Travel Setback

 

We entered the day with anticipation and excitement for what lay ahead; however, Day 1 did not go as planned. Our original plan was to leave Dordt at 12pm and drive up to Sioux Falls to catch our flight to Chicago at 3:15pm. From Chicago we would fly 8 hours to Brussels, Belgium, and then another 9 hours to Monrovia, Liberia. Unfortunately, the current conflict in Iran has sent a ripple effect in all air travel across the globe. The first change in our plan occurred this morning when we received a notification that our flight from Brussels to Monrovia was cancelled. Thankfully our travel agent quickly fixed this problem and got us a different flight that would arrive in Accra, Ghana on Sunday night. We would stay in Accra for 24 hours before hopping on a quick 2 hour flight to Monrovia, arriving a day later than originally intended. This news was met with excitement, as we would get to experience 24 hours in a new country, as well as some anxiety as this was already a change from what we originally intended.

                Before we left campus our Athletic Director Darin Keizer led us in devotions. Keizer had already written the exact message we needed without knowing about the change in our plans. He read Psalm 91:4 to us “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart”. We are finding peace in the fact that God has us exactly where He wants us. Even if it may not be our plan, He knows the plan He has for us.

                We arrived at the Sioux Falls airport a little after 1pm and were notified that our flight was delayed by an hour. Since our layover in Chicago was only 50 mins, we would miss the flight in Chicago that would take us to Brussels. We were told they would hold the plane in Chicago for us, so we went ahead and checked into our flight. All 24 of us walked in with our personal items, carry-on, and two checked bags. Our check bags were full of bibles and computers for the people in Liberia and our lunch food for the week. The United workers were incredible working through technical difficulties, but with little staff at the small airport, it took a while to get us through.

                While we were checking our bags in, we got another notification that our flight was delayed again. This closed our window for us to leave out of Chicago. After sitting around for a while outside the security gate, we waited for our travel agent to work out a plan for us to 1. Get to Liberia as soon and as safe as possible, 2. Keep all 24 people together, and 3. Steward the money that has been generously gifted to us well. This was no small task. After an hour we were given two options and as a group we agreed that we would get on a flight leaving Sioux Falls at 9 am on Monday. From there we will fly to Denver, to Washington D.C., across the ocean to Ghana, and then finally to our destination in Monrovia on Tuesday night.

As of right now our trip will be two days shorter than originally planned. There is still no guarantee that we will make it to Liberia. It could be easy to question why God has shifted our plans so drastically to start our trip, but we want to surrender this to the Lord, and we also ask that you please pray boldly for us as we lay this all in God’s hands. Pray that doors may open for us to go and experience a different part of God’s world. For safety in our travel and logistics. And above all, that we fully trust God’s perfect plan for us and give all of our fear and anxiety to Him.

Special shout out to Glenn Bouma, Levi Jungling, and Luke Munsterteiger for taking time out of their Saturday to drive us to the airport and for making the unexpected second trip to bring us back.