Praise the Lord!

We pulled into DIA at 7:00pm Thursday the 8th bearing two totes filled to the brim with 68 lbs. each of clothes, personal necessities (including 10 frisbees) and gifts of 6 1 lb. bottles Habanero Hot Sauce, 5 pounds of Starbucks coffee, many cans of tuna, and last but not least, a 4 lb. brick of Velveeta cheese. Not only is Velveeta clear before food coloring is added, we also found out that its composition is very similar to that of explosives. After the security personnel verified that this was in fact Velveeta and not plastic explosives, my totes successfully passed the point of no return into the airport luggage-vanishing system, destined for Taipei where I would need to pick them up and pass them on to Phnom Penh.

At 8 o'clock p.m., after goodbyes, I went through security where they gave me special treatment and let me do a show-and-tell of every item in my violin case, carry-on bag and jacket, plus my fine leather belt and holy shoes. No, I didn't have any knives in my socks and I was permitted to board the Frontier Airbus A319 (which was not equipped with fog-lights) enroute to L.A. As we headed south, away from partially foggy L.A., I painfully observed our progress on the little computer screen on the back of the seat in front of me. We heard over the speakers: "... we are pleased to announce that you will be receiving an extra hour of free broadcast on this flight...." It was a nice thought, but a sorry replacement for fog-lights. We landed in San Diego and refueled before heading back to LA.

We touched down in LA at 11:53pm, just two minutes before my Eva Air flight to Taipei was scheduled to depart. I ran outside and down the block to the Tom Bradley International Terminal, where the Eva ticketing counter notified me that my plane had not taken off yet but that it was too late for me to board. They then sent me back to Frontier saying "It not our fault that you miss your flight. Go back to other terminal to the Frontier desk. They have your luggage and they help you. We not fly to Phnom Penh again soon anyway." After finding a Frontier guy just leaving the already closed Frontier desk, I was told to "Go to the Eva Air desk. We're not responsible for you since it was the weather. Anyway, we don't fly internationally and they have your luggage." It was now 1:30am local time and after several unprofitable conversations with Expedia I laid down and got about a half hour of sleep.

At 4:00am, after waiting in the Frontier desk for about a half hour, the desk opened and I was reassured once again that the Eva desk is where I should be. "Anyway, they have your luggage."

There were two EVA Air flights from LA to Taipei that day, one at 3:30pm and another at 11:55pm. I stood-bye for the first flight at 3:15 they informed me that the flight was full and there would be no room for me. At 3:30 I talked to another lady at EVA and explained that I would be teaching in Cambodia soon and that I really needed to get there. She said that the flight was full but she started typing away at her terminal and somehow managed to book me a ticket and get me a definite seat on the plane! Praise God! Not only that, but she waived the $100 transfer fee that I was going to have to pay and got me an exit-row seat where there were no seats in front of me, giving me a lot of space! Truly the Lord delights to give good gifts to His children - more than all we ask or imagine! That evening two of my cousins - Jason and Carolyn drove up to LAX and we got to spend a lovely time together over dinner. This was just one more precious gift from God!

I had a great flight to Taipei and got to sleep quite a bit on the plane. I stayed in balmy drizzly Taipei for a 26-hour layover at the airport before flying to Phnom Penh Monday morning. I stayed at the top of the Taipei airport with a whole floor to myself and the Lord miraculously provided me with a high-speed wireless internet connection for free!

I arrived safely in Phnom Penh at abount noon on Monday where John and Linda Mackey picked me up. I will be starting to teach a 7th and 8th grade math class and science class at the Logos school on Monday.

Thanks so much for all your prayers!

In His care,
Danny