Safe, Secure and Celebrating

It is at the end of very long day. The trip was around 20 hours long to get from Boise to Santiago (via LA, Dallas, and the grumpiest set of flight attendants you have ever seen).

Want an example of how grumpy they were? Well consider this little speech, “Welcome aboard American Airlines Flight 457 to Santiago, Chile. To operate your seatbelt, insert the metal tab into the buckle, and pull tight. It works just like every other seatbelt and if you don't know how to operate one, you probably shouldn't be out in public unsupervised. In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks will descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over your face. If you have a small child traveling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If you are traveling with two small children, decide now which one you love more.”

Honestly I wanted to sing a little Tony Bennett to them, “Take off the gloomy mask of tragedy, It's not your style… And if you're feeling cross and bitterish, don't sit and whine. Think of banana split and licorice and you'll feel fine.” Some of our students had never been on an international flight before. They aren’t really scared of flying, but they definitely are intimidated by the Nazi cart pushers.

I learned a little something in Dallas. Linda keeps telling us that Manhattan isn’t all that big, that the Dallas airport is bigger than Manhattan. Well they believe that in Texas too. There may be something to that rumor, but then again Texas thinks it is bigger than most everyting.

Sleeping on the airplane is no small feat, especially with no small feet room. Isaiah and Andrew sat next to each other and cuddled the whole trip. It was really cute and I’d wish I had a picture to share, But I thought better of it since I think they could take me if they ganged up. We do have a few colds and sniffles in our ranks so a few doses of cough syrup and the pm versions of over the counter drugs helped others get a little bit of rest. The only doses I took were of coffee so my dozing was minimal at best.

Our reception in Santiago was great. We made it through immigration, customs, baggage and money laundering without a hitch. We stared at the luggage going around for about 20 extra minutes only to find someone had set some suitcases off to the side. Two great ladies from the church met our team with kisses. They bundled us into a couple of vans and got us to the church in time for us to join the second service. More kisses on our cheeks greeted us at the church. It is really a gracious greeting for a group of gringos. Linda and I noticed that our guys on the team were really enjoying this Chilean custom – it was kind of like getting to first base on an intentional walk, without the fear of striking out.

During the service they invited all the team members going to Paraguay to come up front to be prayed over. There are seven churches participating in this outreach! Four of them were represented this morning. There was immediately a lot of great mingling together of the people from our teams.

After sitting back down in our chairs I was rudely awakened to an elbow in my ribs from Linda. Seems the whole church was waiting for the both of us to get back up front and give a greeting. I stumbled through it and all the people smiled, but I seem to remember using the word, “crazy” a couple of times and "according to the prophecy" as I was wrapping up. I think Linda wanted to elbow me again.

It was a great service and I am glad that we will be back here two weeks from now to experience another morning with this great Vineyard family. Next time I promise to be more awake.

After the service we had a great meal of fried chicken, watermelon, rice & vegetables, beef empanadas and birthday cake. One of the ladies in the church had seen on our passport information that today was my birthday and she made me a cake and made me smile. It more than made up for the flight attendants.

At about 4pm we all broke up into small bunches to go to our host homes. Most of the students are staying with other people from the church who will be going to Paraguay. Linda, Matt and I are staying with the Cunninghams, the pastors of the Vineyard church here. After a luxurious afternoon nap we woke to a perfect, San Diego-ish evening. It is summer here and the sun sets very late. Gloria is a glorious host and took us on a great walk along the river near their home. We then had a great dinner of fresh fruits, bread, and cheese while we sat on their porch watching the SuperBowl. It was a grand birthday and a wonderful first day in South America.

Thank you for the prayers and the support from back home. We love you all.

Pastor Chad