We've been home for a couple of weeks now; finally able to really sit down and give you an idea how our recent trip to Cebu, Philippines went. I kept a simple diary of each days events... below is an edited version of that log.
Tuesday, November 29: We left our home about 2:30 pm for a short drive to Janesville, WI. We had two-weeks worth of luggage with us, boarded a bus for a 2.5 hr. drive to Chicago O'Hare. Taking the bus was so much better than driving to the airport! On our arrival at O'Hare we started the check-in at the kiosk. We were interrupted by a ticket agent, trying to be helpful (I think he made me more nervous). Our ticket from Chicago to Cebu had us landing in Beijing, China. The agent told us we would have to pick up our luggage and get them rechecked and still go to the Philippine Airline ticket counter to get our boarding passes for the rest of our trip. He was seeing if there was any way possible for us to rebook our flight through another country. You know...normally your luggage travels to your destination...you don't see it again until you arrive. Because we were at the airport so early, this time delay wasn't a factor, but like I said it made me a little anxious. The agent was unable to rebook us. We boarded the airplane about 8 pm Chicago time for our 13 hour flight. The plane was pretty empty so we were actually able to stretch out...which was very nice! The flight went smoothly with no problems.
Wednesday, November 30: We arrived in Beijing, got our luggage (which wasn't that bad after all), boarded a bus to take us to another terminal, checked in at Philippine Air, and boarded our next plane for Manila. After a 4.5 hr flight, we transferred to a plane going to Cebu.
Thursday, December 1: We arrived in Cebu at about 10:30 am. Boy was it hot. Imagine the hottest summer day where temps are near 100 degrees and humidity is about 90%! That would be Cebu; it was very nice but we were still dressed for the Wisconsin 'November' weather! Missionary Joanne Oftedahl picked us up at the airport (with her Missionary Associates from Florida) and we went out to eat. Another missionary joined us for lunch. It was really good! We stayed at a local Baptist missions house while we were in Cebu. It was very comfortable. We could sign up for meals, we had our own bathroom, and an in room AC!!! We checked in, brought in our luggage (I changed to summer clothes and flip flops...yes!!!), and then went to exchange some money. We returned to the missions house to unpack, freshen up, get on the Internet, and finally lay down to sleep around 10 pm.
Friday, December 2: Up early to get ready, go have breakfast (very American), and go to the Bible college. Bill spoke at their chapel. It was great meeting all the students and interacting with the professors and staff. We also had the privilege of going out for lunch with the college president, his wife, the missionary associates, and Joanne. We had some down time to rest and refresh, then that evening Bill spoke at another chapel service, which was truly great! The students are very enthusiastic about worshipping their Savior.
Tomorrow I'll post some more diary logs. Hopefully by Friday I'll have the full two weeks of ministry here for you to read. Just to say, again, it was a fantastic trip and we are really blessed to have experienced it!
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