Greetings from Africa!

We made it indeed. It was a LONG trip to get here, but tonight we are enjoying the comforts of our apartment and a home-cooked meal. Our apartment is nice and the people are absolutely the most welcoming I've ever met. London was brief but fun and yes I did get fish and chips. Between the two flights of 8 and 6 hours I only slept a total of about 5 hours. I took a nap this afternoon and then we went to the afternoon support group. It was amazing. I wasn't prepared for it, being sat in the very front facing everyone (over 100 patients easily) and then being asked to share a little about ourselves. We were then asked to speak some words of encouragement if we wanted, and I actually felt inspired to do so. Maybe it was because the woman who was translating what we said in our intros told the crowd that I looked like Jesus, or maybe it was that the guy who asked for the inspirational words was looking me dead in the eye almost the whole time he was talking. At any rate, I basically said that although they were honoring us that we were very appreciative of the opportunity that they were giving us to be there and that even though we're Americans and they're African, we are all brothers and sisters. I know it's super cliche, but there was a very strong sense of community and family in that room. It quickly turned from being nervous about looking out at them all to looking them in the eye and sharing a smile. It was pretty darn powerful. I didn't take the camera for that leg of the journey, but I've gotten shots of lots of other stuff from London to the drive up. I wanted to experience this first hand without the distraction and I'm very glad I did it that way. I can't even imagine how the rest of the week will be! I feel kind of weird being on the internet, so I'm going to close this out. Thank you all for your prayers and support! God be with you!