In 2014 I was at the Manilla, Philippines International Airport expecting to fly back to the United States after 10 months of serving at a mission school. As I lifted my suitcase onto the scale and handed my passport to the agent, she informed me that I was not scheduled for that flight! Two months previous I had called to reschedule my flight, but due to miscommunication, I had not confirmed according to the airlines requirements. In my defense I had called them during a typhoon, the rain was a deluge, and I could not make it to the internet café. Now standing in front of the agent at the airport, panic about to set in, she said that there was room on the flight and she checked me in. Disaster averted! With much gratitude I thanked her and moved on to customs and security. At customs, I was stopped again. This time, I didn’t have an exit visa! They no longer sold them on site. I would have to travel through Manila to the Bureau of Immigration. I was offboarded and sent to sit in the airlines office’s with my luggage.
I called the regional director that was in charge of making sure I was safe and told him what was going on. After a few minutes of conversation, the shock wore off enough for plans to start forming. There was a missionary in the city that could come get me and transport me back to the bus station. I waited five hours before he could come get me. The office staff were able to rebook my flight in another two months time. I made conversation with a few other passengers that were off boarded and not sure what would happen. When the missionary finally dropped me off at the bus station, I tucked into my seat for the overnight ride back to the mission school. Thanking God for the day and trusting that His plans are better than mine, I claimed the peace that only He can give and fell asleep to the sway of the bus.
When God called me to surrender my life to embrace the difficulties and challenges of mission life, it was initially to volunteer in the office of a NGO doing bookkeeping, as that is what I went to college for. After receiving some basic health evangelism training, I went to the Philippines for one year and then to Cambodia for two and half years. Due to some personal circumstances, I returned to the U.S. for several years and found gainful employment doing accounting work. Last winter, another situation led me to a period of prayer and reflection where I asked God what He would have me to do. I’m excited to be going back to Cambodia and to make friends for Jesus.
Marantha!