Ghana - The Beginning

Like any mission trip, there were bound to be some problems... changes in plans and interesting adventures. It's just we expected them to be IN Africa - not the US.

Problems started when JD arrived at the airport to be told the ticket I paid for had been revoked for credit fraud and she would have to by a new ticket in order to board the plane.

Umm... WHAT!!!

Of course, she just pulled out her wallet and gave them the money in cash, cause it was just that easy. NOT! Time was running out and she in Portland was trying to get this taken care of as not going was not even an option. Meanwhile I was at the airport in Detroit trying to get things figured out as well.

Darn. I should have taken the Xanax already.

Amazingly, just in the nick of time and thankful for that running training, they were able to board the plane. And we thought the flight issues were out of the way...


Upon arriving in D.C. we learn that Debra's flight has been delayed due to a hydraulic part needing to be flown in. So Joshua, JD and I settle into the airport to wait and pray Debra makes it.




Just prior to boarding that night, Debra arrives. Now we are ready to get on our way. The airport is really empty this time of night and so we quietly board the plane. Everyone gets on and all the carry-on luggage is stored. Some people have already fallen asleep.

The dreaded announcement: Sorry, but we will be deboarding the plane as there is a problem with the hydraulic system. We will update you as soon as we can.

We all get off.

Flight postponed until 4pm the following day.

Vouchers in hand we all head down to catch the shuttle to our hotel. It's cold out and we are not dressed for this weather. We wait..... and wait...... and wait. Until there are only about 10 people left. The hotel shuttle came 2 times in 2 hours. While we waited we did make some friends with some very "friendly" Ghanian guys who all worked together. There is something about experiencing a common setback that brings people together.

Finally we arrive at the hotel only to discover that everyone who arrived before us still appeared to be in line. We walked down to the end, getting more frustrated and exhausted each minute. In an hour it seemed like we hadn't even moved.

The dreaded announcement: Sorry, folks, we are out of rooms. We will be taking you across the street to another hotel.

It is now about 2 a.m.

Joshua in the hotel lobby waiting for our rooms

By 3 a.m. we FINALLY were able to crawl into bed and sleep.

The next morning we worked on trying to communicate with our contacts in Ghana to rearrange the details and headed back to the airport. Praying we would leave this time.

At 5 p.m. on Sunday we finally took off and 10 hours later we landed in Ghana.


(to read JD's account of our trip visit here to read)