Melut!

We are here!

We left at 6:15am on Thursday morning the 21st of February. We had 15 kilos each as “carry on” with us when we loaded into the van and were dropped off at Wilson airport. After meeting our pilot and clearing Kenyan customs we boarded our small Cessna aircraft. It is a small unpressurized plane without a bathroom (something Flower-girl was quite fascinated by). We flew for several hours until we arrived in Loki (still Kenya). We exited the aircraft long enough to pick up our “found” cargo and get our exit visas stamped from Kenya. A few hours later we arrived in Malakal South Sudan. Here we were filling up on fuel and anticipating a swift stamp in our visa before heading to our next airport. BUT the “visa man” was out to lunch. After a delay of over an hour and a half he arrived and we were on  our way to Poloich. Our teammate, Eli, would have been waiting for us but his motorbike broke on the way to the airport so by the time he hitched a ride to meet us he arrived “just” as our plane did perfect timing! We arrived with one “finally” sleeping baby boy and a screaming five year old. Flower-girl had a hard time with the cabin pressure taking off and landing.

In Poloich we unloaded our planes payload and loaded it onto a large truck. Flower-girl, W-man and I sat with the driver up front and PJ, Eli and J– rode in the back with the payload. It took us two hours until we arrived in Melut (our driver was driving carefully with his load). Flower-girl was in tears when we arrived, we had been traveling for twelve hours and she was hot, tired and still getting over a cold but her tears quickly dissipated when we begin pulling into GTC. All the kids had gathered to welcome us in with drums, singing and cheering. They helped us unload and we quickly hung mosquito nets over the beds and mattress covers and sheets on before Eli and Bethany graciously had us over for dinner.

The next day J– strung electricity while we begin the daunting task of setting up “home” with our belongings.

Home. It is good to be home.

We love being here on GTC campus where the students and families are such a tight knit community.

The nile river flows by us a stones throw from our back “door”. Kuwajas (white people) are not often seen here (we had pictures snapped of us at market) but we feel welcomed. Right now it is 105.8 degress in our bedroom (and hotter outside). The kids haven’t complained once about the heat (good thing too as in the next two months it really becomes hot season here and will be much warmer). D-man has decided water is his friends on days like today so while I cook dinner he and W-man often play in the washbasins.

It is hot, life is harder out here, people are friendly and we are thrilled to be here. Pray for grace as we adjust to life, finish building our “home” and dive into language that our ears will hear what people are speaking and our actions will communicate our love and joy of being here even if our vocabulary cannot.