the Journey

Oh I couldn’t wait for the day to come, the anticipation was exciting!! Dreaming up the plan to venture to Guinea, setting plans in place, fundraising and purchasing my plane tickets all seemed to come so quickly yet in slow motion! Along the way, Duolingo became my best friend as I started to learn some of Guinea’s language - French! The days of travel seemed so far away, yet the weeks flew by.

Next thing I knew, I was 3 days out from getting on a plane to Africa - needing to start packing my bags. Luckily, my brother and dad had just returned from their own missions trip through Skyline Church a couple weeks prior, so they were stocked up on travel gadgets (of course). It was hard for my mind to comprehend that the day I kept dreaming and praying for was finally right before me. Packing was a little nerve-racking - as I didn’t quite know what to expect! All I knew was it was consistently 88-90*, very humid, rainy ish…. Oh and across the world, in Africa!!

The day before I took off (Sunday) was the sweetest day as my mind finally comprehended that “I’m going to Guinea this summer” was the next day. At church, my wonderful friends and I huddled in a circle, praying over all of our summers - spending time specifically praying over my next few days. Oh man did I feel those prayers. Prayers covered the entire journey to Guinea. Praise God for a community who loves so deeply through prayer.

The morning of!! Everything was so surreal. 26hours of travel. San Diego - Chicago - Belgium - Senegal - Conakry. The travel consisted of movies, compression socks, airplane friendships, sleep, gluten free plane meals, Bible reading, a travel blanket and pillow (thanks dad), and a mid flight medical emergency. Now that was cool. Nothing extreme or crazy, Ms.Lady was doing great after a few minutes. I was taking a nap (as one does for 26hours of travel) and happened to wake up all of a sudden to look over and see the flight attendants putting a mask over a mamma’s head, as they were trying to wake her up. Nurse Kiley mode was activated and followed where the flight attendants took her - as they asked for medical professionals over the intercom (I’m no professional, but I figured I could help). My handy dandy watch became my pulse reader as we helped Ms.Lady settle and relax, her heart was beating so fast! She ended up calming down eventually, but wow what a start to a medical trip!!

Flying into Guinea was beautiful as Conakry (the capital) is right next to the ocean. Green trees, marshes, rivers were what I saw from my middle row seat. A new airplane friend of mine later asked “first time in Guinea huh?” And continued with “I could tell cause your head kept looking out of all the windows” haha whoops, couldn’t help it! Walking off the plane I was met with the Guinea heat I had mentally prepared for - expectation met. Walking further into the airport I was met by the visa line and airport “higher ups”, I was not prepared for that - expectation not met. Something happened in the process of my visa registration, and I found myself watching a “higher up” fold my printed documents while telling me “no” and speaking to me in French - I studied duolingo, but not that much!!! My adrenaline started pumping. In that moment, the heat was high, my language was useless, my phone didn’t have service, my visa was “non existent”, and I was in Africa — welcome to Guinea. And then, in the most God-ordained timing, the sweetest missionary couple saw my situation and rushed over to help me. Turns out, they know the people I was meeting up with and stayed right by my side throughout the whole process. Through the wonderful missionaries, Hope Ignited’s amazing Guinean administrator, and conversations with the BigManUpstairs - things were sorted out. And I headed to Sacre Coeur !!

After a 1.5hour drive that turned into 4hours due to traffic on the one road that takes you out of the capital, I safely arrived at my new home for the next month. Though dark outside, the buildings looked beautiful - pictures online didn’t compare! Now 32 hours since I left home, I started to become situated in my room. And theeennn the power turned off. Pitch black. Apparently that happens all of the time - I definitely wasn’t prepared for that……

WELCOME TO GUINEA :)