hunting for mercies . . .

In the last 24 hours as we attempted to leave Uganda, we had a
punctured tire on a fully loaded truck that forced us to drive the
dangerous road to Entebbe in the dark, spent a long time looking for a
place to eat that never materialized, found ourselves unprepared for
the cost of the guest house where we stopped off for six hours, woke
at 2:45 am for our 5 am Kenya airways flight to Nairobi . . only to
be kept mysteriously waiting to the side for about an hour at the
check-in desk until they finally told us our flight to Zanzibar had
been cancelled. Why did we try to go on sabbatical? Weren't we tired
enough already? I have to admit our general response to these
setbacks has been to complain and feel abandoned. Kenya Airways did
send us on to Nairobi at 5 am when they determined they could add us
onto a late evening flight to Zanzibar. We were not relishing 13
hours in the Nairobi airport: think stuffy, airless, broken linoleum
corridors, scant fixed hard plastic chairs along the walls, crowds of
shifty businessmen and confused grandmothers, surly staff. The new
schedule puts us into Zanzibar about 9pm, meaning closed grocery
stores and a long drive in the dark to our rental home.

So when we went to the transfer desk for our new boarding passes, it
was with only the tiniest kernel of faith that we asked if we could
get a day room. What looked like a bleakly hellish day has turned
into an extravagantly undeserved taste of mercy. OK we did have to
fill out six copies of about three different forms with every possible
number, date, and signature, but eventually we ended up with free
transit visas, free day rooms, and free lunch, at a luxurious hotel.
This is not the kind of place missionaries stay. Hot showers, fluffy
beds for napping, football on TV, air-conditioning, fresh flowers in
the tasteful lobby. We were plucked out of tedious discomfort and
dropped into a pocket of peace. A good sign for the three weeks
ahead? After a nap and a delicious lunch, we have hope.