Everything Is In Japanese.....

Hey Everyone!
Well it's been a really long trip already, and unfortunately, it's not over yet. I'm sitting at my gate in Nagoya International Airport, Japan, waiting for my third and final flight that will conclude the first part of my journey to the Philippines. Then we will be staying overnight in Manila, before my team leaves tomorrow morning for our location assignment.

It was no easy feat posting on here...everything on what I THOUGHT were American websites is in Japanese! So it took me about twenty minutes just to log into my Blogger account because pressing buttons was like playing Chess in the dark..I had to guess which button was which. But here I am.

I thought I had done hard things in my life, but getting on the plane by myself this morning was definitely way up there as one of the hardest. I was just about ready to turn and run back to the car out front because I really felt like I had no idea what I was doing or where I was going. It wasn't until this afternoon in Detroit Airport where I finally got my first glimpse. I met a girl at our gate who was on my flight and going to the Philippines. We weren't going to be on the same team, but we talked anyway! While we were talking, there was a Filipino lady sitting next to us waiting to go home. She started crying next to us, and we asked her what was wrong. She told us that her sister had died the night before and she was going home for the funeral. She asked why we were heading there, and we told her about our missions trip. She asked if we believed in God, and after we explained what we believed, she asked us to pray for her. I really wasn't expecting to have the chance to do that when I hadn't even arrived yet, but God still provided a really cool opportunity.

Once we boarded the flight, I realized that all the people I had just met were scattered all over a really large sized plane, and I was pretty much by myself again for the 14 hour flight. It really wasn't until about 2 AM today as I was flying somewhere over the Pacific Ocean that I had my moment where I really felt God calming my heart and I finally felt a peace and an excitement again. I had my emotions in such turmoil all day, and after feeling like I was leaving everything that was familiar and that I knew, it was almost like a gentle reminder from God that I hadn't left everything, I had Him every step of the way. On every plane, through every customs and security check, He is with me. That realization again was the best moment of the entire flight. Thanks for all your prayers for my trip, I'm almost there :)

Sayonara (Goodbye in Japanese!)