Tearful Goodbyes and Tiring Travels

".  .  .guided them by the skilfulness of His hands.  Psalm 78:72"

The first Sunday of March is memorable for at least two very important reasons.  We celebrated the third anniversary of Eindhoven Baptiste Kerk with a special service at our home.  We thank the Lord for the past 3 years of labouring together in Eindhoven, Delft. 

We believe God is working in hearts in Delft and are trusting Him for a great harvest of souls in the coming years.  We thank the Lord for the national believers who are so faithful in serving Him and their community living out the gospel in a cultural group for whom the gospel is extremely cross-cultural.  It was a delight to me to have Aneesa attend the services and the braai that day.

At the airport that afternoon, twenty-seven dear ones that gathered to greet me.  Below is a group foto of the only the ladies of all ages who came to say goodbye.  In that group is my 4 special "daughters,"  June (extreme left), Oriel (kneeling in front of June), Lydia (third from the right) and Caren (extreme right).  Pray that God will continue to grow these dear young women and continue using them in their homes and churches for His glory.

Unfortunately, I do not have fotos of my trip, but I do have a story of God's faithful guidance and care of me in a trip that stretched to 61 hours!  Due to the airline's delay of my departure out of Dubai, I arrived in New York almost 2 hours late. I was waiting at the luggage carousel in order to clear customs after going through immigration when my flight to DC departed!  I was able to get a later flight to DC, but the later flight only departed AFTER I was supposed to board the Amtrak train from DC to North Carolina!  At 10 pm in DC, I stood in the baggage claim area with two 23 kg bags and a carry-on and prayed for guidance.  The airport had free Wi-Fi, so I googled "hotel near Amtrak station" and called the first hotel in the list.  The hotel desk clerk said, "The shuttle that is collecting the Delta crew is at door 5 now!"  I asked an airport employee at the desk nearby, "Where is door 5?"  She said, "The door you are standing next to!"  How is that for being GUIDED??!! :-)  The next day the shuttle took me to the Amtrak station at 2 pm when I checked out of the hotel.  I had been able to book a seat on the 7:50 pm train, but I prayed for a seat on the 3:25pm train which was fully-booked.  When I inquired at the station about a seat, the attendant said that the train was fully-booked and then took a second look at his screen and said, "Why no, there IS a cancellation!"  I said,"That is MY SEAT!!"  I couldn't stop smiling!!! The friends who met my train at 7:30 pm took me to Golden Corral for dinner and we celebrated God's goodness in guiding me all the way!