Filipino Martins: And now begins "Year 2"

Our return trip to the Philippines began with a hurricane named Irene. What's the relation? Well, let me tell you.

It began with the simple fact that our initial flight was to depart from the Newark airport in New Jersey around noon on Sunday, August 28. A few days prior to the flight, someone told me that there might be a hurricane off the New Jersey coast mid-day Sunday. I'll admit my first thoughts were, "Oh that's nice. Now we'll get wet going in and out of the vehicle." But after three or four people said something about it, we decided to check into it.

Thursday night we heard that some airlines were waiving the fees associated with changing flights for anyone going through airports in the potentially affected area. So on Friday we looked at what other options we would have. Long story short, we decided that a 6:00 am flight on Sunday from Harrisburg, PA would be a better choice. That meant getting up by 2:00 and an 8-hour layover in Detroit, but it seemed to be the best option available.

So we made the change. Then on Saturday, we heard that Delta (our carrier) cancelled all flights through Newark on the 28th. So it was really good that we changed our flight before the cancellation. So we (or rather my dad) drove through the wind and rain to Harrisburg for our early flight. We took off without any problems. We got to Detroit and waited several hours. Between naps and bathroom breaks, I noticed that both flights between Harrisburg and Detroit between noon and 2:00 pm were cancelled. I still don't know why (it may have been cancelled prior to the weather). But I am thankful that we chose the earlier flight.

As the time drew nearer for our departure from Detroit (and the beginnings of our 13-hour flight), we noticed Transportation Security Administration people hanging out near our gate. We were eventually informed that they would be doing random searches as we boarded. But then our boarding was delayed at the request of maintenance (that can't be good). It wasn't a major problem though. The reading lights in one section were not functioning. So after another delay, we finally boarded to find out from the captain that the lights were not fixed. But we would leave. However, the captain informed us that we needed to wait for another repair as there was a light in the cockpit saying a door was not closed even though it was physically shut. But we could not depart without it being taken care of. So we waited another 15 minutes or so while on the airplane.

Eventually we left Detroit. The pilot told us that he would fly the plane as fast as was safe to try to make up some time. But he said the adjusted time was 12 1/2 hours. I was not worried about our connection, as the flight continued through the stop in Japan to Manila. We would have to get off the plane and pass through security, but then get back onto the same plane. So that flight could not leave until we got there. So whatever. We slept some. We watched some movies (some with headphones, some without). We arrived in Japan in the early evening. Then we got back on the plane to Manila. We arrived there in the late evening. And it was hot!

We got through immigration and customs without any problems. We also transferred to the right terminal with no problems. It was all somewhat familiar as we had done the same thing the year before. So we waited in the Manila terminal a few hours until we could check our bags. Here was where we thought we might have problems. Our checked bags were 3 kilograms over the allowed amount, but he let them go without saying anything. That was good. We tried hard to get them to the allowed 15 kg each. But as we turned to go, he asked about our carry-on bags. So he weighed them. That was a problem. We never had them weighed before, so we thought we could get away with them being heavier than the Philippine Airline website allowed. The limit was 7 kg, but our bags were about 13 kg each. The man said he would allow 9 kg, maybe 10 kg. But definitely not 13 kg each.

So we walked away, thinking about how we could rearrange our two carry-on bags to get one down to 7 kg so we could check the other bag. Before we even got both bags open, the guy came over to us and suggested that we could try to get through with the bags as they were. He said if they allow us through, we were good. If they did not allow us through, we'd have to come back to him and check a bag. I'm not sure exactly who he meant when he said "they" but I believe he meant the staff at the security check point. Well, we thought it was worth a shot. So we went to security and went right through. I have no idea who might have stopped us. Honestly, I don't really care. I'm just glad we got through with all of our bags. So then we made it to the gate. Our flight left early morning and I had a chance to watch the sunrise from about 30,000 feet. Let me say it was beautiful! The range of colors was outstanding. Even with my not-so-good-for-colors eyes, I could see so many distinct colors. It really was like a big rainbow or something. I probably should have at least tried to take a picture, but I was convinced it would not really do justice to the real thing.

But anyway, we arrived in Davao around 6:30 in the morning. We got our bags, put them in a taxi and went home. It felt great to be home. We partially unpacked and did some grocery shopping in the morning. By mid-afternoon we both started to crash. We slept a bit until early evening. Then we ate supper and watched a movie. Then we went back to sleep. So far this week, we've been sleeping pretty good. And without aircon! The only odd thing is we have been waking up at 4:00 am. Today we managed to go back to sleep until 7:00. We'll see what happens tomorrow morning.

Christina has gotten back into things at Mercy. She had prenatal clinic yesterday and some meetings about some stuff. I had a meeting last night with the staff from the youth fellowship at Oasis. I did not inform any of them that I was back. I simply showed up. As is often the case, I was the first one there. So I waited outside. There happened to be a large van parked in front of the building, so no one could see me until the walked around the front. Each time someone I knew came around the corner, they would stop and stare at me in disbelief. They were surprised that a month had already passed. I agreed. It was a very short month.

And now the journey continues...

Thank you all for your interest in our service here in the Philippines. And a bigger thank you for your prayers. Without them, we would definitely struggle. Without Him we could do nothing. Without Him we'd surely fail.