I've Arrived!!!

I made it!! This is the 2nd time I am trying to post this though. The Internet definitely is more difficult to navigate in Swaziland.

My Itinerary:
Leave ATL @ 4 pm Thurs. 11/15
Arrive in South Africa @ 5 pm Fri. 11/16
Catch the plane to Swaziland @ 7:30 pm and arrive in Swaziland to be picked up by Daran @ 8:30 pm.
Bonnie was to help me drop off my luggage in Atl. (You'll have to ask her about that adventure as I tried to burn a goodbye DVD on the way to the airport and then they wouldn't let me check in without a return flight from Swaziland being purchased!!)
Daran was to help me at the other end and I wasn't to have to deal with any of my HEAVY luggage in between.

Actuality:
Checked in with Bonnie
Delayed in ATL airport until 8:30 pm 11/15.
Arrived in So. Africa after 9 pm. 11/16, therefore,
Missed flight to Swaziland and no other flights out that night.
(God provided though) When delayed in Atl. I checked with the Delta desk when the first delay happened (there were 3 postponements before we took off) and there was a possibility I would miss my plane. They copied their notes which was what enabled me to be covered by Delta for a hotel room Fri. night in Johannesburg, South Africa with my 2 HEAVY suitcases and carryons that were overstuffed and probably weighed 40 lbs each. (For those on the mission trip, it was the same hotel we stayed in but not as fancy a shower! LOL!)
Sat. the Delta notes what enabled me to be ticketed finally, although I had to go back and forth across the terminal several times to different windows during the process.
I finally arrived in Swaziland @ noon on Sat. Yeah!

But wait!

Teresa, Daran's wife picked me up and we went to her house for a bite to eat. Daran had only gotten an email from Ben that I might miss my flight and so had been at the airport several times Fri. night to check on my arrival. I had not gotten to the hotel to be able to call him until midnight so I called him Sat. AM (that was a new experience). Plan was then to take my luggage to my house and go grocery shopping.

What actually happened is her car would not start, the battery was dead or rather the connection turned out to be bad. Teresa's car is an automatic and she does not drive a shift. The only other vehicle a the house was a stick shift with 4 concrete toilets in the back that weighed more than my luggage (if you can believe that) and we could not budge them and definitely did not want to drop one of them. We therefore, loaded all my stuff in the back seat and realized I had lost my drivers license at the airport. (I was so hot from all my layers -- what I couldn't pack I wore--I tossed off my jacket when I went to load my luggage into the car and it must have fallen out!) Anyway we called the airport and couldn't find it. I went ahead and drove a stick shift in a car that the steering wheel is on the right side of the car and you drive on the left side of the road. I'd been in Swaziland less than 4 hours. Nothing like jumping in with both feet! It really wasn't so hard with someone telling me where to turn. My only problem was the windshield wipers are where are turn signals are in the US so I kept wiping my windshield rather than signaling my turns!!

All is good though and Praise God! After Daran went and checked at the airport Sat. afternoon with no luck! God answered prayer and my drivers license was found and I have it back!!!!!! I'll right more about that later.

Got to go!! I'll share more the next time I can get on the computer. The Internet is definitely an adjustment!! Love you all!!