you try traveling with 20 people

We left India in the middle of the night. Arriving to the airport the scene was a little scarce. We were the last people (of 20) at the check in counter. We loaded our luggage and silently prayed that we wouldn’t be over the allotted weight. We are traveling with a lot of bags from a lot of women. And we have heaps of medical equipment and gloves that come along with us. Naturally, the weight is something we must consider. After all our bags were placed on the counter the gentleman behind handed me a small piece of paper. 103kgs and a price to go with it.

I don’t understand?

“This is how much your luggage is over. The plane is about to leave, are you going to pay the price or do you want to remove some of your stuff?  I am giving you 10 minutes and then I am closing this window.”

I’ve never heard an Indian be so direct before.

Ah, what to do? Either we pay $2,600 dollars that we don’t have or we need to lose some luggage. Thankfully, I am traveling with an incredibly gracious group of people. Within 5 minutes we had removed 40kgs. That’s pretty impressive, but it wasn’t enough. We began to throw our boxes of sterile gloves, knowing we didn’t have anything else we could lose. We begged the manager and people behind the counter to donate all the gloves to the government maternity hospital. They obliged. We began to pray as we continued to remove things from our own luggage. The manager continued to look down at his watch ensuring me that the plane was about to take off. After a few more mere moments, he looked up and said, “ok fine, I will allow you to take the rest of the luggage through. Just get to security already!!” ....So he let us in with an extra 60kgs of baggage! Talk about grace. And just because God is so generous with us, the manager found me a couple minutes later and let us know that he was donating all but one of the boxes of gloves back to us.

Thank you, Lord! Thank you, India.

Because we were already (apparently) late??? we were pushed through security and walked immediately onto the plane. I was one of the last to get on, we thanked all the staff that let us have our gloves back and the extra baggage and then stepped onto the plane. Of course we are all seated on the back so we pushed through the crowds and the screaming children and the man who always takes too long perfectly situating his suitcase in the overhead compartment and then …finally…we found our seats. I looked for a place to put my carry-ons (which had now just increased in order to lower the weight from my luggage) but there was no space left. Before I knew it though the plane was already moving!! …and I was still standing!

“ma’am, you’ll just have keep your luggage on your lap. Please take your seat.”

I squeezed into my middle seat with two bags and pillow and I just barley taken my seat and we were already in the air.

Contemplating the fact that I am leaving India? There’s no time for that. I felt like I was on rollerblades the whole time in the airport and now here I was already leaving the country I have grown to love so much.  I was already in the air and I didn’t even remember walking into the airport. Now I am going to Africa and my whole world is going to change.

I am reminded of a song by Misty Edwards, who is in fact quoting Jesus when she sings,

“Take up your cross

Deny yourself

Forget your father’s house and run, run with me.

You were made for abandonment and wholeheartedness

You were made for Someone greater, Someone bigger

So follow me

And you’ll come alive, when you learn to die.”

So I am following now. From one country to the next -aware that I must choose to deny myself, be abandoned and wholehearted and run with the One who leads into what’s next. 

packing up in India

Arriving to Tanzania