Hey, everyone! We’ve safely made it to Vietnam and so far my first impressions of this city and ministry are spectacular. I’m so excited for this month—for God to work in crazy ways through my team and me—and being placed in a city was a much-needed change from our remote lifestyle last month. But before I get too far ahead of myself, let me rewind to our travel day this month or what I will label as the worst day of the race thus far.
So, we were in Kathmandu staying for roughly 24 hours before we left on our flight to Vietnam. The morning of our travel day, I decided to grab some breakfast before we got to the airport, so I went to the nearest coffee shop and ordered a plate of chicken momos. Momos are basically dumplings filled with meat and served with a spicy sauce. Usually they are inexpensive, so consequently my first choice. I scarfed down the dumplings and then headed back to the hostel to get ready to leave. We arrived at the airport and proceeded to do what we do best on travel days: “Hurry up and wait.” This saying really sums up what our travel days look like; we rush to get to the airport only to have a 6-hour wait.
Once we got in the airport and established a plot of terminal floor to call home for the next couple of hours, a turning began to take place in my stomach. In an effort to distract myself from the feeling, I booted up a movie and settled in for the next 2 hours. For the most part, the distraction worked but by the time the movie was over the feeling in my stomach had worsened.
Now I will say, and most racers would agree, that travel days, for whatever reason, are usually accompanied by varying degrees of illness. On this particular day of the month, colds, headaches, stomach flus, and loose motions seem to attack the body with the timing and precision of a mission command center launching an attack. But I knew that the war in my digestive system was no ordinary travel day manifestation. This was something far worse.
With our travel day just beginning and the knowledge that we had 2 flights, 1 lay over, and roughly 24 hours before I would be able to lay my head down in the bed waiting for me in Vietnam, I knew a terrible day was on the horizon.
Stage 1: The feeling in my stomach escalated to something serious and the first episode of my body trying to rid itself of those disastrous momos began. No stranger to this battle, I finished the job and threw in a stick of gum to convince myself that the worst was behind me. Sadly, this was not the case.
Stage 2: A second bout of sickness came, and it was clearly more rampant than the first. Both of these episodes, mind you, happened before we even got our boarding passes for our first flight. My body now weak and losing control of normal functions, I returned to my group who was beginning to collect boarding passes. In my sickly state, I managed to push my 60 lbs. of luggage to the front of the line and slapped on a smile for the Nepali airline worker to get my pass. I stepped out of line with my boarding pass in hand and felt a moment of accomplishment. Standing, now feeling like a major task, was no longer an option, so I laid down and sprawled out on the cold white marble floor. The squad, now up to speed with the war waging on in my body, came to give their concern. Comments like, “I’m sorry”, “Need anything?”, and “Wow, you look horrible. Your face is literally green” soon began to shower me as I stared at the airport celling. Joint efforts of prayer were then soon to follow which brought a moment of clarity, but then I had to pick myself up and proceed to the place where happiness goes to die at an airport—security check.
Stage 3: I made it through customs with a stamp to prove it, and then waited in line for the security check. The situation in my stomach was now at an all-time high. I have felt some painful things in my life, but nothing, and I mean nothing, can compare to the vengeance a batch of malicious momos can have on the body. Inevitably, my mouth began to feel dry, my head started to spin, and I knew what was coming next. I quickly got up and made way for a corner of the airport that I hoped was a bathroom, but my efforts were too little too late. And like old faithful himself, I spilled the last batch of momos there on the airport floor for everyone to see. Finally, the architect of the pain I endured for the last 6 hours, and the next 14 to come, was staring at me face-to-face. Those momos had done their worst. With my shirt no longer wearable and our time to board dwindling, I grabbed a squadmates extra shirt and pushed on.
I had a couple more rounds of battle while waiting to enter our gate, but finally I got on the plane and tried to relax. A friend threw some Tylenol PM down my gullet, and the next 12 hours are comparable to the experiences of a reckless college student during a 3-day music festival.
The plane flight was long and fuzzy. I managed to fall asleep for a couple of minutes only to have the sturdiest wake up to see if I wanted some chicken curry or to force my seat to upright position. We made it to Kuala Lampur, Malaysia to where I quickly found an unclaimed section of bench to rest my head for a while. We boarded our next flight and I, not exactly sure what time it was or how long this leg of travel was, popped on some Taylor Swift and faded away. We landed, eventually got through customs, got our bags, and were on our way to the hotel.
As soon as our bus reached our stop, the sky opened up and a downpour ensued. We grab our luggage and trudged through the rain, not exactly sure where we were going. After a couple of hotel mix ups and our bags being fully soaked by the warm Vietnam rain, I made it to my air-conditioned room and dove onto my bed. I slept pretty well that day/night, but briefly woke up to witness, through the glass door to our room, a rat the size of a professional league football bound up the stairs. I rolled over and concluded that this was going to be an interesting month. It sure had been an interesting start.
In the end, these are the things I took away from this adventurous day. First, I will never have a momo near my face again. Second, I feel extremely sorry for the poor janitor in Kathmandu that had a particularly bad day. Next, my beautiful squad is primarily the reason why I was able to push through and get here in one piece. And lastly, I am extremely blessed to have arrived here safely and to have my health back.
We’ll be here in Ho Chi Min for the month, and I am beyond excited and ready to go where the Father directs me. Stay tuned for more about our work this month. Hopefully it involves a lot less bodily fluids.
