Here at last & loving it

So much to tell!

My first international travel experience was a crazy one to say the least. I was delayed out of Minneapolis/St. Paul by 4 hours, then ended up missing my connecting flight to Paris because of that delay.  So, I was re-routed through London instead, and then flew into Bucharest.  I arrived at around midnight in Bucharest (we're 8 hours later here than in the midwest) and found that my luggage did not end up following me as closely as I would have hoped.  Luckily, the airlines were able to locate my luggage and send it to the house where I'm staying within a few days. 

Through all of those delays and missed flights and lost luggage incidences, God was extremely faithful.  He guided me to meet various people in airports along the way: I met several friends in the Minn. airport, including an English teacher from northern MN, a girl from the airforce stationed in San Antonio, and a couple of guys who were on their way to climb to the base camp of Mt. Everest.

On the plane to Chicago, I met a delightful little girl and her mom, and, after we had shared our various travel plans, she said they would be praying for me & the rest of my trip. God is so good.  En route to London, I met two guys from Iran and a family from India.  The Indian family's little boy was quite excite-able...not necessarily a desirable trait to have when you're on a red-eye transatlantic flight, but he was a cutie anyway. 

When I arrived in London, I had several hours to kill, so I explored the airport and did some people watching.  As I wandered, I discoverd an what the airport termed a 'multifaith prayer room'.  I did some more wandering, and then decided to check it out.  It was kind of like an afterthought, compared to the sleek design of the rest of the airport.  An older, very small room, with a closet full of religious mats and shawls.  I sat and waited and had some time with Jesus.  I asked Him what He had for me, and pretty soon, several muslims walked in to pray.  As they prayed, I asked God to give me words, and He did.  "Who do you worship?" He instructed me to ask. So I did, and we chatted. It was just another excellent example of His goodness. 

The team house and team here in Romania is wonderful.  It's very homey and comfortable-an excellent place to re-group after a long day of ministry. As I finished my travel, I thought to myself, "God definitely knows what He's up to, even in the middle of flight delays, missed planes, and lost luggage."