Thursday's another day. After a leisurely late breakfast with the Apostles (more baguette, but add an omelet) we ventured out with the Apostle Degbia and an Evangelist to make changes to my upcoming flights.
First to Trans Air Congo (TAC) to find out the schedule from Pointe Noire to Douala. Again, the Apostle Dzur didn't want me to fly through Brazzaville due to certain "threats" there that I will not elaborate on too much on this blog. These are private stories and too juicy to implicate the innocent here. Nevertheless, we received the schedule that the flight left tomorrow (Friday) for Douala at 11:00 AM arriving at 12:30 PM.
Now to TAAG (Angolan Airlines) to find out when they flew from Douala to Bangui. Saturday. Oh great! Overnight in Bangui. It's like one night in Bangkok only much worse. I already had a ticket from Brazzaville to Bangui for so I asked if I could just endorse the value over to a new ticket for Douala to Bangui. Then the man working there informed us that he could not issue any ticket here in Pointe Noire. That I would have to fly to Douala, take a chance that I wouldn't need a visa (transit of otherwise for Cameroon), and then book and pay for a ticket in Douala for my flight on Saturday. Too many variables. Everything had to align so perfectly that it wasn't worth taking the chance. So in that moment and after confirming with Apostle Dzur, my trip would now totally change.
Choir Leaders were waiting so without much further delay, after many text messages and a 30 minute call with Donalda at Stamm Travel + a transfer of funds to our Apostle and Evangelist to now go back to TAC to purchase my ticket for Friday to Douala, my new itinerary became:
Friday - Pointe Noire to Douala - Departing 11:00 AM Arriving 12:30 PM
Friday - Douala to Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) - Departing 2:30 PM Arriving 10:30 PM
Overnight at the Sheraton in Addis Ababa, a good reprieve for a crazy week.
Leaving Saturday night through Mumbai then to Bangalore, India arriving there 9:30 AM on Sunday morning.
So continued the remainder of the afternoon with the choir leaders at Mawata church, with the Chief Apostle Choir for their practice for a few pieces (I led "Thy Word is a Lamp") and then back to the hotel to meet up with the Apostles after some crazy tense days. Tension mounted when we were informed upon arriving at the hotel that our presence was requested back in Brazzaville by some officials. Well, to say the least, this was not our intention. I was leaving tomorrow to Douala and further and the Apostle Dzur had a full program in Pointe Noire to fulfill including Chief Apostle preparations, Youth / Ministers & Wives' Service, Confirmation Service and then he was leaving for home on Monday. The Apostle Dzur finally "put out" the fire by making it very clear that nobody was going to Brazzaville at this time. So that meant that half my clothes were gone! I left them with Sister Kalala (aka Florence) to arrange my laundry. Of course, there was no way to get it back now so I will be living day-to-day with a few pairs of underwear and t-shirts for the remaining 2 weeks of my trip.
We were looking forward to tonight as we were invited to Pattie and Gilles. Pattie is Apostle Van's daughter who is now married to Gilles a very nice and hospitable Quebecois and been living through Africa for the past 15 years or so. They are now based in Pointe Noire in a very nice home. Gilles is based here now working for a company based out of Toronto in the Potash industry. The three of us (Apostles Dzur, Kab and myself) were in for a treat, a Thai dinner. Their two bedroom bungalow with pool was a very enviable location to just be able to linger for a while. A lot of good food; Satay, Tom Yum Soup; Chicken; Beef; Rice; Dried Fruit; a lot of good wine, scotch, beer. A real nice relaxing evening without thinking about threats, problems, challenges, or may I say, even Africa. The conversation went through politics and religion although Pattie forbids Gilles to "go there". The 4 hours or so that we were there just passed by. When we asked Pattie what she would want from Canada, she replied, "Our Family magazines". So let's collect some, old and new, if possible, and pack it up for her in addition to the clothes, etc. Mike B., let's get some together as well from the office.
When we returned, we had a nightcap with the Apostle before returning to our rooms for the short sleep ahead of us and my onward journey "out of Africa".
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