welcome to Africa

This email is being written from an Internet cafe in Liberia, West Africa. Crazy, huh?

After two days of travel I have been tagged with a Mercy Ship ID and given the key to my room for the upcoming year. Already, I have seen a series of Divine intervention as I had at least four near misses with disaster during my travel. For example, yesterday I spent a day in Brussels, Belgium while en route to Liberia. My two traveling buddies (Lyndsy from New Jersey and Kassi from Canada) and I went to the city to do a bit of exploring. I didn't feel comfortable leaving my electronics's in the hotel room so I decided to carry them in my back pack. It seemed like a great idea.

Until then the rains came down and the floods came up, leaving my friends and I to run through the flooded streets of Brussels in torrential rain. Our attempts to utilize public transportation failed and we all ended up looking like we had jumped into a pool. With my electronics.

Fortunately, I had with me the professional rain jacket my parents gave me for my birthday. It was my laptop/cameras/ipod's salvation. I owe my dad a huge thanks.

Overall, I have no complaints. Both flights were comfortable and uncrowded. There were seven Mercy Ships ladies on my flight from Brussels to Liberia and six out of seven were nurses. The African airport was hot and uncomfortable, but we all went through customs without any problems (well, I almost wasn't allowed to take my baggage because I couldn't find my baggage ticket, but that really doesn't count. However, I did break into a cold sweat).

When landing in Monrovia, I sat by the window I could view the city as we landed. However, all I saw was miles of open green land intertwined with dirt roads and a few thatched roof houses and run down buildings. We drove about and hour from the airport t oreach the ship. Soccer is obviously popular as a view six or seven makeshift games along the roadside. There were also interesting signs accompanied by simple pictures with statements such as "Woman can contribute" and "Real men don't rape".

My room is much larger than I anticipated. It is by no means roomy, but I do have more storage space than I did at Bible College.
I love and miss you all. As soon as I set up my laptop I will send some pictures. Have a lovely evening.