We Made It!

Here we are, once again! Thanks to your prayers and by the Lord's grace, we have made it here once more. It was an interesting journey. First of all, we were taking a suitcase filled with kids shoes and clothing for a friend here. People here can't buy through the Internet because this country doesn't have addresses. A street name and a house number are required to order. This friend ordered a lot of clothes and shoes for her four children and had the merchandise delivered to her cousin in Arizona, who was supposed to bring it here on his next visit. It turned out that he could not come, so she asked us to bring it. The cousin drove all the way from Phoenix to our house last Saturday with the suitcase. We were concerned with all the kids clothes and shoes, so we divided the merchandise into all our suitcases to be less obvious. They think that people bringing a lot of brand new clothes are going to resell them here. We even had shoes in our carry on. Hence John's problem going through security in San Diego. The shoes that we put in John's carry on were those little tennis shoes that light up when kids walk. They somehow triggered a big alarm. John was taken to secondary check, and they gave him a thorough body check, up close and personal. They emptied the suitcase, checked it for explosives. They even leafed through the books he had. The whole thing took 30 minutes. I had shoes in my carry on also, but they were just little sandals, and I did not have any problems going through security. We were on time to catch our plane because we were there with plenty of time.

There were two Marines in full gala uniform on the plane with us, one was clearly injured. John had a brief conversation with them. We thought it was unusual for Marines to travel in full gala uniform. When we landed in Houston we found out why. The pilot came on and asked us all to remain seated until the Marines exited the plane because on the plane there was also the body of a young Marine who has given his life in Afghanistan. The two Marines were accompanying the body. From our window we could see the family arriving and the honor guard, plus a group of veterans. The passengers applauded the Marines and had a moment of silent in honor of the fallen hero. It was very moving. The water drops that you see reflected on the glass are there because they hosed off the plane before we arrived at the gate. You can see the Marine approaching the honor guard in crutches.

We boarded our second plane without any problems because we did not have to go through Security again; nevertheless, we were concerned about going through customs, but we knew that Michael and Louee would be praying precisely at the time we would be arriving, we were trusting the Lord to hear all our prayers, and, of course, He answered. When it was our turn, we put all our luggage, including carry ons through x-rays, and no alarm when off. They did not even open our luggage, just asked us for our paper work, in fact, they did not even look at us! We were out of there without a hitch. Thank you, Lord, and thank you Michael and Louee for standing on the gap for us! By the way, the other prayer request was that John's ear would not hurt, and it did not either! PTL!!

We were picked up at the airport by one of the drivers from here. It is part of their service. The driver greeted us warmly, as usual, and then while on our way, he explained that he was not the driver scheduled to pick us up, but that the other driver, his name is Elpidio, had a family emergency. In the typical careful way they talk about things here, he informed us that Elpidio's only daughter had been killed that same evening by her boyfriend. We were shocked! He gave us the sketchy details that he had. Elpidio had called him at the last minute and then again two hours later to make sure that he had arrived at the airport on time. Today I called Elpidio to find the funeral details. He is very sad. These people have faith in God, but don't know Him personally. The viewing is tonight, so we are going with a few friends from town. Elpidio does not live in our little town, but not too far. We are hoping that the Lord will use this horrible tragedy to bring the entire family closer to Him.

We did not make it to church this morning. We were just too tired. We had our traditional first morning breakfast of pancakes, then unpacked, took inventory of our supplies and went shopping. The car started without problems. Everything seems to be working fine at the moment. Thank you for your prayers. Please pray for wisdom as we try to minister to the weary. (Is. 50:4)

Until next time...at the beach...