Christopher's flight into Accra Ghana arrived safely today. Due to some last minute changes by the church travel office, Christopher departed for Africa a day earlier than anticipated. The President of the Ghana Missionary Training Center (MTC) had Chris call home to let us know of his safe arrival. He sounded tired, understandably, after 29 hours with little or no sleep.
Regarding his arrival in Ghana, Christopher reported that he followed the strict instructions he was given to stay put at the airport and not accept any help with his luggage until someone from the MTC arrived to pick him up. He said he was swarmed by people trying to help him, but he resisted. Several individuals shouted, "Elder! Elder! Come stand here! This is where the missionaries wait for their ride." Christopher went to that spot and waited, and waited, and waited...for two and a half hours!
Christopher's Mom asked him on the phone about his patience to which he replied, "I guess I have a loose interpretation of patience." He also remarked that the movie, "The Other Side of Heaven" helped to prepare him for this situation. (If you've seen the movie you will recall how long that Elder had to wait for his ride to show up.) Finally, a kind person let Christopher use their cell phone to call the MTC. The MTC president was surprised to hear from him, thinking that he was arriving the following day. Apparently Christopher's itinerary from the church travel office did not get to the MTC before he did.
When asked about what Accra Ghana was like, he simply stated that he would not try to describe it for fear of upsetting his mother. Adding to his intriguing response, Christopher said that he knew that angels were protecting him as promised in the blessing he received by his stake president the night of his departure.
In the MTC, Christopher is currently the only missionary who is not from Africa. His companion, interestingly is from Sierra Leone and will be going to another country in Africa after his training. In three short weeks, Christopher will be finished with his training and will once again set out alone as he travels to Freetown, Sierra Leone while his African comrades will head to other countries on the continent.
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