Hello from TANZANIA!!!!!!

We are finally here! We arrived last night and have been settling in today. I am so thankful that I opted to come a day early to have this adjustment day. God blessed us with a safe journey thus far! Our adventures began at SFO yesterday...

When Samantha and I checked in on the international side of the airport. We ended up with a very detailed woman...who insisted that my CARRY-ON weigh to the gram of the airline limit (yes, grams!). So there was a bit of shuffling.

At the last minute, Sam and I decided to pay to bring an extra suitcase filled with kid stuff, craft supplies, etc. for the many kids we are sure to encounter. As we checked in, I was told that it would be a $100 for the extra suitcase (which I was expecting and had decided it was worth it to bring the supplies). We were sent to another counter to pay the fee. As we stood there waiting the woman behind the counter kept looking at my ticket and madly typing...then she went and got another employee who did the same. Finally the woman looked up at me and said that she didn't quite understand it, but her computer kept telling her that I should have two FREE bags for my flight so for today she was going to let it go even though it was inaccurate. YAY GOD!!!

Then for some reason something was going on at SFO. We had to sit on the runway for almost an hour before we could take off...not a good thing when you have a 45 minute layover. Samantha and I were so sleep deprived that an unexpected mini trip in rainy amsterdam didn't have quite the allure that it ordinarily would have. We kept trying to figure out our options as KLM only flies into Kilimanjaro once a day. By the grace of God our plane docked at gate F9 and our connection left out of F8...we literally had 10 minutes or less to run from one plane to the other - unfortunately our luggage did not make it. We are hoping it comes in on tonight's flight. Wishing that I had made a few different choices when shuffling the carry on bag stuff. Oh well...it is making this all a bigger adventure! :)

Other than that - things have been fairly mellow! We came in a day early and are enjoying having a day to adjust. The sights are amazing and the people so kind! I LOVE observing it all! The rest of our team comes in tonight and then we head out tomorrow.  I can hardly wait to get out into the villages and start our medical training and work (hope I have scrubs and tennis shoes by then!).

Thank for your support and prayers!!!!

Dana :)
psalm 138:8