Morocco Update 8.1.22

Welp, we’ve hit a snag.

Debriefing has been sweet this last week. We arrived smoothly in Fes to our Riad in the ancient Medina. It’s an incredibly old and ornate Moroccan building that our whole team had to ourselves, and served us well. We were able to do our teachings and spend a lot of time in the Word, as well as introspection and conversation, as we prepare for our transition home. The average daily temp in Fes was over 100 degrees each day, so it was a hot week to say the least.

This morning we woke up, marched ourselves out of the Medina, hopped in some vans to the train station, and caught our train to Casablanca. It was all going so smoothly.

Upon arriving in Casablanca, we caught some taxis to our hotel in the beautiful Corniche part of Casablanca. Ocean views, lots of great restaurants, what more could you ask for? But then we hit that snag. We arrived at the hotel I booked on Airbnb. I confirmed the hotel, and checked it out on google maps as well just to doublecheck the place was what it said it was. Confirmed, checked, good to go. Or not. We arrived at a hotel that’s been closed and under construction for over a year. It currently doesn’t exist as a hotel! It’s closed and definitely has not been taking any reservations! Apparently, I’ve been the victim of an Airbnb scam.

So our sweet team found ourselves freshly arrived in Casablanca with no place to call home. Myself and our other sr leaders immediately set off on foot to see what other hotels were in the area. After a bit of searching, we found place about half mile down the road that had enough available rooms to put us up. We said hello to our emergency funds budget, booked the rooms, and are all checked in and happy to be here. As we speak the team is at the beach swimming in the Atlantic Ocean, soaking up the last afternoon in Morocco before we catch our early flight home tomorrow. Praise God for the way He has taken care of us on this trip.
Tomorrow we catch our bus at 2:30 am to the airport for our morning flight to Paris. We are in our final few hours here in Morocco, and we have nothing but gratitude for all it’s given us.

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Families, our students are all looking forward to seeing you very soon! They would all request pb&j sandwiches and oat meal for their first meal back home. (Actually, nothing could be further from the truth). We trust you are praying us all the way home, and as sad as we are to leave this place we’ve all come to love so dearly, we are ready for our return just the same.

With Love,
Job and the Morocco team 

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