It began with a 5 hour flight from Tegucigalpa, Honduras to Atlanta, Georgia.
-We had a short 2 hour layover in Georgia: just enough time to deboard, grab some dinner, and hug our squad mentor who surprised us at the airport!
-4 hour flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles, California, where we excitedly prepared for our…
-22 hour layover! This was the best part. Our families treated our team to two hotel rooms! Hello to hot showers, fast internet and a delicious continental breakfast. Before our heads hit our pillows, we walked to In-and-Out Burger to fulfill Bee’s dream.
(picture: the Christmas packages that awaited us at our hotel! Thank you, Victoria, for the photo 🙂 )
-15 hour flight from L.A. to Guangzhou, China. Dinner on the plane yielded a few very sick squadmates, including myself. I think the last time I threw up that much was after my tonsillectomy as a child.
-8 hour layover at a cold airport in China. We shuffled through the customs line and found a free space of floor to huddle together and sleep.
-2 hour flight from China to Makati, the Philippines. My seatmate took compassion on me and gave me her pillow.
-We waited for an hour in the airport, trying to communicate with our hosts. Finally, we decided to get a hotel for the night. The sickies rejoiced. But shortly after, our hosts called back to say they had arrived. Enter the slightly-delirious phase of our travel day.
-2 hour drive around Manila, our team bouncing around in the back of the cargo van. We ended up back at the airport… our driver got lost.
-45 minute pit stop at McDonald’s. They have rice on the menu! I ordered some, hoping my stomach could keep it down.
-Attempt #2 to drive to the port in Batangas (Luzon island, the Philippines). Success!
(picture: One artist’s rendition of a beach on Mindoro island. It really was that beautiful!)
-1.5 hour ferry ride from Batangas to Calapan (Mindoro island). The wind whipped through our hair as we sat snuggled together on the top deck of the ferry. A few of us went out on the bow to watch the stars as Mindoro island grew larger and larger on the dark horizon.
I pondered how my Grandpa must have felt when his company landed in Manila during WWII… I am so thankful that God saved his life.
-2 hour drive up into the mountains to Puerto Galera to our ministry for the month: Threads of Hope (for a quick video tour of our location, check out my squadmate’s video: https://vimeo.com/150788481).
-We fell into bed. I don’t remember much of the next two days, as our bodies tried to adjust to a time zone 12 hours ahead of our usual!
God so took care of us.
(picture: our two female teams and squad leaders on Christmas Day in the Philippines)
