God places people at the right place and at the right time. I am a living witness to this. God wants you to be where you are, for you or for someone you don't know or do know. Just ask God to reveal to you why you are there or surrender yourself to Him to use you as He wills. This is my longest blog and i might never have one as long as this one ever, mark the word MIGHT.
Well, let me get to my story, we got to Washington Dulles, so late, just in time for our connecting plane to Philladelphia,. I already told you about how I barely knew where I was going in Addis Ababa, but when I got to Washington, I am positive I did not know anything that was going on, that place is huge. We had to run all the way, because apparently we were late for the plane, and then we didn't have time to check in our luggage, the one that you check for all the way, some how it got dumped at Washington and we had to check it in again but we didn't have time and they told us to make it carry on luggage. Without time to argue, we were made to throw away every liquid thing we had like lotion and everything they thought was heavy or not supposed to be on the plane with people. We protested but who argues with immigratiion people,?(a lesson I learnt) with fear of being deported, we gave in and they threw away our possesssions, and in my heart I was going, I just spent alot of money on this in Malawi, but yeah. I remember some lady was checking us in, she called someone and told him to help us, she couldn't do it anymore, it was stuff about our accents or whatever but I know she was making fun of us. I felt heat rising up my veins but I had to be humble and polite and I knew I had left Malawi
We were rushed through and we were told to go upstairs. Guys, go upstairs is not as easy as it sounds, when you are going up and down elevators and escalators. I felt like I was going down all the time but people said it was up, technology hey, and I felt silly. We kept asking and we met people who never said anything and but others did, thank God. I remember at some point we got stranded and this other man just came to us, asking us where we were going and we said upstairs., hahaha, he looked at our boarding passes and he said we had to take a train, I mean seriously, how does someone take a train inside an airport. We did, a train that i never saw it's driver, and this man left us in the hands of some lady who took us upstairs to the spot we were supposed to be. Upon getting there, we found that our plane was delayed. I was so tired, for some reason, I failed to sleep throughout the way in the plane, and i was so looking forward to my last plane ride of the day and it was night. However the plane was delayed. I was so overwhelmed, the technology this side was awesome like toilets that flashed themselves and trains that drove themselves. I was mad, we had thrown our stuff and the plane was delayed. I was tired of running up and about in the airport i just needed rest, when we were told the plane was delayed again and then cancelled, I was at the verge of my breaking point.
We had no contacts whatsoever with who was gonna pick us up when we got to Philladelphia, no internet, no nothing. I was having a headache and was now dead tired. we were told to rebook our flights and we ran to the line and I promise you, I was sleeping while standing in the line. The guys (Oscar and Tio)were like, go sit down and we will rebook the ticket for you. In my heart I was like thanks you guys but I barely made sense.I had barely sat down when I started snoring (am just kidding, i don't snore). Yes, I slept like a baby, on a chair in the airport. Something woke me up or maybe I was just restless, how does one sleep in such a busy place., but like 5 seats away from me, sat a lady. I wanted to know the time and I asked her and she told me. The guys were still on the line which seemed like it wasn't moving at all because people kept arguing with the airlines people about not refunding or giving us a hotel or food or whatever. I asked the lady again if she was going to Philly like the rest of us and she said yes.
She later asked me to sit next to her and started asking me questions. She grew more interested and sad at the same time for what I had to pass through on my first trip outside Malawi and away from my family. She then told me she would help till she saw we were safe because if her daughter was stuck somewhere, she would want someone to help her out. I was moved by this womans passion trust me. We were supposed to sleep at the airport and stay there the whole morning the other day because the other planes were fully booked or go to Ronald Reagan Airport sleep there and leave early the next morning. We chose Reagan, we never knew how to reach their, but this woman and her husband took us there, gave us food, left us with their contacts and left. I was so thankful and will forever be grateful. If God has never provided for you, you would think this was coincidence as for me, I know it was God at work. These people could have chosen to ignore us, we are Africans anyway, they could have chosen not to trust us, but they took us in their car and gave us their food., WOW!
We moved up and down at Reagan, everyone we needed had stopped working apart from the security guards and Dunkin Donuts. It was after 10 in the evining, tired, we had a little money we bought donuts and hot chocolate, somehow, we got boarding passes though poeple were like, 'come in the morning' they could later help us. I saw God, trust me when I say this, I saw God soften peoples hearts. He did it for me, He can do it for you. At around 1, we took turns sleeping, because someone had to look after the luggage they had not thrown away. The next morning at around 5, we refreshened ourselves in the airport bathrooms and went to board our plane to Philadelphia. By this time, I was failing to think straight, everything felt like i was in a dream, I was hardly alive. My body, and soul were so tired, it was the Lords Spirit that kept me alive. We landed in Philadelphia, with nobody to pick us up and i was even more stressed, Oscar went running around searching for the information we needed and we got people again who gave us their phones and access to the net untill we found someone to come pick us up. Tionge stayed by me, watching me. These guys were wonderful. I was so bored, i sat down dozing , i went in and out of the airport thinking am forgotten, when suddenly I heard a lady behind me say,"i think you are the Urban Promise interns, my name is Margaret, I have come to pick you up". Those were like the best words I had heard in , i think forever, I looked up, she was all smiles, i smiled back and thats when internship began.
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