I have arrived and I have internet

Hello Everyone!

Me in front of Westminster Abbey during
my long, long layover!

I have arrived safely to Nigeria after 2 longs days of traveling, although I can’t complain because I did get to explore London a little bit!  Also funny side note... Coming back in to the airport after exploring London the security decided they needed to search my carry on.  In London, this means they have to take every single thing out of your carry on -- EVERY SINGLE THING literally!  This was the carry on the had all of my Education books and then random last minute things.  Sam (the security guard and my new BFF in London) took about 15 minutes for this process and he even helped me re-pack.  Good thing I left myself plenty of time to get to my flight!
I got here on Tuesday afternoon and I have been keeping pretty busy since I arrived (I did take some time Wednesday afternoon to just rest).  I have still been settling in to my room and getting it all set up so it feels more homey.  The Smarts have been so wonderful about taking care of me while I am settling in!

Grammie and me at the airport

            It has been so wonderful reconnecting with old friends and even making some new ones!  Right when we arrived close to home we found Emmanuel on the side of the road.  It was so wonderful to see an old friend; it made me feel like I had finally arrived.  That night I saw another friend and got to meet her new little baby (who is so precious, and you know that is saying a lot since I am not really a baby person)!

            Wednesday I got to visit Destiny’s Home with the Smarts, which is a children’s home in Jos that Back2Back partners with.  This home is new since I was here and so I was very excited to get to see it in person!  The director is wonderful and the children are so sweet.  The kids both live and go to school at the home.  I got to help Leah as she pulled a few of the kids in the youngest class for extra support.  I loved it because I felt right in my element teaching!  I also had dinner with another young, single woman who is here from the States doing mission work with a different organization.  It was really fun and she was such a gracious host.

lots of tears saying good-bye! I am sure the security guards
thought I was crazy!

            Thursday I got to go to the village just for a few hours and connect with the teachers at Igmin Kibe.  It was so so so wonderful to see Esther again and her husband who also now works for Back2Back.  I also got to meet the other teacher, Ayuba, who is new since I was here.  I got a chance to briefly look over the curriculum and even got to see some of my old students and meet a few of the new ones!  I was amazed how they looked the same, but older all at the same time.  Thursday Daniel took me all around town doing errands and immigration things.  It was such a busy day!

my room before I unpacked all of my things

           Today, after a lot of struggling and trouble shooting I finally got my internet and phone up and running!  It feels good now knowing that I can be somewhat connected to the outside world.  Now it is really late at night. I am still adjusting to the time difference I think. I haven't gone to bed before 2 am!

Until Later,

Anna

Packing for a year

I leave for Nigeria in 3 days and it still feels surreal that I am actually leaving.  You would think I would be used to the idea after waiting for 7 and a half months.  But actually, I think the longer wait made it more surreal because I had time to grow accustom to life in Michigan again.  I saw God provide , reveal, and restore a lot of things in a lot of areas in my life.

Also, I hate packing, especially packing for a year.  I got all of my clothes in one suitcase and felt really good.  Then I looked around and had a ton of piles of random things that at some point this fall I thought to myself "hmmm, better not get rid of that, I might bring it to Nigeria with me".  So, I just started throwing random stuff in and decided I would stop putting stuff in when there was no more room.  Sounds like a really good idea, right? I thought so...

Anyways, ready or not, I am leaving on Sunday! Talk to you from Nigeria.

My room my looks chaotic, but it is organized chaos, I think....

My sister's room that I took over for packing

How I feel about packing for a year...

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