The Empire Strikes Back

When we last left our hero he was exhausted after battling the forces of futility in the Faso. His hope was that with the sunrise a new day would dawn and the momentum would shift in his favor. That however was not to be.
It is true that my Saturday wasn't too bad considering I had to walk everywhere, but the Saturday morning meeting went well and I had lunch with one of the young jedi in training. However, it did not help that when Sunday rolled around I had the excruciating task of listening to the Seahawks get beat like an African drum on a shoddy radio connection that broke in and out. And with that set up, Monday morning happened.
I woke up to my alarm and was excited to get going because I knew I had so much to accomplish before picking the guys up for after school boys Bible study. I traversed the mile or more to the Rebel headquaters (SIM) and then began looking for a way to both get my moto back and get down and straighten out my visa fiasco. Well, it turned out no one was really around to help me out and no one had a spare moto I could use. So I borrowed one of the youth group students bicycle, went back to my house to change knowing that going warp speed on a bike in Burkina is going to cause a lot of sweat. So I loaded up some water and my papers and headed down to the Niger embassy. After the 8 mile bike ride down which I hustled (because I had other things to do) I got to the office only to find the man I needed to see was not in his office. So, I waited patiently for about 10 minutes for the man to come back. Finally he did and then I entered and began to ask him what I needed to fill out. Well, he gave our hero an inquisitive look and replied, "There's nothing wrong with your application." To which our hero looked at him and said "you called me Friday afternoon saying I had not done my application correctly". To which he said, "Oh, well I straightened it out". At which point our hero was so glad he borrowed a bike to ride 8 miles down there just to find that out. Great.
So after coming to grips with the fact that I not only wasted time, but also a lot of energy and sweat I picked up a few items at a store and began to head home. After crossing the galaxy and safely returning, (however at one point I raced a burkinabe kid on a bike, I came out on top of that little contest but it was funny nonetheless) I dropped the bike back off and went to HQ to get some cold water. I entered the guest house and got a glass only to realize the cooler where the cold clean water is kept, was empty... I began to realize that the dark side of the force was targeting me, so I shrugged that off, and left the building to go get the truck, so I could pick the guys up. Well, and this is my fault, but since I was a little agitated and tired from the ride I actually got lost for a little while, completely missing the turn I was to take to get to the house where the truck was being stored. So I walked an extra 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile. At this point I began to feel like Han Solo in the Empire Strikes Back. It just seemed nothing was going my way.
Well, I finally got to the house and tried to start up the truck. And just like Han had trouble with the Millennium Falcon, I too had trouble with my Millennium Falcon. It would not turn over. So I asked a couple guys to help me push it out of the yard so I could jump start it. Well, as they were pushing, (I was out of the drivers seat pushing as well) I realised that at the current trajectory we were going to smack right into the gate/wall. So I yelled STOP (in French) and jumped in the car to slam on the brake. We narrowly avoided that train wreck, and after straightening out got it out. I'd never pop started a clutch before, but to my amazement and little help of the force I got that sucker running. Once started though I looked down at the fuel gage, only to realize that I was on E. This thing was so low it would have put Kramer's adventure in the test car in Seinfeld to shame. Well, I headed back to Rebel HQ to get some money to fill it up. Well, just my luck, neither accountant was there, so I was forced to drive it home, hoping it would make it so I could get some money and go fill it up. Right now, I'd like you, based on my day thus far, to take a guess if our hero actually made it home? Go ahead, take a guess...
Ya, I'm sure you got it correct. Of course I didn't make it home!!! Actually I made it to within about 100 to 200 ft. or so. So, I got to push it up to my house, at which point I went inside and found my faithful companion and roommate Chewy (Reid), sitting in the dark, because the power was out. He and I hopped on his moto, and went to get gas. Oh and by gas I mean Diesel, and for those of you who know about how Diesel manual trucks work, running out of gas isn't exactly great for them. So after 2 trips to the local power-up station Chewy and I took turns pumping the fuel filter pump for 15 minutes or so.
I got the Millennium Falcon back on line and headed over to pick up the guys for Bible study. Well, since my morning was shot, I didn't have much of a chance to prepare a lesson for the guys, and I was exhausted anyway, so we did about 15% spiritual talk and 85% talking about who knows what. I took the guys back dropped the car off, actually got to borrow another moto from a friend and rode it back. Since then I haven't had too many complications however I know the day is not over and there are things I still must accomplish. So for tomorrow, Tuesday, I have to go pay my fine at the Death Star so I can go get my moto back which is at the Stormtrooper station, as well as pick up the T-shirts for the youth mission trip I'm leading. Eventually I'll have to go back down to the Niger embassy to get my passport back. This "to do" list sounds vaguely familiar. Hmmm. Oh ya, that's because I was supposed to do all that stuff Friday and TODAY!!! I don't know if I'm in Burkina Faso or on the cloud city Bespin, either way it's been another one of "those" days!
Hopefully I'll be writing a "Return of the Jedi" post soon...