The Journey Home

We arrived home safely and without any troubles at 7 PM Friday, Feb 13 - 42 hours after leaving the Galmi compound !! Thank God for safe travel and for our friends at World Medical Mission, MTS Travel, and Galmi-SIM for helping us arrange/reschedule our travel arrangements without a change fee of any sort !!!!

Initially, we had hoped to take the SIM-Air prop plane from Galmi back to the capital of Niamey on Weds morning. This is harmartan, dust season, and the plane was grounded Weds. morning. Later that day, they decided it was unlikely they could fly Thursday either. So, we made arrangements for ground transportation - Alan Waters,the Pharmacy Director whose wife Deb is from Grand Rapids, offered to drive us in his Land Cruiser. We set out at 7 AM Thursday for the 7 hour ride. The first 2-3 hours were slow over poorly paved roads with a lot of bumps. The rest of the trip was better with areas where we could go over 60 MPH !! Of course, Alan had to be careful because every so often, a herd of cattle or goats would cross the road, apparently oblivious to our approaching vehicle !!! And the dust made visibility rather poor - not that there was a lot of scenery anyways !!! Along the way, we saw a number of small villages/towns and some interesting vehicles.

After arriving in Niamey at the SIM guest house, we were able to do just a bit of souvenir shopping and enjoyed nice warm showers !! One of the pilot's families kindly invited us over for dinner. Then, it was off to the airport for our 12:40 AM flight. To our surprise, the plane from Niamey to Paris was quite full - a lot of folks had gotten on at the previous stop of Ougadouga, Burkina Faso. The 5 hour flight to Paris went quickly and was followed by a 5 hour layover - not much going on at Charles DeGaulle Airport at 6 AM !!!! The 9 hour flight from Paris to Detroit was almost empty. The Immigrations and Customs lines in Detroit were tiny and we sailed right through to our final flight to Grand Rapids, arriving at 6:30 PM. Just by chance, one of our prayer team members and another couple we know were at the airport and it was good to see them. Our son Ted picked us up and we were home at 7 PM BUT our bodies thought it was 6 hours later .......we enjoyed a nice long sleep in our own bed Friday night!

As I'm writing this, it is Saturday afternoon. We started the day with a nice walk in the snow with our dog, Yukon - Susie lay in the snow and made a snow angel!!! We have gone through the mail, enjoyed an hour at the YMCA, and done some basic grocery shopping. The contrast between what we have available here and what is available in Niger, one of the absolutely poorest countries in the world, is sobering.

We feel really blessed to have been able to spend a month at Galmi Hospital. Are we sad that we had to shorten our trip? -YES!!! But we believe that "all things work together for good" and that God's timing is perfect. While we do not know what the future holds, we know who holds our future !!

FINAL THOUGHTS

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:31

Rejoice in the Lord always, I say it again: Rejoice!

Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition,

with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your

hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, if anything is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable - if

anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.

Philippians 4:4-8