Monday, January 14, 2008

Back In The Good Old USA



Monday, January 14th, 2:45 PM (Pacific Time)
Los Angeles International Airport

It sure is good to be back on US soil again! We're still a long way from home (way out here on the "Left Coast"), but as I always say when we arrive back in LA - "I can get home from here!"
We have completed three legs of our Journey and changed planes and gone through security three times so far - Dumaguete to Manila - Manila to Hong Kong - Hong Kong to LA - and we have two more flights to go before we get back to the cold, snowy Tri-State.

Our flight from LA to Charlotte doesn't leave until 10:45 tonight (Pacific Time) so we have eight hours to wait here in Los Angeles - but that's OK. We are back in the most wonderful country on earth. Most of us do not think much about how blessed we are to live here in America, even with all of it's perceived problems, until we visit other countries. It really makes one thankful for who we are and what we have here. We are truly a nation blessed by Almighty God.

Our flights all went well. This is the only leg of the trip with a long layover. We had three hours between flights in Manila, but, as usual, it took EVERY minute of it to make the transfer from the Domestic Airport to the International Airport and get checked in for our flight to Hong Kong. It was in the final boarding stage when we arrived, breathlessly, at the gate. One glitch I happened to catch in Manila was an error in our checked baggage information. Thamer was the first guy to the check in window in Manila and he told the agent that we were going to Huntington, WV. For some reason, the guy must not have looked at the final coupon in our paper tickets, and I noticed on the claim checks that it listed the final destination as Charlotte! It was too late to do anything about it by the time I discovered the error, but fortunately we have to claim our baggage in Los Angeles, so rather than just put them through the automatic recheck area for forward bound passengers, we just took them on to the US Airways ticket counter and had them re-checked for Huntington. The man at the desk there confirmed my fears that as tagged, our bags would have stopped their journey in Charlotte instead of making it back to Tri State Airport with us. The long suffering Kim Blatt would have had to sort out the problem - but fortunately we caught it before that happened.

As I said earlier, the flights were all fine, but I experienced something I have never experienced in 37 years of air travel. I got sick on the plane. I wouldn't call it "air sickness" because it didn't seem to have anything to do with motion sickness. It seemed to have more to do with either the Whopper I had in Hong Kong, or a ham and cheese sandwich I ate somewhere over the Pacific. Mercifully I will spare you the details, but it is a good thing I was only three rows from one of the toilets. Had I not been able to get to the rest room, suffice it to say that it would have been a "three bagger".

Although tired, our team members are still relishing the wonderful success given our efforts by our Lord. We are deeply thankful to those who have helped us in any way. The two 24 hour prayer chains at Westmoreland Baptist and Locust Grove Baptist Church (and all other "prayer warriors" who were not on the 24 hour list) had a great impact on the outcome of this mission. I hope that we will have the same high level of support for the activities in May.

I want to thank Randall Robertson, Thamer Calhoun, and Darrell Clark for all that they have done to contribute to this effort. It is a blessing to be part of a team who cares about what we are trying to do. Above all, we would like to thank our families for their wonderful support and understanding in this ministry. Two weeks away from home is difficult for us, but we know there are family members who miss us and have to pick up some of our responsibilities while we're gone.

Finally to my "Sweet Baboo", thanks for being so supportive. I missed you very much and I'll see you tomorrow!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing your life with us here. Thanks for all the prayers and we made it for the glory of God.Thanks for having a great time with us. We miss u all. Looking forward for another great mission on May. This is from the NLCC(phil.)

GOD BLESS US ALL.....('_')

C.J. Adkins said...

Chel,
Thank YOU all for being such wonderful hosts to us. The love and friendship of Ptr. Valdez and the NLCC family is one of the true joys of my life!
I also look forward to "Part 2" of our mission trip in May with the team from New Orleans.
God bless,
C.J.