One of our flight attendants had an Ixoye fish pin on...and it turns out that she is an OCC volunteer in Santa Cruz! God always sends people like that to remind us how big and deep and wide the body of Christ is. We stopped in Panama to refuel after 2.5 hours of flying. It was amazing to fly over the country from the other coast to the hills to the mountains and then to the coast, where the airport was. It's odd how we think we have seen all there is to see in the world and then the Lord sends a lovely reminder that the works of His hands are far beyond our imagining.
Several people came up to Barb on the plane to find out more information about Samaritan's Purse because they want to help! Jehovah Jireh. Our flight attendant acutally received a shoebox when she was 14 and she was telling Barb that she knows kids who are so impoverished that they don't own a pair of shoes, and then they receive a pair in their shoebox! On the flight from Panama to Santa Cruz, we got lunch and we took a Spanish quiz...we all did pretty well because we were working in small groups. We got to fill out several forms for Customs...which means we are getting close! I certainly hope so...because it is 4:36pm and we have been flying since 9:15am. And then I was listening to Jimmy Needham (of course) and looking out the window. "Part the Clouds" came on and the clouds outside began to thin out...then I came to write that down and started pounding my fist because the verse at the bottom of this journal page says "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands." --Psalm 19:1. And we are essentially going to Bolivia to part the clouds and show the world the Son...as the song says.
We arrived in Santa Cruz at about 5:45pm and had to wait quite a while in Customs. We all had to fill out yet another form and have our passports scanned and stamped. We literally ran through security (where I was almost laughed at for trying to take my shoes off...yeah, I feel safe) and down to our gate, where the lady told us that we had the wrong tickets and the flight was full. We watched that plane fly away and went upstairs to find nourishment...if you can call it that.
Mr. Cafe was very gracious to make us ham and cheese sandwiches and some coca-tea to help us get used to the altitude. Harry Potter, MTV, and CSI:Miami were playing as we sat around and waited for the next flight. A few people in the airport decided that they did not need to go into the smoke room to smoke, so their exhaust circulated in the room...cue "puff, puff, puff that cigarette...". God is sovereign and His plan is perfect...the devil has no power over us. We belong to the Everlasting God, the Lord of All.
We boarded the plane at about 9:30pm and arrived in La Paz at 11pm. The airplane trip was fun...there was a lot of laughter, even though (or because) we are all so tired. I love flying at night...this was the only time it was completely dark on the ground the whole way...we didn't see any houses or street lights until we arrived over La Paz. That was marvelous...going from total darkness to light that concentrated...Stephanie said it looked like Christmas lights. We each received a 2 liter bottle of water for the night...now the hard part is remembering to use that to brush our teeth.
The half-hour drive from the airport was so pretty, even though it was night time. The architecture and building structure is so interesting. We turned a corner in the middle of the city and there was this astounding mountain of stone...I would have loved to climb it and see it in the day time. Above the mountain was the moon...half-full horizontally. I think that is remarkable. God is good.
No comments:
Post a Comment