Off to Malawi!

We have made it safe and sound to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia! Of course, there were a few snags along the way where the Lord showed us some awesome favor! We BARELY made it to the ticket counter on time in Washington DC. For those of you who are familiar with traveling, each passenger is only allowed to check 2 bags with them for the flight. We had 5 people...and 13 bags (tons of supplies, sound equipment, etc,). Also, each bag is only supposed to weigh 50 lbs. or you have to pay an extra fee. Pastor Mike was trying to be a bit smooth as we weighed our bags and was hanging them off the end of the scale so they wouldnt appear to be as heavy! But, more than half of them were over 50 lbs...normally, we would have had to pay TONS of fees due to the extra bags and extra weight. However, the Lord hooked us up! After speaking with the nice people from Ethiopian Air, we were only charged for 2 extra bags (not even our 3rd extra bag)...THATS IT! No extra weight charges, etc. AMEN!

Getting through security was also a challenge. We TOTALLY forgot that Crystal had a whole bunch of medicine and supplies in her carry on bag...liquids, needles, syringes...all the good stuff! Of course, we were stopped...just as we thought everything was going to be taken away, we all stood off to the side and began to pray. You can guess the rest...we got to take it ALL with us! GOD is GREAT!

During the REALLY long plane ride to Ethiopia with a quick stop for gas in Rome, we were able to meet many different people and explain our trip to them. One of them was a man named Amobley, who is living in Richmond but is going home to Rwanda for a month. After our chat with him on the plane, we found out he was staying at the same hotel as us for the night during our layover. During our conversation, we found out that his brother is HIV positive, and he is really struggling with his sickness. We also found out that Amobley is a believer, but couldnt remember a time where he prayed to give his life to Christ. During dinner, we had the chance to minister to him, and we prayed with Amobley for him to give his life to Christ...right there at the dinner table! We also prayed that he would be able to minister to his brother John in Rwanda and that he would be healed. God is already doing some powerful stuff!

Well, we are off to the airport to fly to Malawi. There we will meet up with Danny and Lindy, stay the night at one of the local pastors homes, then drive to Mozambique in the morning. As for prayer requests, please continue to lift up safe travel, healthy bodies, and for us to have a passion and energy to communicate the GREAT NEWS OF JESUS CHRIST everywhere we go! Also, please lift up our new friend Amobley and that he will be on fire for the Lord!