Home at Last

The last leg of the trip was certainly an eventful one. Our flight from Chicago to Appleton was cancelled because the plane was not able to land in O'Hare. We were sent down to the customer service desk for re-booking. At this point we knew we were not going to be able to stay together.

The group was booked on 4 different flights to get home. Orv and Eric were able to keep their original booking on a 4:30 flight into Appleton. Ray, Matt, Kevin, Roland, and Andy were booked on a 4:45 flight for Green Bay. Marty, Phil, Michael, Nathan, Jerry, and Jason were all booked on a 9:00 flight to Green Bay and had stand-by passes for the 4:45 flight. Pastor Ray was bumped to Monday morning.

Things did not look promising. Bad weather on Friday had made a mess of the airport and marginal weather on Saturday slowed airplane traffic to half its normal speed. Information changed by the minute. Orv and Eric's flight was delayed until 6p and the 4:45 to Green Bay was delayed until 6:50. Wanting to ensure that we would be home on Sunday, a group of men went to inquire about rental cars. No cars were available. At that point we called home and arranged for 3 vehicles to come pick the group up in case all our flights were cancelled. One way or another we were going to make it home on Sunday. Abby Wegner, Tiffany Anderson, Rita Schounard, Sue Gillett and Bart Mattson started for Chicago. We thank them for providing the insurance for the group. The idea of spending the night in O'Hare was unbearable.

When it was all said and done we all made it home on Sunday. Eric and Orv were able to fly to Appleton. Poor Matt originally had a booking on that flight too, but he was re-booked to come into Green Bay instead. He handled it remarkable well. Thankfully the airline put all our luggage on the Appleton flight and Orv and Eric took it to church for us. Marty, Ray, Kevin, Roland, and Matt were able to ride on the 4:45 flight for Green Bay which finally took off about 9:45. The group that was booked for the 9:00 flight to Green Bay all opted to catch a ride home in a vehicle rather than depend on the airline to get us home.

After being up for more than 24 hours and fighting through a bad case of jet lag, we are all glad to finally be home. Pastor and Debbi will be arriving in Green Bay on Tuesday, if all goes well. We look forward to giving our report to the church on Sunday night. Thank you for all your prayers. God used us to encourage a ministry this week that is making a real positive impact on the Church in Romania!