Flight changes and hosting in Congo

So what happens in Gemena if your flight to Kinshasa is scrubbed and you have to wait until the next day?  And, what about your international tickets out of Kinshasa that night?  And, what about room and board, what will you do?  That’s what just happened to the 6 guests we had from Covenant Kids Congo (CKC) and Paul Carlson Partnership (PCP).

the CKC and PCP team having breakfast Friday before departure

The plan was for MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) to fly these 6 guests from Gemena to Kinshasa this past Thursday.  And to bring up a new team of 7 guests for PCP.  Well, besides a terrible rain storm in Kinshasa Thursday a problem also developed with the plane they were to fly.  That meant that the flight Thursday had to be postponed until Friday when MAF would send a different plane.  It also meant that the rest of Thursday these 6 were trying to determine the options for rebooking their flights back to the US.  4 of them had arrived on Air France and 2 were on Brussels/United.  The Brussels airport bombing and subsequent closing meant that rebooking got a bit more complicated.  After hours working on options with different agents they all got rebooked out for Friday night.

people chatting and waiting around through the morning

In the meantime we had to prepare for them to spend one more night here, i.e. put more sheets on the beds because some had already been washed.  And we needed to plan for more meals.  Thankfully we had more bread in the freezer and we easily made enough pancakes for the next AM.  Pete also got in one more Ticket to Ride game with several of the visitors!

Friday the MAF flight was delayed a bit waiting for fuel in Mbandaka so we ended up having to fuel the plane here.  Doing this the return stop for fuel and allowed them to arrive in Kinshasa in time for their evening flights.

the next team having lunch Friday afternoon. 11 at our table.

And then we had a new team of 7 pass through so we stretched out the table, bought more bread in town, opened up several packets of tuna and fed them lunch before they headed N 1-1/2 hours to Bogose-Nubea.  We just saw them now this afternoon as they returned, collected the rest of their luggage and repacked, used the bathroom and headed on to Karawa.  They had a great visit.

Just another day in our life and ministry in Congo.