There’s No Bed Like Home

Before I get started, I want to just take a moment to thank those of you who follow our adventure in serving Christ here on the Gazette. We appreciate your prayers. While on vacation, I talked with someone who said he hadn’t had much opportunity to view our pictures since he had to click on the “photos” link to see them. It took me a while to figure out how that was possible because the pictures are always a part of the story. It seems that he was only reading the portion of the blog entry that was on the front page. I’m telling about it, not to embarrass a good friend who will remain nameless, but to help any other inexperienced blog readers who may have had the same issue. I told him he was not only missing the pictures, he was missing most of the story – often the most important part. To read it all and to see the pictures, he needed to click the “read more” link. The purpose of that device is to have multiple stories on the home page and keep it to a manageable length. If you have ever read an old fashioned newspaper (the kind that needs no electricity or anti-virus software) you’ll be familiar with the method. I wanted to mention this while it is fresh in my mind, especially since we have a special prayer request today that you won’t know about without reading on. So, if you can endure my babbling and have the time to spare, read all the way to where it says, “read more,” and then click that link so you can read more. 

I can’t say we are really back in sync with everything yet since we just got here Thursday afternoon, but it sure is nice to be back in our own bed. If I could change anything I wanted to about travel, but was limited to just one thing, it would be finding a way to sleep in my own bed while on the road. All other discomforts and inconveniences are minor and brief compared to spending the night not being cushioned in the bed I’m used to. I know I’m probably getting old in my old age, but I’ve felt that way about my bed since I was a kid. I love to travel, and there’s not a thing wrong with MOST of the beds I’ve slept in, but to slightly alter Dorothy’s homesick chant, there’s no bed like home, there’s no bed like home.

I know I’ve said this before, but I can’t help it. We had a very restful and pleasant vacation – except for one little episode on the way back. Well, it was really a little series of minor aggravations apparently set up to get us ready for our return to the land where almost nothing works right. But even that little mini-adventure demonstrated in subtle ways how good and in control God is.

We spent our last two nights at Mildred’s sister’s house near Houston. Cheryl and Mark were great hosts, but as we were getting the suitcases ready, their bathroom scale was having a little fun with us. We could never get the scale to read the same weight for the same bag twice. But we gave it our best shot. Then all we had to do was decipher the confusing signs that kept leading us away from terminal “E” at Houston International. We finally unloaded at another terminal and walked over there. But there were more obstacles in our path. When we got to the terminal, their scales showed three of our four bags being over weight, and the fourth one had no more space. So, rather than pay $150 for three overweight bags, we pulled out a little duffel and put the extra stuff in there. That would only cost an extra $100. (Only!? Ain’t air travel fun these days!?) We soon learned that we were not yet home free. As they say on the infomercials, “But wait! There’s more!”

When we finally got to the counter, we found out that there is a limit this time of year on flights to Roatán – two bags per passenger … period, no exceptions. By now, we figured we we getting close to not having enough time to get any food to take on the plane and the travelers among us all know that they no longer give you an actual meal for all those hundreds of dollars you shell out. The steam was just about to come out of my ears when the Lord calmed me down and gave me one of those “duh!” moments. That was a pretty small duffel. I asked and they said that I sure could take it on the plane as a personal item in addition to my carry-on. Whew! Thank You Jesus!!!!

So, after enjoying yet another TSA social gathering (all those people standing around and no hors dourves), we put our shoes back on and quickly grabbed a couple of Aunt Annie’s pretzels and hurried to the gate, arriving just as they called our seating area. After waiting in that line, the lady scanning our boarding passes told us we had to go back over to the gate counter a foot to her left and show them our passports first. Sheesh! We showed our passports at the ticket counter and security already. So, we walked around the back of the line, did a 180 around the last person in line and went up to the counter. We showed that lady our passports and she blessed us so we could start all over in the boarding line. We still got to Roatán at the same time as the rest of the passengers, but I really do think there is some sort of secret contest among the airlines to see who can annoy their passengers the most.

Here in Roatán there are no air conditioned jet-ways. That’s both good and bad. Sure you have to go out in the heat or the rain, but you can get off the plane twice as fast if they open the rear doors. However, due to our seat locations, we were just about the last ones to hit the tarmac regardless of which door we used. By the time we got through customs about 45 minutes later, our bags were very easy to find because they were the only ones left in the room. As a matter of fact, our friend Winston, who helps with baggage at the airport, already had them loaded onto a cart and was ready to wheel them out to the curb for us where Sandi picked us up and brought us home. At last, we were back home, and we even had all our luggage. So, all in all, it was a much better than average trip.

We hit the ground running when we got to the house. Adjust the thermostat and turn on the water. Then we started unpacking, but before we got done, Peter offered to let me borrow their truck so I could go into town to see how ours was coming at the paint shop. The part that was done looked great. But Perry said it would be next weekend before it is finished. So we are without wheels for a while longer.

Friday is Peter and Sandi’s day off, so Mildred and I went right to work. Peter and I need to sit down Monday and figure out the order of battle for this week, but I suspect we will first start painting the big metal gates at the new transmitter site. I also have a new solar powered security light that I want to install up there.

If you have been following the news, you probably heard that there is a lot of tension here in Honduras these days. The leftist president is getting very tight with Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Honduras is as divided over their president as we are over ours. Honduran presidents are limited to only one consecutive term in office, but he wants another. So he wants what he calls a poll to see how many people want to change the constitution and allow consecutive terms. It is supposed to take place today, if I remember right. But the supreme court and the legislature said that it is illegal to do that so close to an election. So now, all the leftist countries want to butt in to support their friend and everyone I’ve talked to is pretty concerned that it could lead to violence. We would appreciate your prayers not only for the safety of the staff here and for our continued ability to minister, but also pray for the nation as a whole. This country has come to depend a great deal on tourism, and you can imagine what civil unrest would do to people’s ability to survive in an already impoverished country. In fact, I just checked the news as I was finalizing this and read a report that president Zelaya has been arrested this morning by the military.  http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/06/28/honduras.president.arrested/

Well, this is starting to sound a little heavy. So here are some pictures from our trip that I wanted to share. You have already seen the ones from the big anniversary celebration. Here are some from the Sipes farm, from the Florida Aquarium, and the double Father’s Day we enjoyed at the Reilly’s house. It seems that much of that Sunday afternoon, Jesse’s father-in-law, Dave, and I watched golf while the others geeked out on their laptops and iPhones. But we did play some other fun games, ate burgers, hot dogs, and pizza, caught up on family news, and some even fell asleep on the floor. Like I said, it was a great vacation. Now, back to the real world.