The flight from Atlanta went smoothly – it's the first time we've flown Lufthansa.
We landed at Frankfurt airport at around 9 a.m. On Wednesday. Our connecting flight was scheduled to be on an aircraft which neither of us has seen before - the Airbus A380-800 – which can only be described as colossal. It has two full-length decks – upper and lower. There are 4 engines on this aircraft – the clear distance inside the engine intake is 116” (9'-8”) – just huge!
We spent a day in Frankfurt waiting for our connecting flight to Johannesburg. The weather was foggy and cold. We saw 3 of these monster-planes pull up outside our exit gate during the 13-hour wait. The third was our flight to Johannesburg, which left at 10 p.m.
We were seated clear at the back of the plane on the lower deck. There were a lot of empty seats in our section of the plane, so Josie and Kel grabbed a row of 4 seats each and had reasonably good sleep during the night. Of course, being so far back, we were almost the last off the plane after it landed in Johannesburg on Thursday morning, but Passport Control and Customs went smoothly, and soon we saw Kel's sister Des, who had arrived to meet us.
The weather in the Southern Hemisphere is lovely – days are hot, and we've had soe good rains thus far. Everything is green – summer is in full swing. There's a sizeable veggie garden on Kel's dad's 50-acre farm where we are staying, so we are dining well.
Time is flying and there is much to keep one busy during the day – veggie gardening, water reticulation, seeing to 20 sheep, 2 cattle, 3 dogs, 5 cats and a host of poultry. All these mouths need to be fed and the sheep, cattle and fowls must be locked up each night, to keep them safe from predators. Speaking of fowls, last Sabbath, Nov 19, we returned from church to find a hen had hatched out all 11 of her chicks in the garden where she had her nest, so we caught mother and babies and transferred them to a safe environment.
Josie has been working on her sewing projects, and Kel has worked on more of the steel design for the airplane hangar in Chad, so our days have been full.
Today is Wed, Nov 23, and we are headed 3 hours north to pick up dad, who has spent several days visiting an old friend on his large farm in the Winterberg area. We will be driving Kel's sister's Fiat Palio, a sub-compact, as many of the vehicles here inSouth Africa are. During Dad's absence, his Yorkshire terrier has attached herself to Kel like a shadow – we wondered how she would do in Dad's absence, since she is very attached to him.
Well, we trust this report finds you in good health. We miss all of you and look forward to the day when we can be together with Jesus for eternity. Let's plan to be there!
Due to limited Internet access here in South Africa, and in Chad in the months ahead, we won't be able to read your comments on the blog, but you can always drop us an e-mail at
Lots of love & hugs,
Josie & Kel
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