California Mission Trip 2024 - Day 1





And it's official they are... Delayed.



The 13 members of the First Church Mission Trip Team dutifully assembled at the airport at 4:00 am Saturday morning to travel to San Francisco. Although the self-service kiosk wasn’t always cooperative in printing out the baggage tags, the staff was very efficient in getting our bags checked, and TSA was doing a wonderful job moving people through the security process quickly.


After buying drinks and snacks, we waited together for a short time before boarding our flight. For 3 members of the team, it was their first time flying (or first time since being a 1-year-old child). Cam, Aiden and Alec were shepherded through the boarding process by Brenda. The photographer was given permission by the flight attendants to stand in the doorway and to take a photo of the momentous occasion with the condition that he greeted people as they boarded.





Some of us are seriously wondering whether they always look so energetic at 5:15 in the morning…


We were ready for an on-time departure when the captain announced over the PA system that they detected “an anomaly” and that he called maintenance to check it out. He added that because Hartford is not a Delta base, maintenance is provided by a contractor, and it would be 20-30 minutes for them to arrive.


The maintenance team arrived exactly when expected, and about 10 minutes later, the Captain announced that the issue was not a caused by an over-active warning light, and that a repair would be necessary. So, we were asked to deplane and wait in the boarding area while they assessed the time needed to perform the repair.


The departure was first delayed to 8:00, then 10:00, then 10:40, and 11:30, and finally sometime after 1 pm. Piecing together all the evidence, we came to realize that they long delay was due to the need to wait for the replacement part to arrive on a flight coming from Atlanta.


We obviously missed our connecting flight from Atlanta to San Francisco, and due to the size of our group, we were rebooked on 2 different itineraries to get us to San Francisco.


To pass time while the alternative travel reservations were being made, Jay created a scavenger hunt for the younger members of our group, with instructions that they text him photos of the items they had to find. They aced the tasks and quickly transitioned from excited first-time fliers to seasoned, weary airline passengers.





The bulk of the group was routed through Minneapolis-St Paul on a mid-afternoon flight. Mike and Debby were sent to Atlanta on an earlier flight that didn’t have enough seats for the rest of the group. So, we schemed to make the best of the strange situation. We had high hopes of getting to San Francisco before the rest of the group, picking up the 2 rental vehicles, and then picking up the others upon their arrival to avoid the rest of the group having to cool their heels while we went through the rental car process.


It was a wonderful plan until the Hartford to Atlanta flight there were on sat on the runway for over a half an hour before taking off. The plane arrived 40 minutes late to Atlanta, and after getting a nice dose of aerobic exercise running to the departure gate for the flight to San Francisco, they were told that their seats were given to standby passengers and that they would have to wait until 6pm for the next flight. Ironically, the plane didn’t push back for another 20 minutes because of late arriving luggage. We watched our luggage get loaded onto the plane that we couldn’t board. But for a threat of bodily harm, I would have loved to have included a photo of Debby as she watched our luggage being loaded in the belly of the plane.


The latest plan is for all of us to arrive to SFO within 15 minutes of each other. The good news is that 6 of our bags will beat us there by 3 hours…

Due to our much later arrival into San Francisco, and given the time change, we WILL NOT be driving to Chico today. We have reserved rooms at the Hampton Inn at the San Francisco Airport where we’ll spend the night. After breakfast on Sunday morning, we’ll then trek to Chico.


As many are aware, the Park Fire is on the edge of Chico. We are staying on the other side of the city, and the winds have been spreading the fire away from our house and to the northeast. Irrespective, it has burned over 200,000 acres, destroyed hundreds of structures, and is traumatizing many of the people who are just recovering from the 2020 Camp Fire in the same area. Please keep them in your prayers.


We are monitoring the fires in the area and the safety of the Team is foremost to both our leaders and the Tiny Pine Foundation (the organization with whom we work). Our team has been asked to be prepared to pivot from doing construction work to assisting in relief efforts for those who have lost their homes and those who have had to evacuate their homes due to the Park Fire. Please keep the people impacted by the current fires in your prayers.