Lessons in Trust

I am back safely in Bandung after 48 hours of travel! We left from Flagstaff at 5 in the morning in a blizzard snow storm that lasted for about thirty miles down the hill. The weather was pretty much horrendous all the way to Phoenix consisting of snow, rain and fog. God was good though and got us to the airport in plenty of time. My flight out of Phoenix was on time, and I got to sit in the emergency exit row to soak up all the leg room I could get in preparation for the lack of it I would experience on the very long flights.
When I got to L.A. I had to get my bags and book it from Terminal 1 to Terminal 4, thank goodness for those carts, otherwise it would have been impossible with the two very large suitcases I brought back. I successfully checked in with China Airlines. I took my bags to the xray machine where I was hassled by one of the security guys who was maybe attempting to flirt or give me a hard time, but was mostly a jerk and kind of put me in a bad mood which only worsened as I approached the very long line to security. It was going slow and the security people were getting frustrated with the non-English speaking passengers who couldn't figure out how to take their laptops out of their bags or make sure they shoes off. After about a 25 minute wait I was finally at my gate waiting for my flight to Taipei. I hadn't even started the longest leg of my journey and I was done with traveling. The 14 hour flight to Taipei went well, the movies were working and the seat in the middle was empty so I had a little extra room. I have to say though that Cathay Pacific has better food that China Airlines. China Airlines had the typical airplane food--plastic in taste and unidentifiable in appearance. They do know how to do coffee though--nice and strong! It wasn't until we were about to land that I checked my ticket to see how much time I would have before my flight to Jakarta. I thought that I was landing at 8:30 pm and leaving at 9:30 pm, but I had read it wrong. I would not be leaving for Jakarta until 9:30 am, which meant that I would have to stay in the airport. I did have the option of staying in a hotel, which I kind of regret not doing. Instead I headed to the departure hall in search of a nice bench to rest. The entire night the airport got more and more empty, quiet and creepy. I could hardly sleep because I was paranoid about keeping an eye on my stuff or getting in trouble for staying in the airport. It was really awful. I have never been more lonely in my life. I think I got a "solid 40 minutes" of sleep. In the morning I went searching for a ticket counter to check the time of my flight because it wasn't showing up with the other departures. On my search I ran into Alyssa, the second grade teacher at BAIS, who had also had to stay the night in the airport. We were both so relieved to see a familiar face. She was on my flight to Jakarta, which was fortunate because she had the gate on her boarding pass and I didn't. Not sure what I would have done if I hadn't run into her. The flight to Jakarta was great, although they made me check my carry-on because it was too heavy. I got to sit in the front row with extra leg room and an empty seat next to me. I had a terrible fear about all my luggage arriving in Jakarta, but after making it successfully through customs, we only waited about 15 minutes and all my luggage had come through.
Jennie had ordered a taxi to take me home to Bandung that was supposed to meet me. What I didn't know was that Donna, the preschool teacher, was arriving a little earlier than me and had taken my taxi, after calling Jennie and Donna, we had the guy turn around and come and get us. It took about three hours for us to get home, the traffic was awful.
Emily comes home tonight and Emma comes home tomorrow. I am so happy to be home, and I am doing okay with the jet lag so far. It is good to be back with my roommates, catching up on the exciting things that happened over break. Through the 48 hours of craziness I endured I was forced to trust that God was going to get me home. He provided everything I needed from extra leg room to a travel companion. At the end of the day I had to praise Him for getting me through this trip. God is good!
School starts on Monday, so I will be spending some time this weekend getting ready for my first week of being a real teacher...ahhhh!
It was so good to see you all while I was at home. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement while I am over here.