Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Departure and Arrival - July 20th - 21st

We’re Here!!!!

Everyone arrived on time for us to pack and leave about 12:00pm on Monday, July 20th. Everyone brought their own checked bag and a carry-on bag. Then we all picked out a bag of donations that we adopted for the trip and that we were responsible for checking in at the airport.





The bus trip to Chicago O’Hare was uneventful. We immediately unloaded our bags , and broke off into our cincos (groups of 5). I went to the front of the line to check in our group, and was told that there might be a problem. I’m thinking “Oh no”. The American agent took my passport, and went back and forth checking with other agents about something. Finally, we found out that they needed to bump us to an earlier flight. We were originally supposed to leave at 5:30, but they moved us to a 4:15 flight, which meant that we were going to need to hurry. The reason for the switch was something to do with the weather during the time our original flight would have arrived. We later realized how odd it was that they happened to have 25 seats open on another flight. God was watching out for us. Everything we packed made it through although there were some bags right at 50lbs or slightly over which was quickly fixed by redistributing.

We arrived in Miami about 8:30, and proceeded to our gate. Then went on the hunt for food. There was a little Pizza Hut near our gate, but we decided to look around. After going all over the airport, we found that nearly everything was closed. The only other restaurant open was way to expensive, so those of us who went hunting ultimately all end up back at the Pizza Hut.

Finally, we were on our way to Lima, but then we were delayed in leaving because of rain and lighting. So, we got to do more sitting and waiting. With maybe a half hour delay, we were finally on our way to Lima. The flight was every thing you would expect in an overnight flight… restless. Some people managed to sleep, others… not so much. I was among the latter.

After getting through customs, we went to get our bags. We came away with everything…almost. One of the Miller’s bag that was intended to be a carry-on got taken in Miami because it was slightly over sized. Unfortunately, it never came out. So, the Miller’s had to make arrangement for it to be brought to Trujillo. We hope and pray that it will arrive in the next day or two.

We were met by the bus company carrying this sign.



Hey, Tin Troks is close. We didn’t really get rolling until after 6:00am. Most of slept on the bus until about 10:00am. The bus driver stopped for us in order to get desayuno (breakfast) in Huarmey (a very, very, very small obscure pueblo). At first, Brian and I didn’t think anyone had enough soles for breakfast, so the driver eventually found a road side restaurant that would take U.S. dollars. This was our first real adventure since I had never eaten a little town like this. I could sense that the group was a little nervous about it, and I was a little too. I did my best to describe what was on the menu. We ended up getting 5 bean and rice dinners, 6 arroz chaufa (basically fried rice), and 4 chicken with rice, and 4 Lomito Saltado (which is one of Loren’s and my favorites). We ate family style, and the food was really great. It was only 115 soles which is less than $2.00/per person.








We managed to make it the orphanage at 3:30. Apparently, we were even an hour earlier than the orphanage had expected us. We thought we were way behind since we had an unexpected stop for lunch. It turns out God again was watching over us. Peru is having an national transportation strike. So, the workers at the orphanage were worried we were even going to get here at all. The strike cleared the roads for us, but we were lucky not to have any confrontation from any strikers.

Well, the internet is slow, and it is very hard to upload pictures. So, more at another time.







2 comments:

  1. Hello from Champaign! Thanks so much for the update. We are friends of the Miller family. Tell Drew we hope his bag makes it soon! Bear is doing great and has gone on many walks. All else is quiet in the neighborhood. Hope you're all having a fun mission trip. We are keeping all of you in our prayers during this once in a lifetime experience!! The Frerichs' Family

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  2. Just wanted you all to know I'm keeping up. Grateful for your safe arrival, and for what seem to be full days already! Praying that the entire team will be stretched beyond what you all felt possible, for His glory.

    Strength for the journey!
    Sarah Spiker

    P.S. Please give my mom and dad (Karyl and Gary) my love and big hugs. And tell my mom to step out from behind the camera long enough to get a few shots with her in them!!! *smile*

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