Pastor David had said that we would need to leave by 5am to get to the airport by 8, to be in time for my flight which was due to depart at 10. His wife was taking me, as she works at a school in the city and he had commitments in his home area. The idea was that she would take me to a certain point in the city, and then hand me over to Pastor George who would then take me the rest of the way to the airport by cab. So I set the alarm for 4 and was all packed and ready to go by 4.30. We got away just after 5.
I could not believe the amount of traffic on the road at that early hour. Even though the area where David lives is considered to be a rural district, it is actually a city in itself, and there are other city areas between it and the main city of Accra. Traffic crawled along, not helped by various drivers who stopped in the middle of the road to buy from the street sellers.
I did my “good baby” thing and slept for a large part of the way, but when I woke up I realized that our time was pushing out beyond where it should be. By the time we reached the handover to George, it was already 7.30. I had no idea how long it would take to get from there to the airport, but I figured it was probably going to be more than half an hour.
Again, the traffic crawled at hours per kilometre rather than kilometres per hour. Anxiety was rising in me, and I kept trying to fight it down: God is in control; I am not going to miss the plane; God is on the throne.
Eight o’clock came and went. Likewise 8.30. By now I was losing the battle with anxiety. We arrived at the airport at 9. George came with me, and when we came to the check-in desk the girl told us, “Sorry, it’s closed. You should have been here an hour ago.” Some quick talking from George (I was soooo grateful for his presence) convinced her to check me in anyway. Then I needed to get to the gate quickly. They recognized that I probably would not be able to move fast enough, so they put me in a wheelchair with a guy to push me. A quick good bye to George and a promise that next time I will come for a month, and we took off. He whizzed me through all the formalities and we arrived at the gate just as boarding was about to start. I ended up actually being the first person on the plane!
That was the closest call I ever want to have with a flight!
The trip to Monrovia involved two short flights, first to Abidjan (Ivory Coast) and then from there to Monrovia. Ivory Coast is French-speaking, and hardly anyone at the airport spoke English. The board which is supposed to show the departure gates had no gate shown for my flight, so I sat and played games on my phone, hoping that the info would go up closer to the time. Instead a guy came through announcing that the flight to Monrovia was departing from Gate D (which of course was downstairs) NOW. Rush to get down there as quickly as possible, co-opted a guy to help with my bag, and made it to the bus which was taking us to the plane.
Every flight I have taken for at least the last 20 years, I have had to get a seat-belt extender. This time, as I pulled the belt out to its full extent I thought, That might actually fit. And amazingly it did. I was chuffed! I don’t know whether my moderate success in observing an 18:6 intermittent fasting routine has had some results, or maybe the passive exercise I get being driven over rough roads (I feel like a rag doll when going over these roads. Every one of my wobbly bits wobbles in a different direction.) Or it could be just that Air Cote D’Ivoire has longer seat belts than most planes. In any case, it was a really pleasant surprise.
Another pleasant surprise came when I reached Monrovia. Because I am slow on my feet, I always end up at the end of the queue for Immigration. One of the officials saw me, pulled me out of the line, straight through all the formalities, grabbed my bag for me, and had me out of the terminal in minutes. He then asked if I had someone picking me up, and when I said yes he took Pastor Mac’s phone number and called him to make sure he was on his way. Then he found me a chair so I could sit while I was waiting for Mac to arrive. Honestly, I felt like royalty!
Pastor Mac came with Pastor Daniel and also another pastor who is not yet part of the network, Pastor Brook. For most of the time here I will be staying with Pastor Mac, but because for this first week I am going to be doing a conference with Pastor Daniel at a place some distance away, they have arranged somewhere for me to stay this week.