We are here right on time

Well, we definitely are not home anymore.  We have FINALLY arrived in Calicut India after almost 30 hours in Washington DC.  What an intense few days they have been.  We arrived in DC Monday at about 11 a.m.  We were supposed to fly to JFK in New York City at 1 p.m.  Our flight was delayed until 2....then 2:30.  Finally, at about 3 p.m. on Monday we boarded our plane, taxied out on the runway, sat there 2 and a half hours and then returned to the gate due to bad weather at JFK.  We were rescheduled to leave at 6:30 p.m or so,  but then that flight was canceled.  We were rescheduled to leave at 8:45 p.m.  There would still be time to catch our 11:35 flight to Qatar if we could leave this time.  We boarded the plane, taxied out on the runway, sat there until 10 p.m. and then returned to the gate AGAIN.

Well, we took a cab into Maryland to stay in a hotel for the night.  Our driver's name was Fahat from DiJibuti in Africa.  We were able to give him a Gospel tract and a New Testament.  We awoke Tuesday morning only to find out that in order to reschedule with Qatar Airways, we would have to buy new tickets!  Ouch.  We met, we prayed, we decided that God wanted us to go to India so we were going to get there one way or the other.  We bought the Qatar tickets.  We rescheduled our flight out of DC to JFK with Delta and headed to the airport.  We were able to leave a Gospel tract with the lady at the front desk at our hotel.  

We rode the train to Reagan National, entered the airport, got in line for our tickets and discovered that there were 4 hour delays into JFK.  We had a quick meeting, decided we could drive to JFK in 4 hours, so we decided to rent a car.  We went to rent a car, but there were no cars available.  Ouch.  Let's go to the bus station then.  We walked back by the ticket counter and talked with the lady one more time.  She suggested we try to fly into Laguardia.  I called Delta, got our tickets changed, and we ran like crazy through security and down the corridor to gate number 18 and with only 2 minutes to spare made it to the flight to Laguardia.  I prayed on that plane...God let our luggage make it, let us get it smoothly, and let us get from Laguardia to JFK smoothly.  We were able to leave a tract with the guy sitting next to me on the plane.

We got off of the plane, walked straight to baggage.  The turntable had not even begun turning when we arrived.  No one else was there.  And, to my amazement all six of our bags were sitting there in a line just waiting for us among the silence.  If you have ever flown, you know that is a miracle.  How they made it on the plane in so little time and how they were stacked up by the walkway waiting on us is known only to God.  We went to catch a shuttle to JFK, but the guy who could call it couldn't do so because his radio was broken.  What else could happen to slow us down?  At that moment a man walked in and the bus man pointed him out and informed us that he could carry us to JFK.  He did.  We made it in plenty of time.  We were able to leave him a tract and a New Testament.  

We went into JFK, checked in, wet through security and had a few hours to spare.  We sat down to eat in the food court of terminal four at JFK and out of the blue this guy, from India, sits down with us like he knows us.  He doesn't say anything, but we begin talking with him.  He had very very little knowledge of the Gospel or the Bible.  We were able to share with Him the Gospel, answer many questions, give him a New Testament and a tract.  We were able to spend over half an hour talking with Ritish.  Well we made our flight to Qatar and caught our flight to Cochin.  We drove four hours to Calicut, arrived a day late, and are about to head down to the lobby to have orientation.  It has been a long journey.  Why were we delayed?  

Who said we were delayed?  We were right on time.  We were right on time for Fahat, our taxi driver.  We were on time for the lady at the hotel.  We were on time for the guy on the plane to Laguardia.  We were on time for our driver from Laguardia to JFK and we were definitely on time for Ritish at JFK.  We were on time for others along the way who received tracts, Bibles, and seeds of the Gospel.  

Now we are in Calicut, India.  We are trying to engage the unengaged Mapilla people, a group of 10 million Muslims.  We need your prayers.  We need God to raise up a man of peace from this people group.  We need to be able to sense God's Spirit and discern His will.  Please pray for us and continue to spread the prayer needs broadly.  I will update as often and as soon as possible.  

Thank you for your prayers.