Samoa Part 1

Ok, so I have been putting pictures together for a DVD that we can share with all of you and looking at the pictures has helped me to relive the special moments of this summer. I hope to share our summer with you in the next few posts. This is part one! :)

First, we left Boot Camp and headed to the Orlando airport to spend the night and fly to LA the next morning. When we went to check in, they informed us that they could not check our bags all the way through to Samoa (because we had a 12+ hour layover in LA). This meant we would have to claim our bags in LA and re-check them at the Air New Zealand counter. Sounds like a minor aggravation, huh? Well...picture this 44 duffle bags weighing 50 lbs each along with 22 carry-on bags. If you have ever been to LA you have to know that it is the worst planned airport ever. We had to push those 44 bags on carts nearly 4 blocks and when we got to our terminal, we realized they had to go up the escalator (we waited on the elevator for 20 mins. and finally gave up knowing that it would take hours to get all of our carts up at that rate of speed). When we finally got them all checked in (after several cart spills on the way) we were off to eat at In-N-Out Burger. If you have never been to In-N-Out Burger, you are missing a treat! It was so good (even better than What-a-Burger!). We enjoyed our food, watched jets fly over head, and played in the trees. We then went back to the airport and waited to catch our 11:30 p.m. flight to Samoa. It was about 11 hours long. We arrived in Samoa at 6:30 a.m. We were amazed at the beauty of the island. The houses were so colorful. There were chickens and pigs roaming everywhere. It was so different, we wanted to take in all that we saw. We arrived at the YWAM Samoa base at about 8:00 a.m. and were greeted by the staff (after we woke them up and got them out of bed! LOL) My first thought was feeding the team. We were told that we would have to go to town to purchase propane for the stove, the electric was pre-paid power, they had two vans but both were broken down. I had 16 kids looking at me and asking me "What's for lunch?" I bowed my head and said, "Lord, what's for lunch? There was a microwave, but when I plugged it in, it sparked and smoked, so I knew that wasn't going to work. I dug around and found a rice steamer and knew I had some soup mix. We set up the water filter and filtered water, mixed up the soup and cooked it in three batches in the rice steamer, opened a can of fruit, and at a delicious lunch! :) It took a few days for my nerves to calm and "settle in." I don't know why I don't trust God from the first. I always waste time worrying before I turn everything over to Him. I waste so much time and energy. He is faithful and never leaves us alone. He reassured me of that so much this summer.