I'm going to be posting some of my journal entries that I wrote during my mission trip.  I might edit them a bit..spelling etc.  But, for the most part I will try to just type them out on here.  I also plan on putting copies of the emails that Deedra received telling of our adventures.

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August 1, 2008 1020hrs @ Chicago O'Hare Airport

Quick Thought:  I've learned if you wear an Australian Bush hat around a Midwestern airport a lot of people stare at you.  Not as much as the gentleman near me wearing a turban.  Chicago & especially the airports are more multicultural then Evansville, but it still very Midwestern still.

I have a love/hate relationship with flying into O'Hare.  There always seems to be delays.  Chicago is the "Windy City" and O'Hare gets a good amount of it.  But, I still love it because of the flight over The Lake and near downtown.  Lake Michigan is so beautiful.  Big & Blue.  The view of downtown is so cool too.  So many landmarks look neat from the air- Sears Tower, John Hancock Building, the Navy Pier.  Reminds me my I like playing SimCity.

The flight here is short, about an hour and a half.  I fell asleep.  Odd for me, but I so needed it.  I got to sleep a little after midnight last night and got up at 0400.  I was supposed to leave EVV @ 0600 to O'Hare then Seattle.  Problem was that my flights out of Seattle & Taipei were not confirmed yet - I was on a waiting list.  But there was a flight out of Vancouver, BC that had a lot of openings.  So, with the help of the American Airlines desk in EVV, I am now taking a flight from EVV to O'Hare to Dallas-Fort Worth to Vancouver.  Whoever designed the airline hub system seemed not to care about geography at all!  The next thing is, at the time I left EVV, I was not booked fot the flight out of Vancouver & the travel agent was not in the office yet.  I did leave her a voicemail though.  While in the air (my cell phone off) I got two voicemails from the agent.  1- My flights from Seattle to Taipei to Phnom Pehn had been confirmed!! 2- She wasn't able to reroute me back to Seattle from O'Hare, all the flights were full.  But Vancouver should still be okay.  We need to wait until 1130 Eastern for the EVA Air office to open and confirm the new changes.  It's now Noon Eastern and still no word, but I'm not going to worry right now.  Even if I have to find a way from Vancouver to Seattle, I'll try my hardest.

I've had so many things fall into line to get this to happen already.  Some took work & others just fell into place.  I do remember that I was told when I first started this journey that the challenges would make the final journey even more sweet.  Though I understand the thought, experiencing the stress is not too fun at the moment.

More later, I want to find an outlet to charge my iPod. -ce 1126am

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Deedra's email from that morning:

• He got the letter stating the trip yesterday was canceled; so fees to transfer his Asia flights should now be waived - ANSWERED PRAYER 1
• At no extra charge, he will be flying from Evansville to Chicago to Dallas to Vancouver, BC. - ANSWERED PRAYER 2
• At this time, it appears there is a VERY GOOD chance (better than if he went to Seattle) that he'll have NO problems getting from Vancouver, BC to Taipei.  - ANSWERED PRAYER 3.
• It's still unknown about Taipei to Cambodia - PRAYER REQUEST!