Dubai

Right now it is 2:30am in the Dubai Airport, on Dec 8.  We have had such an adventure already, and we have only been on half our flight to Indonesia!  

First, we got up very early to get to Prague for our flight.  It was five or something crazy like that.  And the weather wasn't bad, but it was kinda snowing when we arrived in Prague. After going to a couple different airport terminals, and then returning to the first one, we had some lunch, and I had my last Starbucks for Christmas (peppermint mocha, yum).  So we got to our flight and everything, and sat.  We needed to wait to be de-iced, and ended up at the end of the queue somehow.  So we ended up sitting on the plane for a long time. Finally we got de-iced, and taxied out, but the pilot was concerned that we had too much ice on our wings by the time it was our turn to take off.  So essentially they brought us back, got more fuel, planned to de-ice again... but then called it all off. We had sat on the plane for four hours, and gone no where.  

Thankfully, we were flying Emirates.  So they set us all up in a nice hotel in Prague. We got supper, slept in really nice beds, woke up with still not enough sleep (five hours isn't sufficient), and had a nice breakfast.  And there was alot of snow this morning on our way to the airport and it was still snowing actually, but we prayed that there would be a break in the weather so we could get off the ground.  And today our plane took off!  We sat for a while waiting for de-icing, and there has been a bit of drama trying to get connecting flights to Jakarta, but all in all it has been really good.

The food is amazing on Emirates. Honestly, there is good reason that they are a top ten airline in the world.  The stewardesses are so nice too. The blankets are super comfy.  The entertainment system could use some help (I think Air Canada and West Jet both outdo them in that regard).  But really, this is flying in style, and can you imagine they were the cheapest option for our trip?  

But now we are in Dubai!  We were really excited because it looked like we were going to have to stay here for 20 hours including an overnight hotel stay.  So I was stoked. That means that I would get a passport stamp!  But because of our leader's great abilities, and the grace of the people working tonight... we are getting on a flight in an hour or two.  That means no stamp, and no tour of Dubai, and no fresh 20 degree Celsius air either, but it works way better with getting to our final destination.  And as an added blessing.... four of us are going to be flying business class.  (Don't tell them, because Steve is keeping it for a surprise when we get on the plane and hand out our boarding passes... but that is totally a blessing because those seats are SWEET). 

God has obviously been taking care of us on our trip, and we have really experienced how God just wants to bless us with cool things.  Janka keeps saying "Can you imagine we are just poor missionaries and all this is happening to us!"  And then the rest of us will say, "But God has unlimited resources." We really are having God's riches poured out on us on this trip. I'm really excited to see what the rest of the trip will bring. Its amazing to think that we actually are only half done, it seems like we have been traveling forever. (which we kinda have been)  But by this time tomorrow I expect we will be asleep in humid Indonesia, instead of sitting in the middle of a busy airport terminal (actually it is amazing how busy this airport is for the middle of the night, it is difficult to get a seat in some places!)

We appreciate all your prayers and I will try to keep you up to date... hopefully we will have regular access to internet after we leave the airports.