They've Arrived!

God works in mysterious and odd ways sometimes. But let me backtrack and tell you the whole story. We all arrived on time at the airport and began a long day of hurry up and wait. The ticket agents at the kiosks told us everything from, "We can't print luggage tags and you'll have to get your bags in Seattle" to "these tickets aren't paid for" to "your bags are too heavy." Anyway, we got through and had a sweet goodbye while family, friends, and supporters. Once on the other side of the wall, Sarah with her eagle eyes and keen fascination with Gonzaga basketball, said that Jeremy Pargo was "over there." We each got a chance to have a picture with him and it ended up that he was on our flight. In the back row were four seats, Jackson got to sit with Pargo and I got to sit with Sister Ursula from Germany--a Dominican nun. They talked about Gonzaga's run and I talked about the transubstantiation of communion.
In Seattle our flight was delayed a couple of hours and we finally got off about 4:15 along with 30 high school kids from Chongqing were in the states on a homestay program. We met a young girl named "Blue" and had a chance to talk with her. After 11 hours of flying we got our temperature taken on the airplane. The highlight for me was when Emma was coming out of the bathroom on the plane and a flight attendant was standing like the Terminator with a thermometer gun pointed at her head. We did find favor and no one was quarantined!!!! After getting bags and exchanging money with no glitches we found Clay and Jewel and Shelby. We finally pulled in 23 hours and 55 minutes after we left for the airport and went to bed. Everyone did well and is feeling fine. Today we are just heading for a walk in the village and then looking at this facility that is very different than last summer. Remember us and PRAY for us as we begin to labor and praise God through our days.

Steve