One of the first things I remember learning about mission trips were the phrases "be flexible" and "be patient." For the uninitiated, allow me to reiterate these statements. I've been back in the Philippines now for almost an entire week! Getting here required several detours, but the important part is that I am here.
Japan was very nice. That's correct, I wasn't planning on going to Japan anymore than a quick trip through the Nagoya airport. I got much more than that, but that's the middle of the story. The beginning of the story is a stormy, late spring day in the midwest of the United States. My flight from Cincinnati to Detroit was less than 10 seconds from landing in Detroit when we caught some wind shear at an odd angle and started rotating out of alignment with the runway. Ergo we couldn't land and waited around/above Detroit for 15-20 minutes. Apparently we didn't have enough fuel to try to land again, but we did have enough fuel to fly to Columbus, OH and get more fuel. So we did that. I ended up on the ground at Detroit about 2 hours later than expected. The good news was that the same storm that kept me from landing also prevented my connection from departing on time. So I made the flight to Japan that continues to Manila.
Even though I had a small child sitting next to me on this long flight, it was one of the best I remember because I swear that I slept something like 9 of the 14 hours. So as we neared our destination, Nagoya, the captain announces that there is a typhoon passing through Nagoya and we can't land there, so we're going to land at Tokyo-Narita. The plan then became that the passengers who were staying in Japan would de-plane and those bound for Manila would just stay put while they re-fueled and re-stocked. This would have been a great plan, however, the typhoon continued moving and next thing you know, it was in Narita and we couldn't take off. Life being what it is, when we could take off we wouldn't have had enough time to make it to Manila before the airport closed. So we sat for a while and it was decided that they would re-open the Narita airport (which had closed in the interim) just for us so that we could go through immigration and customs and spend a few hours at a hotel.
And so it came to pass that I got to see a very small part of Japan around Narita. We were the first flight out of Narita the next morning and ended up in Manila about 12 hours late. Which was fine for me but horrible for the people waiting for me. Sorry Manong Marion!
So there you go, some extra travels that I doubt I'll get extra mileage for.
As I said earlier, the important part is that I'm here. I taught my first class of this school year this morning and it went pretty well. It has been excellent reconnecting with everyone here.
One of my main worries involved my missionary visa. I'm cautiously optimistic that all will be arranged with one more visit to Manila next week, then I should be good for a year. One of the "wow"moments of being in Japan was realizing that Japanese immigration gave me 90 days to stay in the country if I wanted it. For free. It's an interesting contrast.
Mom and Dad will be happy to know that the Kindle is wonderful and has proved to be worth it's weight in gold several times over already. Thanks guys.
Please keep praying for me. I need it.
Nick
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