Welcome to Sudan!

i finally reached sudan! after days of flying in airplanes, i have reached my destination. i arrived at MAF and went through "security," which is a small room with one man going through our luggage. i was the only female there and felt a little intimidated at first. but i soon realized they are all in the ministry, being that we are flying with a mission organization. one man was a bishop and one a bible study translator. only 5 of us fit in the aircraft. we eventually take off and i brace myself for the worst. i had built up such anxiety about it that all i could do was pray. i prayed we would be safe, i prayed for good weather, i prayed for wisdom for our pilot, and i prayed i wouldn't throw up. that would just be embarrassing. but turns out, i LOVED it! it was the most amazing experience! africa was so beautiful from way up there. we flew over mountains and valleys and the nile river! we stopped in a small town in southern sudan to drop off medicine. this is when our pilot receives word of potentially bad weather in mundri. so he decides to land in the next town over, which happens to be a 3 hour drive from mundri. our plan is to land there and wait for the team to pick me up and drop off some of their team members who were boarding the plane from there. so we landed, and the next thing i know 5 armed men dressed in camo approach our plane. i was a little intimidated to say the least. i felt safer with all the men and followed their lead down the steps of the plane. however, the armed men were somewhat friendly and welcoming. one of the men i sat next to on the plane leaned over and whispered "welcome to sudan" with a smurk on his face. to be continued...