Well, we gathered at the airport at 7:00 AM, some a little earlier and some a little later. Most of the organization had been completed at a packing party on Thursday evening where we shifted the donations from the church family around in suitcases to balance out the supplies for the dental team and the supplies for the school readiness team. Believe it or not, all the bags made it in under the required weight limit. No unplanned expenses! We definitely had answered prayer for the smoothness of the check in. We moved right on through without a hitch. The security guard looked only slightly suspiciously at the dental equipment being carried on. Dr. Beaty can feel confident that the device was handled with care.
Time for a coffee break and then off to the gate. Our flight took off and was smooth sailing. Tom had the opportunity to witness to a fellow passenger in the adjoining seat. She is headed for medical school. Please pray for Jennifer as she struggles to sort out her knowledge of science with her faith.
We landed in San Pedro Sula on time and proceeded to immigration. The line was much longer than usual. The airport staff attributed it to the increased security measures which included photos of each person entering the country. The Bennett's line was the fastest, so they went out with their luggage to find Rhonda Jackson, our missionary at Destino Del Reino. Everyone else was way behind. Carlos and Eileen were next out and gathered the remainder of the bags for the team to expedite our exit. A gentleman with another group came up and asked if we had seen his bag. All of our bags were clearly marked with surveyors tape, so we were sure that we did not have his in the mass of luggage. Still the waiting continued. Finally 4 of the younger folks got through so we decided to start sending bags out so that one more step would be complete. Tom and Pam Hutchins were last so that they could be sure everyone was taken care of. We moved out into the lobby to wait. As the remainder of the bags were rolled out, Janet Bennett commented, "Your bag looks just like ours, but ours was really beat up in the flight." Still Rhonda had not arrived. That was a very unusual situation.
The same gentleman from the other group came up once again to our group in the lobby and requested one more check of the luggage. He looked at the stack on the Bennett's cart and low and behold, his bag was there! They had accidently picked up his bag and the "matching bag" that was with our luggage was their bag. Immediately after that discovery Rhonda and Carlos drove up, one hour later than expected, but seconds after the gentleman discovered his lost bag that would have been 2 hours down the road had we not had the hold up. Yet, that is not the end of the story. When Rhonda drove up she remarked, "Isn't that Mark Hoff?" Mike Bennett immediately went back over to the gentleman to renew acquaintance. It seems that on a trip about 4 years ago, after some particular unrest in the country, Mark and Mike had met in Honduras and Mike had obtained some equipment for Mark. The two had not seen each other since and did not recognize each other during the suitcase exchange! It was clearly an instance of God's timing.
We traveled to Destino and got to spend time playing with the children. Many have grown substantially since last summer and big smiles were shown all around. Then off to check in and then dinner at the Cafeteria de Selecta otherwise known as Maribel's.
Prayer requests at the team meeting tonight:
Health and safety for the team
Safe travel for Brien's friend Jordan traveling from Florida to Montana
Health and well being of Tom's mother Hazel and John Qualls
Successful planning of the activities of the week
Jennifer (the woman on the plane)
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