Evan and I left Thursday morning from Peoria at around 4am. Rich Hoyt was our gracious driver. We stopped for breakfast at McDonald's and enjoyed chatting with Rich who has served in Africa for decades. We made excellent time getting to the airport, through security, and to the gate. Our flight left at 11:30am.

Our first leg of the trip took us about 11 hours and brought us to Instanbul, Turkey. It felt like the middle of the night to our bodies, but it was breakfast time there in the airport so we found a little spot to eat and enjoyed some Turkish food. We had a very long lay over- about eight hours. Who booked these flights again? Oh yeah, I did. But it seemed better than the alternative options of a having a super short layover and getting stuck in an unknown African airport somewhere!

We had about a six and a half hour flight to Abujah, Nigeria. We had no problem getting our visas because Rachel did such a good job with helping us get the paperwork that was required. However, they did give us a hard time when they saw all the food and nutritional supplements that we were trying to bring as gifts for Rachel. However, after paying a "tax" they let us through and Rachel was there waiting for us with a driver named Albert. Don't you just love that name? I hear it's popularity is on the rise. (FYI my five-month-old baby boy is named Albert.)

We got to a guest house that was run by a catholic organization within a half-hour. We are just entering a rainy season and so we got to experience a beautiful lightning storm on our first night in Nigeria. We had nice rooms waiting for us, however the air conditioning didn't work. In ninety degree weather, that meant it was hard to sleep even as tired as we were. It's probably for the best though, because that was the only place all week that was going to have air conditioning. So it's better to get used to it right up front!

-Jimmy