I almost forgot about one side note! While we were in N'dalatando, Angola, one of the ways that our JESUS film team ministered was by participating in our hosts' church service on Sunday, July 8. There was some singing, but not as much as during the wedding. It was a lively service and I enjoyed it.
During the speaking part of the service, Adam gave his testimony about how God drew Adam to him. His testimony had to be translated from English to Portuguese by Adelson. After that, Bruce preached to the congregation in English, with Adelson translating to Portuguese. Adelson did a pretty good job of translating. There were a couple rough spots, but he got through them.
So, back to the rest of the story...
On our last day in N'dalatando, on July 13, we gave away our gifts which we brought with us from the United States. Mostly composed of t-shirts, small toys, books, and sundries, our gifts were well-received by the church.
As we were getting ready to leave, Mama Suzanna and a couple of the ladies that helped cook for us sang for us:
So, back to the rest of the story...
On our last day in N'dalatando, on July 13, we gave away our gifts which we brought with us from the United States. Mostly composed of t-shirts, small toys, books, and sundries, our gifts were well-received by the church.
As we were getting ready to leave, Mama Suzanna and a couple of the ladies that helped cook for us sang for us:
We were very grateful to that church for all their hospitality and pray that God would help them increase in knowledge and wisdom. They were a huge blessing to us.
After some prayers, we drove to Luanda.
The next day was our last day in Angola! We had a busy day ahead of us. That afternoon we drove to a public market where we could buy some souvenirs. It was on the other side of the city, and it took us awhile to get there. One of the the items that caught my eye was a green rock called Malachite. I haggled for a couple small pieces of it that were shaped like a cat and an owl. Of course I gave the one shaped like a cat to Jean! This is the owl I kept for myself:
During our trip Domingos stayed with us for the entire time. We finally got to meet his wife Vicky that day. That couple are very special to us.
That night after we arrived at the airport, I had a fiasco getting through security. Firstly, Haley had a little bit of trouble with her luggage. Even though we all had knives in our luggage, they opened up hers and had to examine some disposable toothbrushes with little pointy ends! What a laugh.
Next, we had to get our visas stamped to get out of the country. For some reason, the woman who was taking care of my visa was taking an extraordinarily long time. I didn't know what the issue was since I could only speak one or two hundred words in Portuguese, and she only had a conversation with the officer in the neighboring booth. I was the last one from my group to finally get approved and get out of there.
Then, although I was following British Airways' policy regarding batteries, Luanda security confiscated my batteries in my carry-on and made a big deal about it. Whatever. As Bruce and I walked away from that, another security officer asked me to step into a private room! Bruce insisted on going in also, but all the officer wanted to know was how much money we were carrying. Since we were Americans, they were wanting to make sure we had less than $10,000 cash. He seemed satisfied with our answers, so he let us go without searching us.
When we finally arrived at our gate, and having shown our passports to authorities no less than six times apiece, I sat down and put my bag on my lap. We couldn't understand the person on the loudspeaker since it was in Portuguese, so we just decided to follow the crowd for when our plane was ready to board. Once everyone started getting up to leave, I tried to get up, but found my carry-on was stuck to my leg! I tried pulling it apart and found that the bag and my leg were covered in gum. Insult to injury! Oh well. Once on the plane, I quickly changed pants and got that over with. The rest of the trip home was delightful.
During our trip Domingos stayed with us for the entire time. We finally got to meet his wife Vicky that day. That couple are very special to us.
That night after we arrived at the airport, I had a fiasco getting through security. Firstly, Haley had a little bit of trouble with her luggage. Even though we all had knives in our luggage, they opened up hers and had to examine some disposable toothbrushes with little pointy ends! What a laugh.
Next, we had to get our visas stamped to get out of the country. For some reason, the woman who was taking care of my visa was taking an extraordinarily long time. I didn't know what the issue was since I could only speak one or two hundred words in Portuguese, and she only had a conversation with the officer in the neighboring booth. I was the last one from my group to finally get approved and get out of there.
Then, although I was following British Airways' policy regarding batteries, Luanda security confiscated my batteries in my carry-on and made a big deal about it. Whatever. As Bruce and I walked away from that, another security officer asked me to step into a private room! Bruce insisted on going in also, but all the officer wanted to know was how much money we were carrying. Since we were Americans, they were wanting to make sure we had less than $10,000 cash. He seemed satisfied with our answers, so he let us go without searching us.
When we finally arrived at our gate, and having shown our passports to authorities no less than six times apiece, I sat down and put my bag on my lap. We couldn't understand the person on the loudspeaker since it was in Portuguese, so we just decided to follow the crowd for when our plane was ready to board. Once everyone started getting up to leave, I tried to get up, but found my carry-on was stuck to my leg! I tried pulling it apart and found that the bag and my leg were covered in gum. Insult to injury! Oh well. Once on the plane, I quickly changed pants and got that over with. The rest of the trip home was delightful.
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