How long does it take to get to Mozambique?

Any guesses?

As our team set out from the Ministry Center in Northfield, Ohio, we set a timer on one phone, and we won’t press stop until we are all completely checked in and settled in Maputo. That way we will know our total travel time.   We’ve all taken guesses, so we’ll see who wins!

As for now we’ve completed fight one of three.  The flight from Cleveland to Atlanta was uneventful – other than my children. Ada (7 years old) spilled her drink on a stranger and Hezekiah (2 years ) made sure he introduced himself to every single person and tell them that he’s on an airplane. However, the check-in process was one we don’t hope to repeat.  It took two hours for us to check-in!  

Due to the size of our group, there were errors in the system regarding our checked bags.

Ultimately, we found out that our bags would not be checked all the way through to Maputo.  So, we’ll have to grab them in Johannesburg and recheck them.  There were also a few members of our team whose seats had not been assigned and so it took a while for us to figure it out.
 
But, we’re more than grateful for that to be the extent of our troubles in Cleveland.

Moreover, Pastor Valmir handled it all like the pro-traveler that he is, and while we’ll wait to see whether our bags await us in South Africa, Maputo, or somewhere else on the globe, everyone on our team has made it safely to Atlanta.  

It also helped that we were able to show up to the airport in plenty of time thanks to our wonderful “shuttle drivers”, Kevin “Big Dawg” Jones, Melissa Romanini, Debbie Fuhry, Beth Schmocker, and John Poling. And, we would not have made it out the door without the wonderful support of our “Mission Control”, Glenda Bolling and Dakayla Rasper.
Now we prepare for the most notorious leg of the journey...

From here we’ll take the 16 hour flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg airport.  All I’ll say is continued prayers are appreciated.  This is certainly the most difficult part of our journey, but we know the joys that await us on the other end!   The Chapel in Akron, who I’ve gone on this journey with for the past two years, is actually there right now in a separate village than the one we will be reaching.  This morning, I received a message from Jon Strong.  Here’s what he said:

Chase, be ready.....the Holy Spirit has come before us and the field is white for harvest indeed. House visits, random encounters on the street are all coming to Jesus. It's surreal....One old women said she had been paying for someone to come tell her about Jesus and then we showed up.  It's been so sweet. Travel safely!
 
I can’t wait for our team to experience stories like this. It’s stories like this that make the journey, whatever the length, 100% worth it.

So, Lord willing next time we post we’ll be in South Africa.  Then the next day we’ll fly to Maputo.

How long do you think the journey over will take in total?

Drop a comment below with your guess!