It’s been a while since I’ve been able to have the time to write. Like the typical new years resolution, it petered out well before the calendar turned to February. However, I am determined to keep working toward the goal of becoming a regular blogger.
There has been much to write about since my last post, including 2 interesting holidays, but those will come around again next year so I’ll save it. I’ve sprained my ankle pretty seriously too in the past couple of weeks. But ankle pain can’t be blamed for a lack of typing. And Lost is so fantastic! Matthew Abaddon deserves his own post. I’ll get to that eventually.
But now, there is something great to write about today. As I type this, I am somewhere over Central America, in heavy turbulence, hoping my relatively decent airplane coffee doesn’t bounce out onto my friends next to me. In a couple of hours, we’ll be landing in El Salvador.
I am travelling with 12 other people on a mission to the small village of San Jose El Naranjo. In the coming week, I plan to write and post more about this village and what we see there. More importantly, I’ll write about what God is teaching me this amazing and fun team of people who are in for a currently unrevealed spiritual life change. I don’t know what God will reveal to me during this trip, but I have to say I haven’t been as excited about what cannot be known of his providence for a long time.
On Saturday, February 22 (or “22 February” as they keep making me write it), we will begin by touring a water project that is bringing safe water to our village. This project is key to the overall mission with this village for the simple reason that without safe water, people die and can never escape poverty. Our church and others have contributed financially to this project through a ministry called Enlace. I’ll write more about this later, hopefully with some pictures.
Our team is carrying nearly a ton of baggage. Literally, almost a ton. The tonnage mostly consists of 400+ new school backpacks full of new, much needed school supplies. We’ll be giving those away later in the week. Because mosquitoes love me, malaria medicine also adds weight to the scales.
The day started out a bit rough and a long time ago in a different country. I went to sleep around midnight, enjoyed the sound of car alarms for a couple of hours and got up at 4 am to finish packing and some other work. Because it was raining in San Diego, it took us nearly an hour to get to the airport, normally about 20 minutes away. Drivers in San Diego put their vehicles into park on the freeways when we get just a little drizzle. Apparently, so do airline pilots in San Diego because we sat parked on the tarmac for two hours in the rain waiting to take off.
That delay created some anxiety for us because it became clear that we would likely miss our connecting flight in Houston. I was getting ready to call my Houston friend Robert and announce a surprise overnight visit. Oh and by the way, I’ll be bringing 12 of my friends and a ton of luggage. Really, almost a whole ton! Did I mention that?
But as the whole country seemed to be delayed today, our connecting flight was also delayed. Oh, as feared, our connecting flight was at the farthest possible gate from our arrival gate. We all had to run several miles through the massive stale popcorn smelling Bush airport and we barely made the connection – out of breath and sans a much desired Starbuck’s pickup.
I’ve completely messed up my customs form. With my contact lenses, I can’t read very small print.
I believe the hotel we stay at the first couple of nights in San Salvador has wireless Internet, so I anticipate being to post a couple of things. I would be more certain about that, but I took 8 years of French instead of Spanish and that makes it hard to read the hotel website. French – yeah, I have lived in Southern California my whole life, what language should I learn? French (see last sentence, two paragraphs up.) I’ve never known anyone personally who speaks French for a legitimate reason.
Anyway, if you are reading this by 22 February, or 23 February, it means I and my team have arrived safely, we have not been jailed for trafficking school supplies, and our hotel indeed has Internet service.
I look forward to telling you how things are going.
SCF
There has been much to write about since my last post, including 2 interesting holidays, but those will come around again next year so I’ll save it. I’ve sprained my ankle pretty seriously too in the past couple of weeks. But ankle pain can’t be blamed for a lack of typing. And Lost is so fantastic! Matthew Abaddon deserves his own post. I’ll get to that eventually.
But now, there is something great to write about today. As I type this, I am somewhere over Central America, in heavy turbulence, hoping my relatively decent airplane coffee doesn’t bounce out onto my friends next to me. In a couple of hours, we’ll be landing in El Salvador.
I am travelling with 12 other people on a mission to the small village of San Jose El Naranjo. In the coming week, I plan to write and post more about this village and what we see there. More importantly, I’ll write about what God is teaching me this amazing and fun team of people who are in for a currently unrevealed spiritual life change. I don’t know what God will reveal to me during this trip, but I have to say I haven’t been as excited about what cannot be known of his providence for a long time.
On Saturday, February 22 (or “22 February” as they keep making me write it), we will begin by touring a water project that is bringing safe water to our village. This project is key to the overall mission with this village for the simple reason that without safe water, people die and can never escape poverty. Our church and others have contributed financially to this project through a ministry called Enlace. I’ll write more about this later, hopefully with some pictures.Our team is carrying nearly a ton of baggage. Literally, almost a ton. The tonnage mostly consists of 400+ new school backpacks full of new, much needed school supplies. We’ll be giving those away later in the week. Because mosquitoes love me, malaria medicine also adds weight to the scales.
The day started out a bit rough and a long time ago in a different country. I went to sleep around midnight, enjoyed the sound of car alarms for a couple of hours and got up at 4 am to finish packing and some other work. Because it was raining in San Diego, it took us nearly an hour to get to the airport, normally about 20 minutes away. Drivers in San Diego put their vehicles into park on the freeways when we get just a little drizzle. Apparently, so do airline pilots in San Diego because we sat parked on the tarmac for two hours in the rain waiting to take off.That delay created some anxiety for us because it became clear that we would likely miss our connecting flight in Houston. I was getting ready to call my Houston friend Robert and announce a surprise overnight visit. Oh and by the way, I’ll be bringing 12 of my friends and a ton of luggage. Really, almost a whole ton! Did I mention that?
But as the whole country seemed to be delayed today, our connecting flight was also delayed. Oh, as feared, our connecting flight was at the farthest possible gate from our arrival gate. We all had to run several miles through the massive stale popcorn smelling Bush airport and we barely made the connection – out of breath and sans a much desired Starbuck’s pickup.
I’ve completely messed up my customs form. With my contact lenses, I can’t read very small print.
I believe the hotel we stay at the first couple of nights in San Salvador has wireless Internet, so I anticipate being to post a couple of things. I would be more certain about that, but I took 8 years of French instead of Spanish and that makes it hard to read the hotel website. French – yeah, I have lived in Southern California my whole life, what language should I learn? French (see last sentence, two paragraphs up.) I’ve never known anyone personally who speaks French for a legitimate reason.
Anyway, if you are reading this by 22 February, or 23 February, it means I and my team have arrived safely, we have not been jailed for trafficking school supplies, and our hotel indeed has Internet service.
I look forward to telling you how things are going.
SCF
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