Thursday, January 21, 2010

We go home today! I’m ready, mentally anyway. It’s been amazing and fantastic here, but I really miss my wife and kids and home. Once again, I’ve been challenged about sharing my faith. There are so many lost people in this world. When I see people like Pastor Desmond, and see their passion to reach people for Christ, it challenges my complacency in witnessing to my co-workers and neighbors and so on. Lord, please give me boldness and help me to see the opportunities You bring my way!

We had our final excellent breakfast: French toast, sausage, fruit, and orange juice. I’m really going to miss having fresh fruit for breakfast every morning. We decided to make one last trip to Hopewell church. We mounted the 2 x 4 studs on the walls for the partitions between the men’s and women’s areas and the common area, and hung the brackets for the urinal. Hopefully, we finished everything they wouldn’t have the tools to complete by themselves.

Then it was time to return to Fair Haven for the last time and finish up the packing for the return trip home. We ate a light lunch, and then it was time to go to the airport. I went to a Jamaican Bobsled Café in the Montego Bay airport, and bought Krista and myself matching Jamaican Bobsled Team t-shirts.

Our first flight was from Montego Bay, Jamaica, to Charlotte, North Carolina. It was uneventful, just like I like them. I was assigned a seat by the Lees again, but the flight was pretty empty, so once I was sure there was extra room, I moved to a row by myself so I could be by a window for when I wanted to look out, and stretch out over three seats when I wanted to nap. It was great!

I bought supper at a Burger King in the Charlotte airport. Our plane to Rochester was delayed coming out of Atlanta before it got to Charlotte. That was good because we had to go through customs and re-check our bags for our last flight, and we might not have made it otherwise. Once we finally got on board, there was a problem with the plane’s auxiliary power, so we sat at the gate for almost an hour. Then an older man on the plane was having trouble breathing, so they had to get him and his wife and their luggage off the plane before we could leave. We prayed for him and his family! I sat next to Pastor Ken on this last flight. Once we finally got going, the rest of the flight was uneventful again.

We arrived in Rochester at about midnight (we were supposed to be there around 9:40PM). The Barrys gave me a ride home. Everyone was asleep, but I looked in on them all, and kissed my little ones and my wife. It’s good to be home!

Thank you, God, for the privilege of serving You on this trip. Please use it to teach and challenge me even though it is long over now, and use it to encourage and challenge others as I share my experiences with them.