Acceptance

Thursday morning I received an email from Africa Mission Alliance (AMA). I was almost giddy with excitement, but paused briefly prior to hitting the “open” button. When I finally opened the file, imagine my disbelief. It was ONLY a newsletter from the parent organization. While it was informative and interesting, I could not generate enough enthusiasm to properly peruse the article.

So I proceeded about my day. Worked on things down in the barn; cleaned up a little around the house; attended an afternoon meeting in Kennewick. After the meeting I headed towards the mall, stopping first at the county health department, inquiring about shots. The Travel Clinic is by appointment only, open 2½ days each week. The initial cost to just walk-in-the-door is $50.

Next I headed over to Barnes & Noble in the mall. I picked up another compact travel journal and some bookmarker-pens (they’re flat and slip right onto the page of your book) taking up virtually no room.

As I was standing in line to pay I received a phone call. I glanced at the caller ID, but did not recognize area code 971. Thinking it was a wrong number, I almost dismissed it. But having a person ahead of me in line, I knew I would have time to at least answer the phone.

To my surprise, it was Erica from AMA and she was calling to tell me that they had received my application and both of my letters of recommendation . . . . and that I had been approved to be on the team going to Africa in late December.

I could hardly breathe. Or think. Or reason. But I managed to mumble something about could she call me back in 5-minutes, as I had some questions.

So I paid for my purchases, went back to the car and tried to return the call to Erica. Line was busy. So I called the Benton Franklin Health District, only to be put on hold. I listened to probably 4-7 minutes of “information” before I spoke to someone that could set up an appointment. First she mentioned the 25th. “Gee”, I said, “that’s like two weeks away. Do you have anything sooner than that?” After doing some more checking, it was finally determined that I could be seen next Thursday, the 18th.

When Erica called me back, I was still sitting in my car in the mall parking lot. I will be getting an information packet that will basically answer all of my questions. And of course I can check with some of the folks that went this past summer for other questions.

The main thing I wanted to know was about taking my laptop. She says some people do, but they don’t recommend it. I’m not sure if that is because you cannot store it in a secure location, or there are no WiFi hotspots or what. But this is something I need to find out. Otherwise my blog will only be informative before the trip and after. I would really like to be able to pass photos and info back to you DURING the trip. We shall see. Of course, it most likely will be possible to connect to the Internet at airports. We may have to settle for that.

But for now, let it be known far and wide:

. . . . . . . I am definitely going to A F R I C A ! ! ! ! !