Maybe you want to know what I do as both my vocation and occupation. I’m a teacher at Calvin Christian High School in Escondido, California (about 30 miles north of San Diego). I primarily teach World History to freshmen (9th grade) and Government / Economics to seniors (12th grade). I also periodically get to teach interesting things like Sociology, World War II, Modern History (1945-present), and Speech. And for the past eleven years, I’ve been the faculty advisor to the Student Council. I’ve also coached debate and organized spring and summer educational trips. Here’s a photo taken by a student on the last day of school. I taught these wonderful young people (and about 35 other graduating seniors) throughout their high school career. Now they’re off to college. I pray that God would use them mightily in his kingdom.

Preparing for the worst…

Having done the 3rd world a couple of times, one needs to take precautions. (funny story: In 2012 I went to the jungle in Peru where Yellow Fever was rampant. Somehow I thought I already had a Yellow Fever shot when I traveled to Cambodia. Uh no, I didn’t. Thankfully I survived the Amazon and didn’t contract Yellow Fever. This time, I’m not challenging providence).

Over the past few weeks I’ve been inoculated for

• Yellow Fever
• Hepatitis B (four! shots)
• Typhim
• Menomune

In addition, I’m taking the following meds with me (see photo of my medical friends on the right). Two days before my trip and then everyday for the next 78 days I need to take a Malaria tablet, Doxycycline (100mg). And, just in case the over the counter Imodium doesn’t clear-up a bout of diarrhea, I have some heavy duty (no pun intended) Ciprofloxacin to help.

How does one get from San Diego to the Rafiki Village in Malawi? I’m glad you asked.

Here’s my itinerary:

Saturday, July 4, 2015 10:30 PM Leave on United flight #238 for Washington/Dulles (just 10 minutes from my old stomping grounds in Sterling, VA)

Arrive into Dulles at 6:10 AM for a short four hour layover at IAD (breakfast DC friends?)

Leave on Ethiopian Airways flight #501 bound for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Leave on Ethiopian Airways flight #877 bound for Lilongwe, Malawi

Arrive into Lilongwe on July 6th at 12:20 PM, fully refreshed from my 36 hours of travel (so far).

Lilongwe is the capital of Malawi and the only commercial airport in the country.

I hope to get picked-up here by someone from the mission for the four hour (!) drive to Mzuzu, where the orphanage is located.

Malawi is a small, landlocked nation in eastern Africa. It was colonized by the British and became independent in 1964. Malawi is among the world’s poorest nations. The economy is heavily based in agriculture, with a largely rural population. The county’s population is 16 million. Mzuzu (where I will be volunteering) is the third largest city and has about 1.7 million living in or near the city. The nearest airport is a four hour drive. Missionary and explorer David Livingstone reached Lake Malawi (then called Lake Nyasa) in 1859. British colonization followed.

Five Facts About Malawi:

1. The Portuguese introduced maize (corn- originally from the New World) to the region. Today, maize is the staple grain of Malawi.

2. Lake Malawi was once called “The Lake of the Stars” by Scottish explorer and missionary David Livingstone, because lantern lights he saw from the fishermen’s boats resembled the stars at night.

3. In 2006, the pop star Madonna adopted a Malawian orphan.

4. Malawian men generally prefer wearing pants rather than shorts, as shorts are seen as a piece of clothing worn only by children.

5. The Chambo fish, one of Malawi’s favorite delicacies, is an endangered species. Lake Malawi is home to more species of fish than any other lake in the world.

So I decided that I wanted to do the Rafiki Mini-missionary service. Now I needed to see if I could afford it. Humm… Let’s see if I can use my United MileagePlus miles. Having done of few frequent flyer (read: free) trips before, I thought I would give it a shot. For the last ten years or so, I’ve done research on how to get frequent flyer miles to travel free. When you’re a poor Christian school teacher, you have to be innovative. In 2013, I used points to fly to Budapest and return from Moscow. Yes, I had to pay a couple of bucks for the Venice to Moscow leg, but it wasn’t much.  Perhaps the best deal I’ve done was in 2011. I got British Airways credit card. Then, using the 100,000 miles given, I traveled to South America utilizing BA’s unlimited stopover rule. That trip was Los Angeles to Santiago (stop and stay for a week), Santiago to Easter Island (stop for a week), Easter Island to Lima (stay for three weeks), and Lima back to Los Angeles. Total airfare: $0.

Anyway, back to this trip. For Africa 2015, I looked-up each leg of the trip using United’s reward search engine. Each leg seemed to work except Cape Town to DC. Ok, what to do? I know, I’ll use United’s one free international stop-over and go to the World’s Fair in Milan for a couple of days. What do you know, it all worked. Booked the ticket. Total fare: $0. Thanks United!