Customs, Taxis, and Olive Trees

We arrived in country without any delays due to weather or mechanical issues! We even met up with most of our team before leaving the states which was nice!

Unfortunately, the ease ended there for a while. Some of our bags were pulled due to unusual size and had to be located and then retrieved. And then we had the biggest beast if the airport: customs. The plan was simple, make no eye contact, don't talk to your team, and breeze by on the "nothing to declare" side. Half of our team made it by successfully, unfortunately six of us got stopped, questioned, and had our bags rummaged through. By the grace of God, we did not need to bribe the police, and none of our supplies were confiscated! We are especially grateful that our bag full of dental anesthetics was not taken even though it was one that got pulled! I genuinely do not know how we got out of there with the ease that we did. Even when they raised eyebrows at the number of Tylenol bottles we had (a very expensive product here), they let us through with everything we had entered with.

Eventually, we and all of our bags made it out, only to face more trouble with the taxis!! First, we couldn't locate our driver, and then, because we are in a foreign country, it feels like we are going to get run over by several large buses! And somehow, even though you're the one getting "nudged" (or hit, depending on your lingo) by a bus that is driving in the pedestrian area, you're the one to get honked at! But that's just a day here I guess. Finally, we all made it into a vehicle and headed off into the Arabian sunset.

Up until this point, it was very easy to feel like we were just in another American city, with the hustle and bustle that comes with airports. But when things started to settle in, I was reminded that I am currently halfway across the world! The sun was setting over a skyline of mosques, it's bright red-orange hue shimmering off of the shiny domes. And on the sides of the highway, olive trees were growing. The driver was playing traditional middle eastern music, and the car was covered in colorful seat covers with tassels dangling down. The excited chatter of my teammates filled the empty spaces and I found myself grinning uncontrollably. What a beautiful place. What rich history and depth of culture. And how lucky am I that I get to be here with God on His mission. He is doing incredible things in every corner of the globe, and they're all so unique and individual, because of how creative our God is.

I am so excited to get to meet our national partners and begin setting up the clinic tomorrow! And until I see you, may God bless you.