WE MADE IT!
It is Friday afternoon here in Au Jung-Ri and this first message is from Brian. Thanks be to God, we made it! If there is any upside to a 25 hour traveling ordeal, we experienced it. Our children impressed Judy and me beyond all expectations (I am sure it was all the prayers). I have to admit, I was not looking forward to the travel. I knew that Katie and Claire would do fine. They often impress me with their attitude, flexibility and resilience. My doubts were with Mary and Johnny, of course. As you can imagine, Judy was prepared. She armed herself with activities, diversion strategies, plans and back-up plans, pillows, blankets, foods and beverages of all types, riding ponies, high flying acts and if all else failed, drugs! Of course, they were toxic free and perfectly safe for consumption by children.
We reached Tokyo in 12 hours unscathed. Unfortunately, Johnny decided it was time for bed on our decent into Japan. It was then we realized the price you pay when you plan on taking all the contents or your home stuffed in carry-ons and you lose a pair of hands when someone has to carry off a sleeping child. Everyone else had to pick up the slack. Katie and Claire were most impressive pulling, pushing and carrying bags off that plane. (Why do they call those large planes wide bodies? After spending 12 hours in one that is the last description I would ever lend to one!) Anyway, we were the last to get off and had many unhappy and unhelpful stewardesses watching and waiting for us. We soon realized that the problem with being so slow is that we had no one to follow to the gate areas. Compound that with my rusty command of the Japanese language J, carrying a sleeping child who now weighed 150lbs plus pushing, pulling and carrying the contents of our home in little bags, we soon found ourselves lost and traveling unnecessary distances. All ended well when we found our way to the gate and had some time to regroup. Our best decision while in that airport was to check some of our carry-on bags, the ponies and the circus act. Both Johnny and Mary slept during the 2 hour flight from Tokyo to Seoul.
Once in Seoul I thought I had this international traveling thing down. While Judy was filling out some additional paperwork, I took the kids (who were all under their own power at this time) and got in line for Immigrations. I was surprised that we were the only non-Asian’s entering Korea. I spent the next 20 minutes or so enjoying my un-obstructive view over the heads of my fellow line standers until someone pointed out the fact that I was somewhere I did not belong. Unless I could prove I was Korean, I would have to promptly exit the line and move down the concourse to the “real” Immigration point. Off we went again. To add insult to injury, there were stations available with no one waiting. Even after this, all would have ended well if I did not rely on intuitive reasoning when moving to the correct baggage claims area to pick up all our worldly possessions. However, we could not find an area that indicated a flight from Tokyo or Detroit. We sow no one to ask so I walked to the other claim areas while the rest waited behind. The only other U.S. originated flight was from Seattle. Well that couldn’t be it! So I continued my search. After 15 minutes of walking the claims area I heard a faint little voice calling, “Mr. Be, Mr. Be”. I turned to see our cute little Asian flight stewardess running toward me waiving her arm. “You come get luggage, you come get luggage. You last one to get it.” She then promptly led me to the claiming area for the flight from Seattle. I still can’t figure out how she knew me or why our luggage was there. I didn’t dare take the time to ask. We loaded up the carts.
All the while, I knew some poor souls were waiting out in the lobby for our arrival. In fact Kent and Tracy were all smiles when we met up with them. The wait did not dampen their spirits. Now somewhere in the recesses of my mind I had figured that a post that is 45 miles from the airport would take approx. 1 hour to get to. You can imagine my surprise and joy when our hosts indicated we still had a 2-3 hour ride to the house. But the best part of this leg of the journey was packing 600 pounds of luggage and 10 people into a vehicle roughly the size of a large minivan. We could have sold tickets but there wasn’t much of an audience at 11:30 pm local time.
But we are here now. We are settled into the very comfortable hospitality house apartment. We are getting a jump start into how the house operates. Dennis and Jeanne Roth, the couple we are replacing, have been doing a great job running this house and showing us the ropes. We pray that our ministry can be half as effective.
