hoped for and I had a wonderful time in the village. But, because we didn’t have the clearance letters for Winnie and Brown, we would not be able to go to church. By Sunday morning I was so antsy, I had to do something. I already had all my things packed so I went with Pastor Peter and Donna for one last chance to get the clearance letters. We went to the children’s lawyer’s villa, the fanciest place I had seen anywhere for a long time, let alone in Liberia. How could this young woman relate to the poverty all around her? Anyway, after shuffling papers and playing on her laptop, she gave us the clearance letter for Winnie. Brown would have to wait.
We hurried back to the hotel. I had a few minutes to ask Peter anything I hadn’t thought of so far. I can’t remember anything we might have said.
We packed up our stuff, far less luggage than we started with, and prepared Winnie for the trip. We took some last pictures and headed out for the drive to the airport. I don’t remember much about the conversation. I do remember trying to enjoy every last moment.
When we arrived, everything was unloaded and the Americans went inside. Suddenly it was time to say good bye. I didn’t know that would come so soon either. Again, God’s mercy, I gave Peter, the friend who feels like a big brother, a hug and went inside.
Once inside, we checked our luggage, that wasn’t too bad. I waited for the Brussels office to open so I could find out if my missing luggage had arrived. Meanwhile, we discovered that the airline ticket that was supposed to be waiting for Winnie wasn’t there. Denise had to figure out how we were going to get a ticket and make the flight. It was really stressful. I did find out that my luggage had not arrived but I was given a contact name and number, which I gave to Peter later. I am still a little upset that I don’t know if my luggage will ever arrive. I will be so happy if Peter gets it soon. With the delays of getting Winnie’s ticket and waiting to talk to someone from Brussels Airline, Denise and I were just in time to get through security and make it to the shuttle to the plane, which is funny because it would be just as easy to walk to the plane as take the shuttle such a short distance, but they insist. As I took off my sandals to go through security, the strap of one of them broke. These shoes made it through the jungle, but airport security did them in.
Once on the plane, I see that I am seated in the middle of the middle row, my least favorite seat. I am not even close to any of my friends, which I don’t care about at the moment. When we finally took off, the plane got very dusty. I felt a little embarrassed. I’m sure the people next to me must have thought I was afraid to fly. Flying is overrated. We arrived in Accra, Ghana. I was unimpressed. The oncoming flight crew allowed us to sit together in the back of the plane with Winnie. We had enough seats to let her have her own seat to lay on. I sat next to Donna. It was good to have time to talk. I was emotionally spent again. After a glass of wine and Tylenol PM, I actually slept for most of the flight. We arrived in Atlanta. Leslie held Winnie and they put her in a wheel chair. The wheel chair got all of us through immigration and security pretty quickly. We met up with Kevin, Winnie’s host dad. Donna had to get her flight changed and Kevin tried to get an earlier flight. We said good bye and got to our gate a few minutes before boarding.
I had a window seat on the flight to MSP, that’s definitely my favorite. I’m not much of a talker on flights. I think I only exchanged a dozen or less words with the man sitting next to me, although he seemed very kind. I finished typing the notes from the trip and rested. I was really tired. At this point, I just wanted to get home.
Denise, Leslie and I arrived in MSP. It was cold. I did put on my shoes and sweater before landing, but that’s all I had. We made our way towards baggage claim where my enthusiastic family greeted me with flowers and plenty plenty hugs. It was good to see them. Everyone helped carry luggage and we all piled into the van. Mark dropped Denise and Leslie off on the way and we surprised my parents. It was fun to share my experience with them. I think my dad was still a little dumbfounded. He said, “Our family doesn’t do stuff like this.” Later Mark said I should have told him that now our family DOES do stuff like this.
I really believe we were all born with a need to do good. If we would step out, we would find what we've been made for all along. I'm not special. I'm not amazing. I just found the opportunity to do what I was made to do.
