We're here -- elated but exhausted!

We have reached the school campus in Ouagadougou where we'll be staying for the next ten days (save one nignt in "the bush").  Having just finished off our delicious first meal (hamburgers and fries, courtesy of Alice and the kitchen staff), and waiting for my turn at the shower, I thought I'd take a minute and give you a quick update of what the last two days have held for your Burkina team!

We started with a long van trip through the devastated state of Virginia.  There were lights out and trees down in almost every area of the state, which experienced an unusual (and deadly) storm they're calling a "land hurricane."  The traffic issues that resulted delayed our arrival at the Alliance Church Center in Oakton, VA.  This trip also featured Pastor Paul darting in and out of Fairfax County traffic while Tom somehow managed to follow him with the trailer attached -- they've changed almost all the traffic patterns since I was last there!  But Praise the Lord -- when we finally arrived, the church was one of the few buildings in the area that had not lost power.  The younger team members spent time playing soccer, foosball, and ping pong, as we all got settled, and Paul spent some time catching up with this old friend Philip, who arrived in time to let us in.

Our night was not very restful, it being a strange place, and all of us so wired for the trip.  Rodney B. thoughtfully brought ear plugs for all the guys so he wouldn't keep us up snoring.  Then, ironically, poor Rodney never went to sleep (apparently he was getting stereo from Tom and Keith).

Anyway, at about 8:30 am, we got on the vans for Dulles, which was almost a ghost town on Sunday morning -- no problems at all loading/unloading.  Our plane was delayed a little, but not enough to make a difference -- that came later!  It was fun watching the look on Audrey's face as she felt the thrusters kck in for the first time for takeoff (she had never flown before)!  However, the 12 1/2 hour flight took its toll on all of us -- the cabin was very hot and kind of cramped -- very difficult to fall asleep, and most of us never did.

On arriving in the very cool-looking mountain-nestled city of Addis Ababa, we were rewarded with one of the highlights of our day -- a blast of cool wind as we descended to the tarmac in 60 degree temperatures!  But then the fun began.  First Tom Talmon cleverly found a way to enter the gate area and bypass security (we're not sure exactly how!).  Fortunately, we got him out of there before he boarded the connecting flight to Johannesburg.  Then, we suffered through a series of delays, the last one causing us to have to disembark the plane and come back into the terminal.  That's where I borrowed a laptop from a French lady we had been talking to and did a quick fb update.  Somebody must have prayed, because immediately we were let back on the plane, and we experienced no more delays the rest of the trip.  We arrived in Ouagadougou about 6 hours late, but on the plane, Tom struck up a conversation with a guy who visits Ouaga often and knows (guess who!) Pete Brokopp very well.  This guy (and that's his name:  "Guy") not only helped us fill out the immigration forms, but he introduced us to a man from the US Embassy who happened to be at the airport right when we arrived.  Thanks to these two guys and Pete, we had by far the easiest and quickest customs experience that any of us had ever experienced!

From there, Pete and his cousin John Arnold drove us in vans (luggage precariously loaded on top as we whizzed around corners and dodged thousands of crazy mopeds) back to the campus where we'll be staying and working for the next few days.  I won't even try to explain to you our first impressions of Ouagadougou -- that would take all night at this rate, and you'll hear more late -- but for now, you'll have to be content with Tom's first impression:  "I feel like I'm in a movie!"  Please praise the Lord with us that we are all here and safe.  We will probably be able to make an update at least once a day, so check back often!

We miss you all -- keep praying!

Pastor Paul