Thursday night,
7:03pm London time
1:03pm OKC time

Well…we are still in Heathrow Airport although we should have taken off at 5:50pm London time. We actually boarded the huge, double decker British Airways aircraft with 3 levels of upper class (none of which I was in) and were strapped in, ready to go, about to take our little sleeping pill before the 101/2 hour flight to Johannesburg, when we were informed that there was a problem with the hydraulics of the front nose wheel landing gear, and that we would have to disembark the plane and re-embark on another one. Wow—never had that happen before! So, right now, we are waiting to board the replacement plane. I’m guessing this has delayed our trip by at least a couple of hours, maybe more. Fortunately, we had a 28 hour layover at a nice hotel at the Jo’burg airport before we were to depart to Maun, Botswana on Saturday. I don’t mind the delay when I consider the option: a crash landing!

So we will hopefully have about 24 hours to sleep off our jet lag (which I’m starting to feel—I just wanted to stay on the plane and sleep) before heading to meet Jana, our host, and minister at her women’s conference on Saturday afternoon and evening.

I was glad to be sitting next to a woman from Johannesburg who gave us some great info as we were delayed about how to get to our hotel, tipping the bag boys—(we each have 3 heavy suitcases full of books, CDs and other gifts) and things to avoid in Jo’burg. According to the travel book, there is high crime in that city. In fact, 2 of my friends from church who have lived extensively in different parts of Africa insisted we not travel through Jo’burg without a bodyguard. Well, since we don’t have a bodyguard (at least in the flesh) I think we will just sleep and eat in the hotel until we head out to Botswana to meet Jana.

OK—whenever I get some wi-fi, I will send this—probably not until we get to Jo’burg.

Good night all, and much love,
Jennifer