THURSDAY, 11/22
Wow, what a Wednesday! I left the house at 4:45AM and drove to the Mobile airport to catch my 6:40AM flight to Houston where I would leave at 9:40AM for Guatemala. Long story short – Jeff Long and I joined a plane full of other folks sitting on the plane from about 6:20AM until around 8:30AM when they had us leave the plane. Mechanical problems. I knew I had missed my connection so I had them reschedule me for the 4:25PM flight so I could make the 7:10PM connection. The weather was not great but we made it to IAH without a problem. We boarded the flight to Guatemala on time (around 7:00PM) and sat on that plane for two hours due to lightning and then finally left IAH at 9:30PM arriving in Guatemala at 12:30AM today. I went to the rental car agency and got a vehicle and arrived at the mission house at 2:00AM. I was unpacking and the power went out but, obviously, it came back on.
I do not like sitting on a plane. I would rather stand in a long, slow line at Wal Mart as to just sit on a plane parked just outside the gate or on the tarmac. I had between four and five hours of that yesterday but, somewhat amazingly, I did okay. Thank God for cell phones and text messaging!
I will have a busy day today getting ready for the team that arrives tonight and tomorrow afternoon. There are groceries to be purchased, meat to be ordered, building sites to be checked out, et cetera so that will keep me going. Please pray for our team members as they fly in today and tomorrow that they will have on time schedules.
Jeff Long, send me an e-mail or leave a comment here to let me know if you made it to Africa. I should have called.
Tom or Shari – I need Wayne DeYoung & Jon Duimstra’s driver’s license number and the expiration date for it and their passport. Please e-mail that info to me today.
It is 3:00AM so I am going to bed for a few hours. I wanted our early risers to know what was happening. Thank you for your prayers. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving Day!
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Brother Teddie,
I must comment that I remember going on one of the first Thanksgiving trips to Guatemala. I will never forget flying to Texas early, then waiting on the runway for all of our luggage.
Thanks to your planning we were also flying with several frozen turkeys for our Thanksgiving feast. Mr. Stan who was sitting near me on the plain looked out of the window and noticed that our birds were not being loaded onto the plane. He, in a feat that today might have him sent to Guantanamo, aggressively approached the captain of the plain to explain the importance of the people those turkeys were meant for and to demand that they be loaded. I think of him still when I see my luggage loaded!
Take good care of yourself and God bless the the work. Have a street made tomali for me, I love those things!
All the very best for a nice trip and a safe return home!
Happy Thanksgiving,
T.Garrett
P.S. I will also never forget Bill Dixon bargaining with the people in the market. He should be an FX trader on Wall Street!