Day One Diary Page ~ Getting To Oaxaca, Mexico from Pennsylvania, USA

Saturday, April 17, 2010
I want to say a gigantic “Thank you” to my prayer partners for praying over all the details of this day for me! There were so many steps ~ so many things that had to go right for me to catch my flights, make my connections… All in all, things went very smoothly!

My sister Jackie, who lives 5 minutes from our house, was in the kitchen making breakfast for me when I came downstairs! What a blessing it was to eat a warm meal & to visit with Jackie & my 3 nieces a bit before leaving for the airport! My Mommy & Daddy drove me to the Philadelphia International Airport, where we arrived at 10am.

I bought a BIG water bottle before the flight & sat next to a very nice Texan man on the flight to Houston, TX. When we arrived, they told us the tram was down, so we would need to walk. It was 35 minutes of walking & sweating & walking & sweating through the airport! I bought a jumbo diet coke & sat down with my sandwich to relax & cool down.

I hadn’t remembered that when you fly on one of these much smaller planes, that your carry-on suitcases aren't allowed on the tiny airplane. Instead, they tag them & stow them under the plane.  I had my laptop computer in the front pocket of the suitcase, because that is where it fit.  But, now that it wasn't with me, safe in an overhead compartment, during the flight, I was concerned that the laptop would get cracked or crushed by the other luggage in the belly of the plane. For 2 ½ hours, we flew down the coast, through thunderstorms & there was turbulence the entire way from TX to Oaxaca.

While on that plane, I had filled out the customs declaration form. But, I didn’t realize that there was ANOTHER form that I was supposed to be given while on the plane. It was a form for immigration, to receive the tourist visa.  When I found out there was a different form that I needed, I was standing in front of the immigration agent, dumbfounded as to what to do next.  Then, by God’s provision, a girl who had been sitting a couple seats behind me on the flight had an extra form. I remembered hearing her tell the flight attendant that she had an extra & the flight attendant told her to go ahead & keep it as a souvenir. Well, she gave me the form & I got it filled out & all was well!

Praise the Lord, I picked up my luggage & got through customs with no issues. Roy was right there to help me to the van & Julie was there at the van. It was so great to finally be there, to meet them, & to know that the day’s journey was almost over! It was maybe a 15 minute ride to their house? I called my parents when we arrived. (It was nice to hear their voices! Of all the short-term missions trips I had been on, I had never had the opportunity to speak with family from the field! So, that was a true blessing! I unpacked into the room they were providing for me, visited with them a bit, used the laptop, & got to bed about 12:30.