At the Airport Heading off To the Philippines

I wanted to give some details or post some pictures, but the computer we brought would not allow me to get on our blog page.  I don't understand why, but that was what happened!

First of all, as I have mentioned earlier, this whole trip came together rather quickly.  We have known about this missions trip for quite a while, but the timing of it never seemed to work out.  So, from March 17th to March 30th, we bought our tickets, arranged for our classes, made sure the kids' school and cram school knew and we packed, including a few gifts we bought to bring with us.

I spoke on March 30th in the morning and in the afternoon was our HOP First Prayer Walk. After the service and dinner with our church family, making sure everything was locked up, we came home and a dear brother in Christ, Michael Go, came and picked us up to drop us off at the domestic airport in Taipei.  We then took the shuttle bus to the International Airport in Taoyuan.  We had only two check-ins and four carry-ons.  Knowing that there would be no food, we had packed our own snacks.

The flight left at 12:30 or so and we were in Manila by 2:55 a.m.  There was really no place to sleep except on the floor. And that was what we did!  We had to first go through custom and pick up our bags and then recheck them in again.  We left Taipei in our pants and jackets, but now it was time for t-shirts and shorts and flip-flops.

Finally, it was 8:30 and time to board the next plane. We noticed two young men carrying guitars and I said, "I bet they are on the team."  And when we arrived in Ilo Ilo, I approached them and sure enough, Joe was in charge of worship and Mason was going to play basketball.

We waited for our airport pick-up, but it didn't arrive. Oh yes, we are in the Philippines.  We are on Philippines Time -- that means, it happens when it happens.  We did get to our hotel and shed our bags and changed our clothes. Abby and I ventured out to buy lunch, but we didn't have time to eat it as the van was leaving to go to Dumangas, where the VBS was being held. The afternoon session started at 1:30 and we wanted to get there in time for that.  We brought our lunch in the van and ate while we bumped along.

Here are a few pictures and I will continue the story in my next post --

Seek Him First!