grace.kindness.peace.disruption.pain.processing.rinse.repeat.have a nice day.

Simply put, I'm here. Wow, I'm here. There's so much going through my head right now that I'm having a hard time deciding what to write. Let's start off with those of you concerned with my safety … I'm good and safe. All the people I've met so far are very nice. We landed last evening around nine and were met with humidity accompanied by a slight breeze. Two WMF staffers and one of the Lighthouse program guys met us at the airport. The airport in Freetown isn't actually in Freetown; it's north of the city and across a bay. To get into town we hitched a ride on a helicoptor … quite exciting. We made it back to Faye & Cami's house around 10ish where we proceeded to slowly unwind and to let the fact that we are in Africa to sink in. It still doesn't seem real. The heat and humidity are helping me realize that I'm no longer in Indianapolis . The heat really isn't that bad and I have yet to really mind it.

I woke up around 9:30 today and chatted with Cami while she did her laundry by hand behind the house. The conversation was good. I'm surrounded by very capable, loving people to lead me on this four-month journey. Her initiative motivated me to do some laundry as well. The hand washing thing isn't so bad. You can forget about April freshness, but you're still left with clean.

After some breakfast and simple orientation the guys packed up our bags and the whole team journeyed to Murray Town where the guys will live. Murray Town is closer to downtown Freetown than Aberdeen, where the girls live. We'll be living with pastor Zizer and his family who have generously opened their home for us. Micah & I will live upstairs with the pastor's family and Ben will live downstairs with the Kelly's.

We chatted with the Zizer's for a while and discovered that they are good friends with the pastor that just visited Indianapolis three weeks ago. My world is small.

We left the Zizer's and went to lunch at a Lebonese restaurant … a tasty meal.

Yeah, so this post is pretty boring. There is a lot going on in my head right now and it's difficult to put my thoughts into words. In the absense of my wit I've told you about my day … not too exciting. Things are good; tough, but good. My team and the WMF staff are great. We've had good conversations and good times so far. Seeing the poverty both in the surroundings and the people is tough. We haven't even seen the slum yet. I'm not sure yet how I'll react to that. Despite the constant presence of the poverty, there is a beauty that permeates everything. The sky is blue and the ocean, viewable from the windows, is peaceful … that is when you don't hear the booms from dynamite fishermen . The situation will be very tough here soon. The language, Krio, has many English words which can give me the illusion that I have a clue of what others are saying. However, I am wrong most of the time. It's been a while since I've been in a situation where communication is so difficult. This will improve in time, but for now it is tough.

Thank you all for your prayers. They mean the world to me. Please stay tuned and I'll try to post some more interesting stuff next time.

I really don't have time for this, but I wanted to say thanks to all of you who have blessed me so very much in the last several days with phone calls, emails, meals, and time. I am very thankful to have such a base of support to go on this journey. I hope that you will go on this journey with me … by reading my stories and emails and viewing my pictures. Please comment or reply back. Please, please let me know that you are thinking about me and praying for me … it will mean the world when the nights are long and the days are dark with doubt.

My schedule for the coming day is as follows:

• Leave Indy @ 2:45 for Cincinnati
• Meet up with two of my team members in Cincy
• Leave Cincinnati four hours later for Gatwick Airport, London
• Meet the fourth and final member of our team at Gatwick
• Maybe take a quick jaunt into London
• Leave Gatwick six hours later for Freetown, Sierra Leone
• Arrive in Sierra Leone and take a helicoptor into Freetown
• ????

Again, thank you so much for your prayers and thoughts. Please let me know what is going on in your life through email. I may be out of sight, but please don't let me be out of your mind.

Let the adventure continue!

A friend wrote the following in a note to me recently. It is a prayer by a Trappist Monk named Thomas Merton. I'd heard of him before, but this is the first of his writings I've ever knowingly seen. It's good … and I'm going to have quite an experience unpacking its profundity over the next year.

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

- Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude

I like it. I like it so much that I have a lot of it. Eleven thousand, six hundred and twenty to be exact. My email cache dates back to September 15, 1998.

While in Colorado I pruned my inbox count from 145 to under 41 – quite a feat, if I do say so myself (and I do). Since returning that number has jumped back up to 64. It is a constant battle. If you have  written me recently and have not gotten a response, please do not think I am ignoring you. I kind of am, but only so I can stop ignoring some other people who have been waiting for a little while longer … and to sleep and bathe.
So thank you all for your patience. I really do appreciate your emails.

Things are going smashingly here in Colorado. We've had some great opportunities to relax and laugh. The weather has been beautiful for skiing and observing. I took on the challenge of the mountain on Monday and was beaten into a limping pulp. My legs were so sore by the end of the day that I was taking runs of beautifully carved turns (at least in my mind) 250 yards at a time. I would stop and rest every few hundred yards to rest my legs and ensure the passing ski patrollers that I was okay. All in all, it was a great day on the hill.

There are some more pictures posted in the gallery. Click on the image below to see them.
TRAVELS/COLORADO2006/