Arrival in Beautiful Argentina

This morning at 5:am our time our Boeing 767 taxied to a stop in Argentina.

The trip started being a blessing while our friend and brother Eugene Clarke was driving us to the airport. For some reason we got onto the subject of worry and he was sharing how he simply refused to do that, that it wasn't part of who he was. Later after we said goodbye I reflected that while I was filled with excitement and anticipation at the prospect of seeing old friends and precious saints after a 20 year lapse, nevertheless I had some inner knawing worries. Before God, and by his power I decided to cast them aside and simply look forward to his blessing. From that point peace invaded my heart.

Our son Andrew had been super excited about the trip, non-stop for two weeks. Finally the moment of take off arrived and you should have seen his joy as the jet revved up the engines and tore down the runway like mad, His face glowed with satisfaction. All went well with our stopover in Miami except for a faux pas made by Royal. We had to walk a zillion miles to our next gate for the non-stop flight to Argentina. And we had enough luggage that we needed to rent a little cart. I found a long line of them and began looking for money in my wallet. I was not hopeful, for it needed a five dollar bill and I didn't think I had anything that small. To my delight the first bill I put my hand on was a fiver so I stuck it in the machine and got my four quarters back for the rental was only $5.00. We quickly loaded up and began our marathon walk, moving slowly for Andrew doesn't do fast very well. About five minutes later my mind recoiled with horror as I was reflecting on my good luck at finding this five dollar bill. I realized with much pain that I had just rented my little cart by putting a fifty dollar bill in the machine and getting back four quarter in change. There was no hope of getting my money back and we had a plane to catch. Linda was very kind to me and said something like, "Honey these things happen, you have to let it go, I've made mistakes too". So on we went to catch a plane pushing a very expensive rental cart to our next gate.

By the time of our next flight at 9pm that evening Andrew was tired and edgy. Once we got into the air for the eight hour flight he kept seeing lighting flashes (actually a blinking light on the wing), and he became quite scared. We were able to calm him with some of his medicine for stress, and finally all of us were able to get some sleep before landing.

Dear friends, whom we had not seen for over twenty years met us at the airport and our reunion was sweet and overwhelmingly powerful. Dan and Melody Taube, missionaries to Argentina for the last twenty-two years ,were there, and Rodolfo and Graciela (Andrew's godparents) were there to welcome us back. We had our first visit with these very special people over an argentine breakfast of European type pastries made with real butter which were just as scrumptious as I had remembered. Despite the fact that our Spanish fluency is greatly diminished we were still able to have a blessed time. And perhaps the key worry that Linda and I had about returning turned out to be misplaced--it has only been blessing thus far both for us and for our friends.

That's all the time I have now, will be back blogging tomorrow. God is faithful...all the time. Blessed be his Name. Royal for the family