Travel and first days

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Madrid
I left JFK at 10:15 on Wednesday evening and the plane ride was six hours to Madrid. I was able to sleep a little bit. Madrid was very nice. The weather was beautiful, it was about 88 all day that I was there. When I first got to the airport my terminal was about 25 minutes away from the terminal that I needed to leave the airport from. The airport provided a train and a bus to get to the other terminal, thank God I did not have to catch a plane right away. I arrived at about 11am in the morning and did not have to leave until 12:35 am the next morning, so that left me lots of time to roam around the city and take lots of pictures of the architecture. I was able to take the metro into the city and God blessed me with a girl sitting next to me on the plane who mapped out the route to get into the city on the metro and also mapped out the tourist attractions once I got into the city, her name was Maquela and this is a picture of us on the bus.

Once I got into the city it took me about an hour and a half to figure out how to get my money into Euros. The banks all close at one and I didn’t have any money available on my check card, nor did I call them to let them know that I would be traveling out of the states, first lesson learned the hard way. Once I got my money changed over I learned that the American dollar is not doing as well as I thought. I got two different exchange rates at Western Union and the first one was .70 Euros for one dollar and the second was .72 Euros for each dollar. I also discovered that it was very obvious that I was not Spanish speaking. I know a little Spanish and no matter how hard I tried they would still respond to me in English. It was nice that most people did speak English and I did not feel a horrible barrier but I just wanted one person to be fooled by my Spanish…no such luck. The architecture was beautiful and I took lots of pictures and the people were also very kind. I stayed in the city for about 8 hours and that was just the right amount of time for by the time that I had walked around all that day with my carry-on my feet were feeling overworked so I went back to the metro. This is one picture which I took, it is the royal palace (beautiful lamppost).

I got lost going in and had to go out and pay another Euro to get back in, but then I was able to find my way and get to the airport. I got to the airport with about four hours to spare before my flight left at 12:35 but the gate was not announced and I was really tired. I fell asleep sitting in a café and then I got up and went to a ‘VIP’ lounge and got a little more sleep there and by that time it was about 11 and the gate was announced. The people that rode the plane with me were very nice. I met a mother and a daughter coming from Ireland at the airport and then once I got on the plane I was sitting next to a woman from England (London I believe). They were both visiting family in these places but live in South Africa. The lady that I sat next to here name was Bev and we had very nice discussions. The plane was rather empty which was nice, there were probably about 40 people on a plane which fits about 150 so we all had lots of room to stretch out and sleep which was nice since our plane ride was 10 hours. I made myself comfortable and was able to sleep for a good portion of that time. I arrived to Johannesburg at about 10:45 the next morning (Friday) and everything went smoothly in meeting Bruce and Doris (the couple that I am staying with).

The weather here is much different than the weather in Madrid, it was about 35 in the middle of the day and got colder as the day went on. The ride from Johannesburg to Fouriesburg is about 3 hours, we stopped about half way for some food. Since it is winter down here the scenery is quite brown. In some spots you can see for miles and others are rolling hills and mountains. The villages that we passed on the way into town are very humbling, a great majority of the Africans live in shacks that they put together with whatever they can find, often with 10-13 people residing in a place which is about the size of a small living room.

Down here we drive on the ‘wrong’side of the road and the steering wheel is on the ‘wrong’ side of the car. The taxis that we passed on the road were like Volkswagen vans and they carry the people in the villages to town to buy their groceries and such. Some of the taxis we passed were carrying 15 or more passengers and there were a lot of hitchhikers along the road. When I got here I unpacked, ate dinner, did devotions, and tried to read a bit but I was apparently really tired because I fell right to sleep without any warning and woke up about a half an hour later to get up and go to bed.
The home where I reside:

5/20/06
I slept about 10 hours and it was beautiful. This morning we had the children’s ministry but since it was so cold and rainy there were only four children that came but it was still very nice anyway. We sang some songs and learned Hebrews 11:6 and a lesson on faith. The children were very cute and the picture below contains three children which you can pray for, they recently lost their father. He had surgery to remove a blockage in his heart and suffered from organ failure. He was the supporter of the family and now we are not sure how they are going to support themselves but they faithfully attend church with their mother. Cornelius is 16, Fortunitus is 12, and Shirley is 6. They also have an older brother named Shalom.

After the children’s ministry we traveled to Clarens which is about 20 miles up the road, it is a huge tourist attraction. We went to this nice restaurant and I have quiche, which was wonderful and some salad. The food they have been feeding me is very good and very healthy, what a blessing. Clarens is up in the mountains and I took a few pictures.

The scenery is very beautiful and it was a nice ride, while we were eating it started to snow but it was scattered with the rain. When we got back home I stamped a few copies of John and Romans which they have printed in four languages, African, Sesotho, Zolo, and English. Then I was able to sit down and write what I have promised all of you, I wanted to let you all know that I have arrived safely and I could feel your prayers the entire way because I was not scared or anxious at all, thanks so much.

Ok, sorry no photos yet, but that will be tomorrows battle.

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