We were excited to change our routine and leave on Friday afternoon rather than on a 5:30 or 6 am flight on Saturday morning as we've done for years. Although Alec has verified that the Biblical interpretation is misplaced, Pastor Mike continues to claim that having to be up at 3am for a 6am flight violates the 11th commandment against waking up before 7am.
A few weeks earlier, there was a schedule change resulting in just 30 minutes to make our connection in Minneapolis-St. Paul. So we changed our flights to connect in Atlanta with 65 minutes to catch the second flight. Unfortunately, storms on Thursday caused hundreds of flights to be cancelled or delayed. The domino effect caused our departure from BDL to be nearly 2 hours behind schedule.
Thanks to modern technology, we were automatically rebooked. However, we couldn’t leave Atlanta until Saturday morning. Our hotel reservation at the San Francisco Airport hotel was non-cancelable at that point. Mike advised the Church treasurer of the need to pay for hotel rooms in both Atlanta and San Francisco. Her response cannot be published on a church website. Debby dropped what she was doing at work (sorry to the customer who didn't get their loan approved on Friday) and called the hotel in San Francisco.
During lunch, Mike received a call from the hotel manager in San Francisco apologizing for the delay in canceling our reservation without any cost or penalty. No wonder that she’s the treasurer…
The other issue with the automatic rebooking iwas that we were put on 4 different flights out of Atlanta. And the Nanni family’s itinerary had them flying to Minneapolis and then to San Francisco. When explaining the revised travel plans, here’s what I could read from their facial expressions. Jenna, the youngest and a first time member of our team, was sweetly and innocently wondering why they were flying north of San Francisco only to then fly south to get there. Jay seemed to be thinking, “oh well, just another day,,,.” Lisa, also on her first mission trip, seemed happy that we were just going to get there. Lia, who’s a mission trip veteran, appeared to be calculating the number of extra frequent flier miles she would earn for the high school graduation trip to Aruba she’s planning (and hasn’t yet told her parents about).
For unknown reasons, Cam was booked onto a flight all by himself. Mike called Delta about that, and they put him into an exit row seat as a consolation prize for having to go alone. When pointed out that Cam did not meet FAA age requirements to sit there, they tried to convince Mike that he was older than he is. They finally gave in and the only other way to get him to San Francisco was to put him in first class on Mike and Debby’s flight. Cam has always gone with the flow, and merely said, “Praise God!”
Kirsten, Julian, Aiden, Laura and Alec are on a different flight to San Francisco. Being the troopers they are, they also see blessings in all situations. Their flight leaves nearly 3 hours after the other flights, so instead of being with the others, they get free cooked to order breakfast at the hotel.
Travel may not have worked out the way we planned, but we are all thankful that God has given us the opportunity to be his hands to help people who lost their homes to wildfires. We are also grateful for the support of so many to make this trip possible.
The Communication Czar will share details of our arrival to SFO and drive north to Chico with you tomorrow.