Please pray for:
1. Guidance on planning the schedule and activities for the home.
2. Acceptance by those who count on the teaching and fellowship this home provides
3. Health for our family. It is winter here and illnesses abound.
4. Some boxes to arrive by an act of God. (We didn’t send them the right way.)
We are so grateful to you all who are supporting us in so many ways. We are excited to see how God will work in and through us during the next 7 weeks. We will update this site as often as possible with news and prayer requests.
We reached Tokyo in 12 hours unscathed. Unfortunately, Johnny decided it was time for bed on our decent into Japan. It was then we realized the price you pay when you plan on taking all the contents or your home stuffed in carry-ons and you lose a pair of hands when someone has to carry off a sleeping child. Everyone else had to pick up the slack. Katie and Claire were most impressive pulling, pushing and carrying bags off that plane. (Why do they call those large planes wide bodies? After spending 12 hours in one that is the last description I would ever lend to one!) Anyway, we were the last to get off and had many unhappy and unhelpful stewardesses watching and waiting for us. We soon realized that the problem with being so slow is that we had no one to follow to the gate areas. Compound that with my rusty command of the Japanese language J, carrying a sleeping child who now weighed 150lbs plus pushing, pulling and carrying the contents of our home in little bags, we soon found ourselves lost and traveling unnecessary distances. All ended well when we found our way to the gate and had some time to regroup. Our best decision while in that airport was to check some of our carry-on bags, the ponies and the circus act. Both Johnny and Mary slept during the 2 hour flight from Tokyo to Seoul.
Once in Seoul I thought I had this international traveling thing down. While Judy was filling out some additional paperwork, I took the kids (who were all under their own power at this time) and got in line for Immigrations. I was surprised that we were the only non-Asian’s entering Korea. I spent the next 20 minutes or so enjoying my un-obstructive view over the heads of my fellow line standers until someone pointed out the fact that I was somewhere I did not belong. Unless I could prove I was Korean, I would have to promptly exit the line and move down the concourse to the “real” Immigration point. Off we went again. To add insult to injury, there were stations available with no one waiting. Even after this, all would have ended well if I did not rely on intuitive reasoning when moving to the correct baggage claims area to pick up all our worldly possessions. However, we could not find an area that indicated a flight from Tokyo or Detroit. We sow no one to ask so I walked to the other claim areas while the rest waited behind. The only other U.S. originated flight was from Seattle. Well that couldn’t be it! So I continued my search. After 15 minutes of walking the claims area I heard a faint little voice calling, “Mr. Be, Mr. Be”. I turned to see our cute little Asian flight stewardess running toward me waiving her arm. “You come get luggage, you come get luggage. You last one to get it.” She then promptly led me to the claiming area for the flight from Seattle. I still can’t figure out how she knew me or why our luggage was there. I didn’t dare take the time to ask. We loaded up the carts.
All the while, I knew some poor souls were waiting out in the lobby for our arrival. In fact Kent and Tracy were all smiles when we met up with them. The wait did not dampen their spirits. Now somewhere in the recesses of my mind I had figured that a post that is 45 miles from the airport would take approx. 1 hour to get to. You can imagine my surprise and joy when our hosts indicated we still had a 2-3 hour ride to the house. But the best part of this leg of the journey was packing 600 pounds of luggage and 10 people into a vehicle roughly the size of a large minivan. We could have sold tickets but there wasn’t much of an audience at 11:30 pm local time.
But we are here now. We are settled into the very comfortable hospitality house apartment. We are getting a jump start into how the house operates. Dennis and Jeanne Roth, the couple we are replacing, have been doing a great job running this house and showing us the ropes. We pray that our ministry can be half as effective.
Please pray for:
1. Guidance on planning the schedule and activities for the home.
2. Acceptance by those who count on the teaching and fellowship this home provides
3. Health for our family. It is winter here and illnesses abound.
4. Some boxes to arrive by an act of God. (We didn’t send them the right way.)
We are so grateful to you all who are supporting us in so many ways. We are excited to see how God will work in and through us during the next 7 weeks. We will update this site as often as possible with news and prayer requests.
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