So…I bet you are wondering how I have internet access already. The short version is….
Tulsa…..check
Dallas….canceled
Chicago…..check
Atlanta……check
LONDON…..DENIED!!!
AFRICA….DENIED!!!
After a canceled flight to Dallas, detour through Chicago, and delay in Chicago I finally got to Atlanta to meet the smiling faces of my World Race teammates, AIM staff, prayer partners, and my brother in law (yes…he was working in Atlanta. Random.) Everyone made it to Atlanta on time, after a meeting, and prayer we headed to check in for our flight to London where we ran into a little trouble.
Apparently British Airways needed verification that we were planning to leave South Africa since we are getting our visas upon arrival in Africa. Our around the world plane ticket is a series of one way tickets which are purchased along the way, so we did not have this verification. The exact information needed has not been requested by other airlines, our travel agent was unaware of its importance, and the fax verifying we were leaving South Africa from AIM was not sufficient either. That is my understanding of the whole deal…it may be a little off. Needless to say, they did not let 27 of us get on the plane. After much discussion with the airline, myself and 8 other girls are flying out tonight at 6:30pm and rest of our team is going out on Thursday at 6:30pm. We will go ahead and go to Swaziland and wait for our team to get there a day later. Our other tickets to verify we are leaving South Africa are coming through Fedex tomorrow, so those of us leaving tonight are taking copies and PRAYING they accept them. Hopefully that will be sufficient!
Throughout all this we prayed like crazy and the Lord chose not to get us on the plane. I believe the Lord knows something we do not know yet and may not. He has a purpose! We are 100% surrendered to fulfill HIS purpose. Apparently, the flight to London on June 5th was not HIS purpose. We have already been surprised by the Lord. We are all excited to see how He surprises us along the way to follow what He has in store rather than the plans we make for ourselves.
This team is incredible…all of us were just like “well…we will get there eventually!” Everyone just went with it without complaining or expressing any frustration. Last night we came back to Gainesville and crashed at AIM. Today we are getting some much needed rest before some of us head out. PRAY that we can see the Lord’s purpose in this slight delay and walk where He leads as its result.
Next time you hear from me…I should be in Africa, but who knows!
Pray Pray Pray!
