Here are some of the pictures from Nigeria. I am having trouble with my blog page but will get more up ASAP.

Air Port Madness

Hey we are home! Here is the low down and the skinny on our wild trip home from Nigeria. We left Abuja at 9 pm and were schedule to arrive in Frankfurt at 10 am. Note: Before we got on the plane we went for a team hike IN OUR TRAVEL CLOTHES! We figured that we would dry off before we got to the airport but we were still muddy. We also managed to soak our tennis shoes so five of us boarded the plane in flip-flops. When we got to Frankfurt we found out that because of storms the plane from Frankfurt to PDX the day before had been grounded and thus our plane was over booked. The peeps at Lufthansa were offering €600 to the first 18 people to give up their seats. (That's $900 back here) We of course jumped on it and had our flights rearranged so that we would land in Philly at 5 pm and be home at PDX by 8:30. When we got to Philly US Air told us that Lufthansa hadn't actually booked us tickets but had just given us receipts to pay for them. We were able to get Amanda and Chad on the plane with all of our luggage. We then had to go to the Lufthansa desk to see if they would put us up for the night. When we got to the desk they were closed so we called their 1 800 number that was supposed to be available 24/7 and they weren't available( so much for 24/7 huh). Here is the situation, Scott is trying to reach the people who answer the phone 24/7, Katherine and Whitney were praying, and I was counting down the seconds before I went to the US Air desk and demanded to see the manager. When all of a sudden a Lufthansa employ comes out of the back room looking for us. She said she had seen us get off the plane but hadn't seen us make our connecting flight. We explained the situation and she took our paper work to see what she could do. Turns out that the mistake was by US Air but Lufthansa offered to put us up for the night and get us new flights with United. We decided to fly out to San Fran at 6 am on the United plane so she booked us a night in the Sheridon economy hotel across the street and gave us dinner and breakfast money. When we got to the hotel they told us they were over booked so they rewrote our form and sent us to the Sheridan's 4 star business hotel across the parking lot. After a good dinner and our first sleep on beds in weeks we were able to bathe and fly out for the west coast. When we got up we had a message from Chad saying that US had lost all of our baggage so we checked in Philly but it wasn't there. When we got to PDX we checked and they said it would take a few days but they would FedEx them to Chad's house when they arrived. We got a call from them when we were on our way home saying that some of the bags had arrived so my family went back and got 9 of the 11 team bags. (the other two will be at Chad's house by tonight) I want to say thank you for all your prayers and support. A special thanks to those who went out of there way to be at prayer every morning to keep us safe and to the Sabo family in Virginia who offered to rescue us from Philly if the flights didn't get worked out. I may post more later so stay tuned, Hopefully I will be doing this same blog again next year. Sincerely, DragonRunner11

Abuja Team (home coming) UPDATE

We just received a phone call message from Parker. (I'm assuming from Germany) He said there was a change in flight plans and that they would not be arriving at 11:30 am on Saturday the 18th at PDX as scheduled. He said they would be getting in around 8:30 pm instead. He didn't give any details about the change in plans, but told me he would call when they arrived in the States. I will update the blog as soon as I know some more details. Pray for their safe arrival home!

Abuja Bound Home Coming

Abuja Bound (Mod) Squad will be arriving at PDX (Portland Airport)

Saturday July 18th at 11:30 am

Lufthansa flight 468

See you all there!

Abuja Mod Squad in action (PIX)

Okata rides (no helmet law in Abuja)



Amanda, Whitney & Katherine doing battle with the weeds at church property

Chad with children

Scott needs cool shades too:)

Abuja Bound team in action July 14th 2009

How much do you know about the abuja team?

Day 13 (Monday Madness)

Today we had two jobs to do as a team, 1 was to sift the sand pile in front of Josh’s complex to make gravel, and 2 was to level the two squares next to the stage so they could be concreted and used as storage space. We weren’t able to start till noon because of a leaders meeting in the church so we stayed home and had a team meeting until noon. At noon Whitney and I started work on the sand pile while the rest of the team began work in the sanctuary. When they got there they found out that the meeting didn’t end at noon as we thought but rather at two. They spent the two hours helping the crews work o the basketball court. At about two thirty Whitney and I joined them and we started work on the storage space. We ended up working until six thirty and had to stop then because prayer meeting was starting. After the prayer meeting the church celebrated Sam’s 35th birthday party with a German chocolate cake. The basket ball court has been bricked around and we will start work filling it tomorrow. Hopefully the team members will have the option of getting their hair braided tomorrow. Stay tuned to find out!