First of all, I would like to say that writing this has been one of the most difficult things I have ever done. Putting the account of my missions trip to Mongolia and my emotions at that time down in words was next to impossible. There was just so much to say. And secondly, I would like to thank you for your support both in prayers and in financial help; without you, I wouldn’t have had anything to say. I have always wanted to travel anywhere and everywhere. I have thought of myself as an adventurer, but how could I be that without the venture, the journey. You gave me two full weeks full of flights, culture shock, good memories, horrible realizations and most importantly of all, you gave me two weeks full of God’s presence. Those two weeks were a time of learning, questioning, discovering, and growing. Those two weeks were the best in my life.
Months before my missions, when I wasn’t acting like the prime example of a perfect child, my mom would say, “You are going across the world on a missions trip to help complete strangers and you can’t even be decent to your own mother?” The truth was I had this unrealistic idea that because I was going on a missions trip, I would just wallow in my sin until then and then, on the trip, God would just change me and I would magically become a genially good person. Let’s be real. That did not happen. In fact, you could even say that I didn’t learn anything as far as spiritual stuff. But what I realize now is that I had the knowledge all along, but God used this trip to uncover it.
But now I believe it’s time to get to the actual trip. Like all trips this one started with traveling, and like all trips in the 21st century that are across the world, this one started at an airport. This particular one started at 8:00am. The plan was to fly out at 10:30, arrive at San Francisco with a two hour layover, and then catch a connecting flight to Beijing, China. Well, things went wrong from the start. Our flight was delayed until 12:30pm, which, of course, meant that we would miss our connecting flight. Everything was up in the air (except for us). We had no idea what was going to happen since our plans had so abruptly departed, leaving us to cope with the fear of the unknown. ( You might want to read that sentence over again so you can properly fix it in your mind, or better yet mentally copy that and paste it wherever it applies in the following text. This will save me a great deal of typing and a great deal of time trying to think up several different ways to write that sentence all over again.)
After an extremely long line full of extremely grumpy travelers and an extremely annoying chat with an extremely unhelpful customer service rep, we finally got another flight from San Francisco to Beijing – the next day. But first things, first. We had to get to San Francisco, and we still had an hour and a half wait for our plane. Luckily, I was accompanied by three wonderful girls (Anna – 15, Deborah – 14, and Morgan -13). So what do four teen girls do to pass time? Braid hair. That’s right, braiding was our consolation. We braided straight through the hour and a half stopping only to run around the airport seeking the new gate to our flight or watching an occasional Brian Regan. And our work paid off – we mastered many a braid – as well as our patience, for at 1:30pm we were up in the air.
Little did we know that when we arrived in San Fran at 7:00pm (5:00pm San Fran time), our luggage decided that it would be fun if only we got off but it traveled all the way to Beijing. Okay, so how was everyone feeling? Amazingly well. We had a sense of reassurance. As Heather said of her morning devotions that day, “He goes before you, and his plan is perfect.” You could say that this overall calmness was the first God moment of this trip. So how was I doing? I was doing excellent. I had this worry free attitude. Everything is in God’s hands and His plan is perfect and He will use all things to glorify Him, so what could go wrong?
The next step was to get a hotel for that night. The customer service there was no more helpful than back home. According to them, every hotel was booked. This is San Francisco, not some town in the boons, and every hotel was completely booked? That would fit with everything that had happened that day, but we didn’t buy it. So Tim (Morgan’s dad) called a hotel while us girls prayed. As soon as we were done praying, we got the good news: we got a hotel with a breakfast. Then a different person in customer service gave us essential packets. We were all excited about that because one of the Brian Regan’s we watched was about essential packets: “Oh, these are the essentials. Then I overpacked! I thought I needed all that stuff I meticulously put in my suit case. I stand corrected. ”
I was getting a little tiered, but my spirit was lifted by the restaurant nest to our hotel. It was called the Beijing Buffet. “We’re going to make it there!” I thought. It was just the thing I needed at the time. God truly was there the whole time.
When we were at the hotel, I really realized what a blessing parents were for the first time. I had had other thoughts on this throughout the day, but it really struck me when I was at the hotel. Don’t get me wrong; I was in no way crying for my parents, or homesick, or anything of that sort. What I realized was the responsibility they carried for me. Here I was responsible for my own luggage and carry-ons, for my meals, I had to voice my own opinions, I didn’t have a representative parent. Like I said before, I wasn’t sad or depressed or overwhelmed with this new sense of responsibility. You might even say I rose to the challenge.
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