Leaving friends is difficult.

Today was a restful day, but one of the most difficult as we had to say goodbye to everyone. After last night’s farewell from the family and church it would have been easier to catch an early morning flight (if it would be available) than to wait around all day to leave Emmanuel’s at 5:00 p.m. Since we had the day it was good to spend it with so many that we feel so close to. Philip once again surprised us with a good, but different breakfast this morning. It was potato salad and fried chicken. As different as it sounds for breakfast, I can tell you it was delicious. During breakfast we checked in to our flights, arranged our seats where we think we’ll like them and felt ready to go…except the luggage.

After breakfast it was time to get into the room to separate everything into all our suitcases and to even the weight out. With much of the extras taken out and given away throughout our trip we had no problem keeping the weight on the bags under the allowed. We even took our two carry on bags and filled them with items and placed them in two of our larger bags. Two less carry on items to take on board. Only our backpacks will be with us. that is so much easier.

After packing began the waiting. They left the solar power on for us during the day to allow us the chance to remain cool as we waited. (LEC hasn’t been on for the past two days.) I would occasionally leave the room and walk around, visiting with whoever was in the area. Before we knew it, Princess Kau would have our last Liberian meal prepared. Cassava leaves soup over rice with a plate of fresh cucumbers and pineapple. We finished it all and it was delicious. We’ll miss all the fresh produce.

Our plans to leave at 5:00 was coming closer as both Jenny and I had the chance to doze off after eating. Emmanuel left in the morning to take Daniel out for a birthday breakfast. He tries to do this for everyone in his household on their birthday. He invited us, but we knew Philip had his breakfast for us planned so we graciously bowed out. It was a good thing too, as he didn’t get back until after 2:00 p.m. We would not have liked the pressure of finishing up packing in a smaller window of time. Jenny and I planned to take a shower just before leaving due to the heat. The difference now is the pipe to the water tower was plugged so we had our old style bucket showers we were used to in past visits. The guy working on the plumbing problem yesterday did not show up today. They seem to adapt quickly in Liberia when conditions change.

I made one last walk around Emmanuel’s ‘compound’ to record and show everyone what it is like now compared to past visits. I then walked down to the new church building and LCMI school to record this again. As I was walking back Grace came running to meet me. She is so sweet.

After the walk Jenny was done showering so I enjoyed cooling down with a bucket shower. We closed up all our bags and the boys came upstairs to carry our bags to the car. It was a quiet car ride with just me, Jenny and Emmanuel being able to fit in the car. Emmanuel was on to his next thing trying to take care of lady visitors arriving from Guinea for a Women of Purpose training. Evidently they arrived and did not have money to pay the taxi driver so Emmanuel was on the phone to many people to make sure the taxi drivers were taken care of and the ladies would have a chance to rest. The ladies from Guinea were invited and sponsored by Emmanuel and Wintee. Their hope is they can expand the Women of Purpose into Guinea. The program is very well received all over Liberia with growth expected moving forward. I’m not sure how many women traveled, but I can imagine some talking with a mix of English, Liberian English, French (Guinea’s official language) and whatever tribal dialects they have mixed in.

We arrived and the drop off went fast and well as we got right up to the bag check-in and left with just our backpacks. Going through security was just as fast and now we wait for boarding in an hour or so. What a great trip this has been. There are so many more experiences captured by our photos and videos and we look forward to sharing these experiences with others.

Next stop, Brussels and then on to Chicago and finally Green Bay, where James will pick us up around 7:30 p.m. tomorrow (12:30 a.m. Liberia time).

Thanks for following along on our trip.