Just a few days before we flew home from our first trip to Nairobi in 2006, there was a security breach at the airport in London. 21 potential terrorists with a plot to detonate liquid explosives were arrested for attempting to board planes destined for the United States. Security at all airports went into overdrive. It was probably the safest time ever to fly; nothing - and I mean nothing- was going to get through security.
All our team members in Kenya had a different take on this. Some went ahead and packed their back pack or carry-on and just made sure there was nothing with liquid, gel, cream, etc. in it.
Val and I, all of our belongings spread about my room, made the ultimate decision. We would check everything, taking only the clothes on our backs, a little bit of cash and our passports with us. This would have been no big deal had we been traveling cross country. But we were flying half way around the world, for over 24 hours and with two long layovers. It was our final leap of faith for the trip. God would get us home with no baggage hanging on our arms.
And He did. Kari, Val and I stepped off the plane in Appleton on schedule. My husband and Kari’s mom were waiting for us. All of our luggage arrived, too. Val and I had gone from a total of four checked suitcases, two carry-on suitcases and two backpacks full of stuff on the way to Kenya down to three checked suitcases. Had we really taken that many donated supplies with us? Had we really left that many clothes and other personal items behind? I guess so. It kind of shows how much stuff we have and how much stuff we really need.
I never imagined that I would ever return to Kenya, with extra stuff to take along or not.
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