MEHANNA ROAD

Church:
Friends met. Hugs hugged. Prayers prayed. Goodbyes said.
We drove to the airport (after a roundabout stop at Tolson's for a instruction manual) and got all bags checked (with the appropriate liquids stowed and checked).

DFW:
Flight to JFK was mostly uneventful, leaving nearly on time, with a little turbulence.  Tim decided that the takeoff of the plane needed to be treated like a "hands-up roller coaster ride" and Mark joined in.  After a quick snack meal we arrived at JFK in New York after a 3-hour flight.  Tim and Markus were the first off and Tim ran to greet Jeff as a long-lost friend when Jeff came through the exit gate.

JFK:
New York is interesting -- lots of different people to watch in the terminals going from place to place.  A microcosm of humanity packed into planes and terminals.  Luckily for us, our deplane terminal was the same for our replane and our gate for Paris was only two gates away.  We did have to wait a little over an hour but enjoyed the time talking with one another.  The plane took off about 6:30 ET and flew out over the Atlantic Ocean with the sun setting behind us.   Our 777 jet across the Atlantic was mostly uneventful except for some pockets of turbulence.  At one point, the onboard flight tracker had our plane at 38,000 feet with the outside temperature of -76 degrees F.  That's cold.  Jeff pointed out that within 24 hours our outside temperature could be as high as 120 degrees -- nearly at 200 degree swing.

Paris:
We landed in Paris just after sunrise to an overcast, dreary and misty morning.  We took a roundabout bus ride around Paris' Charles De Gaulle airport while trying to move from Terminal B to Terminal C.  Apparently, the Parisians love their ride on the airport bus so it is made as long as possible for everyone involved.  Our layover was nearly four hours until our next flight so everyone took turns watching bags while other went to shop and grab some snack food.  After waiting for nearly four hours, our gate was moved to another about six gates down and then we were made to wait another hour.  Before we left, the guys thought it would be cute to make the ladies, who were away shopping/browsing, to think we had left them alone in the terminal.  So the guys gathered all the carry-ons and moved them behind an advertising sign then turned on the cameras to wait for the worried women to return.  Unfortunately though, the women were wise and didn't spring the joke like the guys expected.  The flight that should have left at 11:00 AM didn't leave the ground until nearly 12:30 PM.  Makes for a long night when you are still on Texas time.  Most everyone on the team took some time to catch a few winks while looking at much of nothing to see over the Sahara desert.

Niger:
I must admit, arrival in Niger was almost as hot a summer day in Texas.  The only difference?  Niger didn't seem to have the same choking humidity on every strained breath while outside.  Our flawlessly executed trip was brought to a screeching halt, however, when two checked bags were not found on the luggage claim in Niamey.  Mark and Tim had to fill out forms for Niamey security and Air France's records.  The soonest the bags might show up is Sunday -- three days later.  In the meantime, because of the baggage loss, we were the last ones out of the terminal when a guard approached and informed us he must check our bags. With a serious face he asked if we had any "pop-pop-pop" while making rifle motions with his hands and if we had any "boom!" while simulating an explosion with his arms.  We looked at each other and said "no" he started laughing and sent us through without searching any bags.
We got settled into the guesthouse and went to dinner at the Wombles who were also hosting dinner from another mission group from Jonesville, SC, who were on their last day.  After a great meal and fellowship, we headed back to the guest house for some much-deserved sleep.

In His service,
"The Seven"