Sunday, February 9, 2014

On Sunday around 5:00 p.m. my luggage arrived.  When luggage arrives at the arriving airport, the airlines transfers it to a company called "Where's My Luggage."  They e-mail you and tell you where it is and when it will arrive and even send a photo of the driver and what his/her car looks like!  That was something new for me.  They delivered it to the Switchboard and I went to get it and gave it a big smooch.  All my souvenirs and sentimental gifts were safe (the most important thing).

I didn't travel at all in my teens, my 20s, my 30s, my 40's, or even my 50s.  But now when I think I can most appreciate it, I've gotten to go to Hawaii, to London, and to Central America.  Each of these beautiful places has been made more beautiful by the people I got to travel with and by the believers who greeted us and treated us so well.  Gracias a Dios who loves me so much!  Thanks for going along with me.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Ah, the day arrived.  It's time to leave.  We woke up early and were ready to go.  We even woke Javier up, unintentionally. We thought breakfast was at 6, but it was at 6:30, just the time we had to leave, but he fixed us a cup of coffee and we said our goodbyes.

Omar and Hylmar picked us up at 6:30 a.m. and loaded our suitcases into the car and off we went to the airport.  We talked and talked of the good times we had.  They drove us to the door and we went in and checked our bags.  Then we looked around and couldn't find them, so we asked one of the guards who said no one was allowed on that floor, but they would probably be up on the second floor.  They were!  We thought maybe we could go have coffee since we were pretty early but Omar told us that we should go on since we would have to go through security two times and customs once. OK, we knew to "obey Omar" in all things Salvadorean!  So we sadly hugged goodbye one last time.

And off we went through security and customs.  When we were outside the American Airlines gate, Marcia and I decided we had time for breakfast so we ate at Subway!

Then we were off to the American Airlines gate where we went through security again.  Then we sat in a crowded waiting room to board.  But thankfully we had priority boarding again.

Our plane ride to Dallas was uneventful.  We were pretty tired, so we slept.  There was a movie on we watched but I can barely remember what it was.  It was Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck about gambling.  Before we knew it we were in Dallas with supposedly plenty of time to transfer planes.  But customs at that airport was not very organized.  When you go through customs you have to pick up your luggage and then re-enter the airport, check your baggage, and go through security again.  I really don't know what they do with your luggage.  But it took at least an hour or more for the luggage to come up the carousel so we could move on through customs.  Customs was a breeze, almost casual, nothing like Chicago when Brenda and I came back from London. No fruit sniffing dogs, no interviews.  Weird.  When we got through security we hopped on one of those carts that drove us through the terminals to our gate.  That cart even gets on elevators!  Nice young man from Egypt drove us really quickly.  We tipped him and barely got on the plane in time.  Note to self: if you ever do this again, allow LOTS of time for layovers.

The flight from Dallas to Columbus was uneventful also.  I think we slept again.  We arrived at Columbus safe and sound, but my luggage didn't make it on, though Marcia's did.

I honestly don't even know who took this photo, but it's at Columbus airport when we arrived.

They promised to deliver it when it arrived, so we went outside to get on the Thrifty shuttle bus.  This driver was as cheery as could be and gave us chocolate candy to welcome us home.  The roads were clear. But it was clear there had been lots of snow while we were away.  We stopped at Panera bread for one last meal together, and then headed home.  Donna and Melissa were waiting for us so they met us at the door and we all sat in the Founders Hall west lobby and talked and talked.

When I arrived at my room there was a beautiful sign from dear Melissa.

Friday, February 7, 2014

 On Friday morning, we once again ate breakfast in our hotel.  We have gotten to know Javier, who works the front desk and the breakfast buffet and about everything else.  It seems at the places we stayed at, everybody does everything.  They cook, they clean, they garden, they do security.  Here in Hotel Alicante, Javier stays all week and then goes home on the weekend. He spends the night, sleeping at the front desk.

Security guard at hotel

His son wanted his photo taken too!

Lobby outside our room

On Friday morning, Hylmar and Hylmar picked us up about 10:00 a.m. for our trip to the San Salvador volcano.  Omar and Magdalena and Samuel and the Rebecas were traveling in a separate car.  We met at a park where you could walk up to look down into the crater of the volcano.  Omar warned me there were many gradas.  But young Hylmar was my companion and helped me up some of the more uneven parts.  I got my fresh air this week.  I was wondering if I could submit this trip to Anthem as Vitamin D therapy!  I think we were in Parque El Boqueron.

Trail head for hike to top of the San Salvador volcano

One view of the crater

Another view of the crater

After getting a good hike and drinking in the scenery and taking lots and lots of photos, we went to lunch at Las Brumas. http://www.lasbrumas.com/

The restaurant where we ate near the volcano

Our last almuerzo....

On the property of the restaurant

We had excellent steaks. And we enjoyed our fellowship and the view immensely.
We drove down from the volcano and the Hylmars took us to the hotel where we napped and showered and packed and dressed for the big event of the week, the fellowship meeting with believers from Santa Tecla, San Salvador, and San Miguel.

Hylmar picked us up at 6:15 p.m. and we drove to Santa Tecla to the home of the Louly and Jose Antonio and their two sons.  Their home is a little bigger than Omar & Magdalena's so they decided we would meet there.  They took out all the furniture from the living room and put in some chairs.  Marcia, Omar, and I sat up front.  We arrived early enough to greet and talk with a lot of the folks before the fellowship began.  They were all so kind to us.  Many speak English but are as tentative as I can be about speaking Spanish.  We communicated very well.  Hylmar Jr. speaks English very, very well and he was able to help us communicate.  Omar also speaks very good English but he was busy coordinating things.

Then soon, fellowship began with sweet singing, prayers, manifestations.  As part of "announcements," Omar played the video that my Department at work had made for the El Salvador believers and a video that  Melissa had sent of the snow that was happening in Ohio while we were there.  After that, Marcia shared about The Way International and the many departments that contribute to moving God's Word.  She shared in English while Omar simultaneously translated.  After that, I taught in Spanish.  Omar had asked me a few weeks previous, so I had time to prepare it and translate it, and get Margarita to help me with pronunciation and phrasing.  I taught on Trusting in God to Live Prosperously:  The Believers in the Early Church. (Confiar en Dios para vivir con prosperidad: la iglesia del principio).  Everyone seemed to understand!  We closed with a song, To God Be the Glory in Spanish and then they gave a greeting to folks back at Headquarters which Marcia videoed.  The fellowship coordinators each shared on what they  had learned from Marcia's sharing and my teaching.  That was great to get that instant feedback!

We had brought some gifts for them, so we passed them out and then a few of them gave gifts to us.  That was very kind.  We had chicken sandwiches and juice for snacks afterwards (more like a meal!)

And we talked and hugged and took photos and then all too soon, the night was ended.   We hugged Magdalena and Samuel who would not be going to the airport and with us and hugged Rebeca and Rebeca.  Oh my gosh, how can you love people so much that you just met?

Hylmar and Hylmar took us home and Hylmar and Omar would be back in the morning to take us to the airport.