Flight mishaps...We left Columbia airport at 6:00 AM, arrived in Memphis at 7:30 AM, and were expecting a 6 hour layover, it turned into an 8 hour layover instead! As some of the last people to board the flight leaving Memphis going to Miami, we approached the gate only to be told we didn't have the appropriate boarding documents, there was a problem with the Visas, and that we could not get on the plane. One attendant tried to quickly fix the problem (that apparently was TSA's problem from Columbia) but since the plane was already late arriving to Memphis, the other attendant was not happy about the delay and insisted they leave without us...after already checking 3 of us in. So, instead of sending 3 of us through, we all stayed behind and tried to sort out the flights details.
From being told there were no flights going to Sao Paolo til the 26th of July, to this was Columbia's problem not ours, to no body will help you....the drama just continued. Eventually, they agreed to put all of us on a flight to Miami, but it would arrive too late to make our connection to Sao Paolo, and there were no open flights to Sao Paolo from Miami. We figured Miami was at least one-step closer to Brazil, so we took it, and prayed for the best! After printing the tickets, we found out there was a stop in Dallas along the way.
We love Dallas!! Dallas managed to get us all on the same flight to Sao Paolo, direct flight, leaving at 7:30 PM!! Apparently, the Lord thought we needed even more lessons in patience....after we all had boarded the plane the pilot told us there was a fuel leak and they were waiting for a part to fix it. We hung out on the plane for 2 hours before the part was fixed and we were cleared to leave.
9:30 PM we were finally in the air!! I (Debi H.) have traveled alot, but apparently not enough internationally! This was the largest plane I had ever seen...3 large sections, all 9 seats wide. I felt far less claustrophobic in the plane! Mallory M. & Debi H.thought the best part of the plane ride was watching the lightening out the window at night. Tim R. thought the worst part of the trip was the long wait before finally leaving, and we all enjoyed watching the Hunger Games & playing video games on our personal mini TV's. (Yes, it's such a hard missions trip!)
Since our flights were all messed up, we arrived in Brazil with no luggage. After much persuasion by Conrad & our resident linguist, Mallory M. the airline agreed to send our luggage through. We expect it to be delivered today!! We will be VERY grateful for that...last night the temps reached 45◦ F. We made a quick run to the local store, similar to a Wal-mart, and bought the essentials...you know, like underwear! :-) Needless to say, we love Josh B. & Ben M. now! They outfitted us with socks & warm sweatshirts. Julie brought over 30 blankets, and between all of us we used most of them!
After arriving in Brazil, Leadro & Pastor Denis met us at the airport. They let us have a few minutes to settle in, then took us to eat at a local Brazilian Cafeteria, with Asian influence. We ate a buffet style meal. After a stop at the church to look in on the VBS going on, and some of us sneaking in a quick nap, we went out to dinner at Habib's, a fast-food style Middle Eastern food place.
Thank you for your prayers....we'll try to keep you updated daily on the ministry happenings while we're here. Facebook & E-mail are working and Conrad & Debi are both checking regularly, so if you need to get a-hold of anyone on the team, feel free to e-mail.
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