Nepal Mission: Unexpected Start!

We are off to a very eventful start to this mission. At the airport in Little Rock I realized that I had forgotten my passport! At the Wingo's house I was making a copy of my passport for my carry-on, and I left it in the copier. Fortunately Kenneth and Melinda Halstead grabbed it and raced to Little Rock to save the day. How embarrassing! The veteran traveler making a loser mistake!

Then the delays... Chicago weather pushed our flight to Dallas back. And back. The 5:10 flight finally left at 8 pm. Unfortunately we missed our connecting flights. ALL of them! As we were landing in Dallas we were told that a new flight to Los Angeles was boarding, so we got off the plane and ran across the airport toward the new flight. We stopped to make sure this was right, and a friendly American Airlines employee dashed our hopes to pieces. "There are no seats on the flight. You are looking at a minimum of a day and a half..." Wow. The Nepali pastors are traveling from all over the country to be in Kathmandu on Monday for our conference. And they have to go home when the week is over. So we circled up and began to pray, as Kirk (our fearless leader) dealt with the airline guy.

This man was very nice and helpful. But he couldn't find a flight ANYWHERE. Finally he got us a new route. We would stay the night in Dallas and leave the next evening en route to London, then Bahrain, then Kathmandu - arriving on Monday at midday. So I'm writing this from the hotel in Dallas, waiting to fly to London this evening around 5 pm.

PRAISE GOD: They put us up at Embassy suites (4 rooms, $389 per room per night...for free). Also, Luke and Joseph (pastors who we were to meet in Los Angeles) both made it to LA and caught the flight to Hong Kong. So they will start the conference on Monday in our place. They were supposed to teach on Tuesday but they will teach on Monday as we are arriving. Also praise God that all our team members are keeping godly attitudes and remembering that God is sovereign and "works all things according to the counsel of his will" (Eph 1:11). We are on HIS timetable, praise God!

This new flight route for the 6 of us will have us completely circling the earth in 2 weeks! Instead of flying west from LA to Hong Kong, then east for the return, we are now crossing the Atlantic to London, through the Middle East (Bahrain), to Kathmandu; for the return home we should cross the Pacific from Hong Kong to LA as planned. Both oceans!

Please Pray:
1. For our continued protection and God's blessing as we travel to Kathmandu.
2. For Luke and Joseph as they travel ahead of us and begin the conference.
3. For our luggage to make it to Kathmandu (we don't know if it went ahead of us or not).
4. For flexible attitudes and the fruit of the Spirit to continue in us.
5. That God would be glorified and pleased!!

We love you all and we are praying for you. Thank you SO MUCH for standing with us in prayer. In Psalm 2, God tells Jesus to ask, and he will give him the nations. Together, we are joining Jesus in receiving for himself a people in Nepal for his glory forever. What a mission!!