Shinkou

June 17, 2011
Sacramento & San Francisco,California

Michael and Matt drove me to John's house. From there, Dave, John and I would drive to SFO. I sat in the backseat with John's son Carl and his friend Mark. We chatted about Kenya since Mark had been there on several occasions. He told me about bartering at the Maasai market and how much to pay for items such as spears, plates, masks.

Carl and Mark's plan was to drop us off and then continue to visit friends in Danville. I mentioned that I would be in Danville in July for a wedding. They said they would be as well. I asked "Sheley Price?" And they said yes! Small world. Somehow these boys were somewhat responsible for introducing Sheley to Staphon at Azusa Pacific University. It wasn't until we were dropped off at Virgin that I found out that Mark was Mark Johnston, Pastor Ray's son! I hadn't seen Mark in years and he was humble enough never to have mentioned his family name.

The plan was for the team to meet near the Virgin ticket counter in the International Terminal. This place was like a ghost town. We were all on time and got checked in. We proceeded towards the gate but decided to grab some food first. We ate pizza and had a chance to get to know one another. The under 25 group sat at one table and the over 45 group sat at another! It was my first real opportunity to speak with Wendy, who was to be my roommate for the next few weeks! We are going to get along just fine!

We discovered that unfortunately, we were not all going to be sitting together. Since Wendy will be remaining in Kenya for several weeks after we depart, they booked her ticket separately. She is in a completely different area of the plane from us. But we will meet up in Heathrow!

The plan is to sleep from San Francisco to Heathrow. We arrive in London late morning. And, if rested on the plane, then we need to be active in London during our layover. If not rested, the plan is to rest.

Sleep? Well there were just too many movies to watch. The Adjustment Bureau, Just Go With It, The Black Swan. Between movies, dinner, chatting....we arrive in London.























Here is a photo of some of our team right outside our arrival gate. Wendy soon joined us and we then had a 7 hour layover! Being by herself, Wendy had no distractions. She said she read, did some work and rested. Wow - how did she do that???