God is good...

...All the time...Praise the Lord...Amen


The last 24 hours have certainly been heart stopping!!

I arrived safely in Lome yesterday morning to be met by Gerard and Fidele, friends from the Methodist Church Headquarters here in Togo. It was great to see them again and I am very grateful for their help with all things french.

So after settling in to my hotel Fidele took me to the KLM/Air France offices to confirm my ticket flying out on 6th Sept (tonight!) as it had been changed in Accra...something that I thought would be pretty straight forward. But no it did not turn out that way!! The lady we spoke to informed us that I did not have a reservation despite what it said on the sheet I was holding and the plane was full to capacity...no seats what so ever. The only thing I could do was have my name put on the standby list and pray...after that there next availability was 16th September!!! I could not believe what I was hearing!! I was so glad to be able to laugh about it...if I hadnt I think I would have went mad! And the lady did manage to smile and laugh a little when I asked was there no seat what so ever...what about the pilots...could I have his seat??

So we left the office and I was in a slight state of shock...all we could do was come back this morning ay 9.00am when the offices opened and pray there was a move on the standby list. We headed to the Methodist Headquarters to tell Gerard the news and he was just as shocked. We started to think of plan b and he rang around some other companies to see if they had any flights leaving Lome this weekend for Paris. We found one with Air Ivoire leaving on sunday night so i provisionally booked a place on it...just in case nothing came of the stand by list!! That was all I could do, so I can honestly say last night was not the most restfull of mylife so far!! Most of it was spent on the internet (thankfully my hotel is fully wireless) looking at ticket possibilites as I was not totally convinced by the Air Ivoire choice having looked at the itinerary more closely. There were about 3 stops - the first being in Accra!!! Then somewhere like Abidjhan before a stop in Paris which then went on to Paris!! 24 hours in total to get to Paris...not exactly something to look forward to!! So not only that my mobile battery was fast waning and well my charger was broken!! I had not expected to be making so many calls and texts between Accra and Belfast as Janet quite rightly put it, it was like something out of a horror story...lol!!!

So I slept some and was up and ready to leave for the KLM offices at 9.00am!! I actually felt so ill on the way there and sitting waiting for our little number to come up to see if I was coming home or not!! Then it was our turn...Fidele and I made our way to the desk for what felt like judgment - yes you allowed in or no sorry your not coming!! Praise God it was a yes!! The lady who dealt with us yesterday seen us and smiled saying 'oh its you, yes your on'. I dont know what happened, if someone cancelled or what and well it doesnt really matter anymore cause I have a seat on the flight :) it was the miracle I and many people had been praying for, for me! Such relief I do not ever remember feeling before...I'M COMING HOME!!! So with Fideles help I was ticketed for the flight and she managed to help me find a phone charger...amazing!! In a couple of hours I will be on my way to the airport extra early - there will be no stopping me getting on that plane now and I will still be praying right up until I touch down on the tarmac in Belfast tomorrow night!! :)

So a big thank you to everyone who was praying and standing with me, it is so appreciated and for all the texts, facebook messages and phonecalls of support and well wishes, they were amazing.

I'll be seeing you all so very soon!