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Arrival In Kansas City |
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Finally the taxi took off
from my home. I was waving good-bye to Simeon, who would keep an eye on my
apartment and who was sad to see me leave for so long, and Aisha, whose
presence that night surprised me, as well as Ibrahim, the school director's
nephew and my neighbor until that day. Before leaving, Simeon, Aisha and I
had set on my porch, and I was praying for them, committing them into the
Lord's hands. Needless to say, that
incident didn't boost my confidence, and I started praying hard, as well as
preparing myself for the possiblity of being denied entry to the States. But
I was still in Bamako, with two long flights ahead of me before knowing what
would happen. I finally got through the checks and into the bus that would
take us the plane, when they suddenly stopped everybody, and then made us get
back into the terminal again. They had decided to check our carry-ons now,
and started putting up tables and equipment. Suddenly a storm came up,
followed by rain, and they quickly took down the equipment again. Now we were
all inside waiting for the storm to be over. The FIRST real rain of the rainy
season - just when we were wanting to get on the plane! Great timing. Finally
the wind calmed down, and we were checked in the rain, walking through the
water to the bus, got to the plane, and walked up the stairs in the rain into
the plane. Of course we were quite delayed by the time we took off. I was
praying the rest of the journey would go smoothly without these kinds of
incidents! And it did. We also
arrived late in Atlanta and I didn't think it would be possible to go through
immigration, claim your baggage, go through customs, and get the boarding
pass, but it was. Thank you for your
prayers regarding immigration - it was amazing how God answered them! The
officer scanned my passport, and never even looked at his screen! He just
asked me the standard questions of why I was going to KC, when I was leaving
again, and when I was here last time, and stamped the papers. Totally God!
Tears were coming to my eyes when I continued on my way, full of praise and thanksgiving
and excitement of soon being in my beloved city. On the plane to KC I just
kept praising God and reading every praise psalm I could find. After 25 hours I finally
arrived in KC, was picked up, and driven to this beautiful house where
wonderful friends of mine live. What a contrast to Mali! I wasn't really tired,
nor interested in physical food (though you would think that), but so very
hungry for God. I'm here for more of Him, and so I just had to still go to
the International House of Prayer that night. And today I spent much
time there as well. I'm so looking forward to
meeting all my friends again now, and to spending much time in the house of
the Lord. All I want is God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, being with HIM, drawing
close to HIM, refuelling, refocusing, being refreshed.... Thank you for your
prayers, and for standing with me. God is faithful, God is awesome, and I am
HIS! Love, Claudia My phone number during
the next two weeks is 816-347-9523. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tel. (+223) 220 0311 IMPORTANT: Don't write my name on
the check, but add a note that it's for me. In Europe: https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=office%40glorywebservices.com&item_name=Claudia+Wintoch&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD |