I am currently sitting in the airport in CHINA!! We are waiting here for five hours and then flying to my first country- CAMBODIA!
This was my first travel day on the World Race. We went from Atlanta to Dallas to Los Angeles to China and finally we will fly to Cambodia. This is my first time to California. This is my first time on an Interntional flight.
Looking at the impending travel day- all those flights, all those firsts- I didn’t know what to think. I guess that I had this idea in my head that on the World Race travel days, God wasn’t going to do radical things. It’s not that I specifically thought He wouldn’t do stuff- I just didn’t intentionally think that He would be doing awesome stuff. Like, I don’t know, like He would ‘take a break’.
Well, God showed me. He showed up ALL day. He showed up in squadmates, He showed up in stewardesses, He showed up in conversations, He showed up in California. It was like He was saying to me,
“just sit back and watch, Ashley, I am ALWAYS here. I am always working always doing amazing things. I don’t need to ‘take a break’.”
Let me just tell you all some things that God did…
*by no means is this going to be all, I’m just telling what I think of right now*
(Let me first start this by saying that the night- actually just a couple of hours before we needed to leave the airport- I realized that I left my tennis shoes at home. I have three pairs of flip flops with me… thats it)
After we got to Dallas, a squad mate and I went to Dunkin Doughnuts in the airport. I got a large ice water… heavy on the ice, of course, I love a little water with my ice. We all boarded the plane like right when we got back to the rest of the squad. I have my daypack as a carry on and then another bag- a reusable shopping bag that I bought at TJMaxx. I put the cup of water into my bag- so I could use both my hands. When I got to my seat, my squadmate, Chase helped me put my carry ons in the overhead compartment. I then sat down in my seat and started talking to the guy that I was sitting beside. Well, come to find out, our plane has been delayed like 30 minutes. We keep talking and when we have like 10 minutes till we depart, I get a HORRIFYING thought.
My Dunkin Doughnuts cup is in my bag. My bag was put in the overhead compartmet. My PASSPORT is loose in that bag!
Then I get a horrible feeling in my stomach.
“GREAT. I’m not going to be able to leave the country because of how blonde I am sometimes!!’
I start imagining water starting to drip down from the overhead bins and I die. I’m already dying of the impending embarrassment.
I tell the man that I am sitting with what I did and then move to get the offending bag- dreading what I’ll find. I open the compartment- the bag had been put into the overhead right side up! The water HAD NOT spilled!!! I took the cup out and let me tell you, THAT is never happening again! *whew* The plane had been delayed and I got my cup…
Crazy.
So, I proceed to have a really good conversation with the man that I am sitting with on the flight to LAX. We get to talk about the mission trip, family, work, and the countries. I ask him if he knows if there are any Payless Shoes Source stores around LAX. I could maybe walk to one and get some tennis shoes. *Because Payless is my number one choice for shoes my size that are reasonable priced. He was able to google it and look. We couldn’t find one that wasn’t like 20 minutes away.
I got up to go to the bathroom on that flight. When I came out, the two stewardeses were right outside of the door with their beverage cart. The one was like,
‘You’re going to Cambodia, right?’
‘yes, m’am’
‘you’re doing a mission trip?’
(the second stewardess had stepped away to pass someone a drink, but she had just returned)
‘yes, m’am. we are doing an 11 month mission trip…’
The second stewardess chimes in, ‘oh yeah! I know about that! My friend did it! Where are the rest of you?’
‘oh, we’re around in here’ I started pointing some people out.
Second: ‘I have to get a picture of you guys! I’m going to be praying for you all.’
‘alright, I’ll make sure that we get a picture…’ and I go back to my seat.
At the end of the flight, we all hang back to get a picture for our newfound friend, Brenda. Brenda tells us to all get in the aisles for a picture, takes one and then gets a fellow worker to get one with her in it. :)) p.s.- Ms. Brenda, If you are reading this, would you send that picture to me? [email protected]
As we left the plane, Martha was talking to me about how encouraging that encounter was. Here we are, super tired and worn out from traveling so far, and we get this little blessing shower from a person that we ran into. It was such a refreshing moment, an encouragement, a little glimse of God’s care for us!
We get to California. California! This is part of my story, because when I went out on the beach on New Year’s Day to talk to God and rest in Him, I made a New Year Resolution list. An item on that list was go to CA. Wow.
The layover in CA is 13 hours. We can leave the airport if we want. I tried to connect with a couple friends to meet up and that way we could make a pitstop and I could buy some tennis shoes. None of those worked out. I went with some of my squad to In ‘n Out. Apparently, someplace you can’t miss out on if you go to CA. On the way to find the place, I talked to B.J about my shoe situation. He agreed to try to find a Walmart or Target and help me find some shoes. We got to the restaurant and the locals said that there was nothing with in walking distance. So, after we eat, we head back to the airport. B.J looked at me and said,
“Ashley, God is going to provide your shoes.”
Once we got back to the airport, like everyone laid down to try to get some sleep. (side note: our squad had to divide into two groups for the two domestic flights before we left the country) I heard Katy (the point person for our group) talking to Carli (the point person for the second group) about them getting into LAX and meeting up or leaving the airport. I told Katy that I wanted to go out with them. So, Katy and I met up with Carli. Carli said that Simone had a friend that was coming to the airport to pick her up to hang out, and that I could come if I wanted. I went.
Since no one had an idea of what to do, I told them about my shoe situation- thinking we could find somewhere. We went to a couple of places, but I only found some $87 shoes and there was nothing else. So, we decided to try on more place: Target. There was a Target like two miles from where we were. We drove to it and it ended up being IN A MALL. As we walked to Target, we passed a mall directory. I look at it, and what do I see? … a Payles!
So, we go to Payless. I walk in and look immediately at the guys tennis shoes. None are on sale. So I look at the girls, thinking there might be something that I can squeeze into- because I’ve never even SEEN women’s tennis shoes that are 13 wide there. Well, one pair of women’s tennis shoes are on sale- $20. Wanna guess their size?
…
13 wide!!
Aaaaannd, they are SUPER light weight! Perfect.
I also just realized a little bit ago that God’s NOT Dead is the first movie Lynda and I went to. There is a classmate in the movie from China and he became a believer. So, China is the first country that was presented to Lynda and I first in our time together.
Right now, we are in CHINA together!! Like, she is sleeping at my feet as I am writing this!!
Let me just say, God showed me! He is always there. ALWAYS working. Who cares if it’s a travel day?
GOD DOESN’T TAKE BREAKS!!!
I love you all!!
