In the twinkling of many eyes we reached our destination.

June 6-7, 2005 - The Journey Begins

Today we met at Grace Bible Church at 10:00 am to commence our very long trip to South Africa. After raising finances and seeing the wonderful provenance of God and how He supernaturally provided for each team member, I think we are all amazed though not surprised at how Awesome God truly is. I believe I speak for all when I say that we are truly expecting and anticipating the Lord to do awesome things in South Africa.

We all worked together to load the vans, said our heartfelt goodbyes then headed for Denver to catch our British Airways flight to London.

Our drive to Denver was uneventful. We arrived at DIA (Denver International Airport) about 4 1/2 hours early. We did our first devotions at the airport shortly before the flight. We are studying I Peter, "Suffering In the Footsteps of Christ."

The flight to London was quite full and rather cramped. Most of us had intermittent short periods of sleep, but we arrived safely and on time. The flight was also pretty uneventful. Pastor Jeff was still feeling a bit ill but managed to get some sleep taking an Ibuprofen for his headache and fever.

We arrived in London at about 10 am London time, 3 am Colorado time. We put our carry-ons at a baggage holding place and caught a bus to the train or 'underground' depot for the so-called 'express train' to see some sites. After only about fifteen minutes the train arrived at its final stop and we exited, only to discover that where we wanted to go was a rather long distance away. After a good one mile walk we reached our first site, which was Hyde Park. It was very busy and crowded, as was all of London. But it was also very  massive and quite (as they say in England) lovely. We walked the entire circumference of the park then briskly made our way to our next tourist attraction, Wellington Arch, which was very high (hundreds of feet). By this time my temperamental and unpredictable back was extremely sore, in spasm and inflamed and swollen on the left side. I don't believe it was the walk that caused this, but the many hours of sitting without being able to recline in the van, on the plane or at the airport. I was limping quite noticeably by this time and continued to do so for the entire 'tour.'

After the arch we headed to Buckingham Palace which was quite extraordinary. We didn't get to see any members of the 'uni'royal family but it was an amazing site. The statues in the courtyard outside the palace are simply breathtaking.

We dined (lunch) at a quaint little diner across from the the palace. It was very expensive, just as everything else was in London. But at least all the sites we went to were free. After the palace we saw Westminster Cathedral, built in 1885, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben (not Ken, Ben) and the famed River Thames which was/is mentioned by famous writers such as Shakespeare and Charles Dickens. We also saw the Eye, the highest Ferris wheel in the world.

After all of this it was time to head back to the airport and we were all ready. We caught the cheaper underground back to within a very short distance from the airport. We then, at 8:45 London time (1:45 Colorado) caught our British Airways flight to South Africa. This was a much less crowded and all around better flight. Pastor Jeff, John, and I were offered seats up front where there was much more leg room. It was a very long, ten hour flight which arrived in South Africa at about 8:45 am (12:45 am Colorado). Everyone with the exception of Pastor Jeff and I slept better. Jeff was still feeling real well and my back pain made it very difficult for me to sleep. But praise the Lord that we have the opportunity to serve Him and to suffer for His glory, honor, power and praise. As it tells us in I Peter 1:6, "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials, these have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. I Peter 4:12-13 says, "Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed. Thanks for all your prayers, support, kind thoughts and God bless you and keep you in His perfect peace.

Ken Blair