Non-stop action! Oh boy!

Well, if you can�t tell by the lack of updates on this site, for the past few weeks I have been extremely busy! I made it to the States on March 25th and immediately got sick. I guess after being in Guatemala so long, I became allergic to the States. :p Jennie came over and cared for me. She always makes me feel better, even when I am not sick. :) But I got to see a bunch of friends and family that I had not seen in several months, and run some errands like register for UK, and get my drivers license renewed. I also went online and bought a whole lot of much needed computer parts for the computer lab in Guatemala with the money that many people had donated, but I was a little sad because there was not enough money to get everything we needed. But I didn�t worry too much because I knew God would provide at the right times.

My dad scheduled a fun trip to the beach that the whole family went on, and that was fun to get to play in the waves some. When I got back, I realized I had only a week left to see all the friends and family I hadn�t seen yet (which included about everyone I knew.)

On Sunday, there was someone at the church who said they wanted to donate some money towards the computers in Guatemala. I said, �Great!� and he handed me a check for $500! God provided the money to get the rest of the parts we needed! That night, Jennie and I had an interesting encounter with some strange lady from nowhere who was in need of money. It kind of freaked us out because it was midnight, but everything worked out ok. After a mere few hours of sleep I woke up early to go see David at Indiana University. We had a good time reminiscing over the past and talking about the future. He took me out to lunch at a really cool, all-American place that I have to go to again when I go back to Indiana.

After being with Dave for a few hours, I high-tail it back to Lexington to help my sister with her new website. I wasn�t able to finish before I needed to go to London to go truckin� with my Papaw Jack. So, I try to get to my Papaw Jack�s house before he needs to leave at midnight that night. I got there right on time and we headed out in the tanker to Tennessee. Remember, up until this point, I have had about 4 hours of sleep in 2 days, so I start dosing off here and there while we drive. I used to go truckin� with Papaw Jack when I was a kid and have all kinds of good memories from that. It was just as fun this time as it had been in the past.

We finished the load at about 7:30 AM and headed back to his house were I crashed for about 3 hours. As I slept, the cell phone that I forgot to take out of my pocket started vibrating and ringing. Being so ridiculously tired, I had no idea what was going on, and somehow managed to turn it off. After a minute or two, it went off again and I finally realized that it was a phone ringing, not an alarm clock. When I picked it up, it was my mom saying that the doctor had only one appointment open today at 3:30 to look at my throat (which somehow developed these white spots, but wasn�t sore.)

So I get back to Lexington in enough time for me to shower and change clothes and Jeremy calls wanting to meet that day, so I told him I would meet him after I got done at the doctor�s, so I head off to the doctor where they examine my throat and conclude that it�s not strep throat, but they don�t know what it is. So the doctor prescribes some medicine and I head back to my house where I find a notice from UK saying that my transcript from Lexington Community College had not arrived. Outraged, I find out by calling both schools that LCC sent the transcript to UK, but UK claimed they never got it. So I had to go to LCC, pay another $8 to get the transcript printed out on the spot, then hand deliver it downtown to UK�s admission�s building.

I finally get to the church to meet with Jeremy after all that shenanigans and goings on, but I only had about 30 minutes before I needed to pick up Jennie. So I walk into his office to talk with him, and as soon as I opened my mouth, someone came in and interrupted. After they left, someone else came in after them, then someone else until it was time for me to leave and I had hardly said a word to Jeremy. Jeremy gets the idea to have breakfast the next day (the day I am to leave for Guatemala.)

I scramble to get to Jennie�s house to pick her up and go on one last date before I left for Guatemala. We went to #1 China Buffet since the Chinese food in Guatemala is bacteria-infected and makes you sick every time you eat it. After going to CompUSA and other places to get the last things I needed for Guatemala, I dropped Jennie off at her house and we said our goodbyes.

When I got back to the house, I realized that I hadn�t even begun to pack for Guatemala! I got two of the fastest computers from the donated computers and stuffed them into my suitcases. I also took my lazar printer and crammed it in as well. My carry-on had a ream of paper, a Milky Way cake made with love from my Memaw, and a whole lot of other miscellaneous things that I couldn�t fit into my suitcases. My carry-on weighed about 40lbs, so I wasn�t too excited about carrying that around the airport. One of my suitcases was many pounds over the weight limit, so I checked online and it said that overweight suitcases would be charged $25. Twenty-five dollars is hardly a fee to get these badly needed things to Guatemala. The other suitcase hit the weight limit exactly at 70lbs.

After a few hours of sleep, I wake up at 6AM to go eat breakfast with Jeremy. (Now, by this point I have had about a total of 8 hours of sleep since Sunday. It was now Wednesday.) It was a wonderful talk we had at Bob Evans over a good-ole hardy American country breakfast. I really do miss the deep talks with Jeremy. :( When I get home, it�s time to get to the airport so that I don�t miss my flight. Since I was flying out of Cincinnati, we had to leave a whole lot earlier than the flight departure. When we got to the airport on-time, the check-in hardly had a line at all. I thought to myself, �Man, this is a good sign of good, easy-going travels ahead!� I couldn�t have been more wrong.

For starters, you know that �$25 overweight baggage fee� I talked about? Well, apparently, the blasted website was WRONG! It was $100!! Thankfully, good-ole dad was able to come to the rescue on that one. After getting all checked in, my parents and I headed for the security screening. We said our goodbyes at the point where they were unable to go any further. Everything was going smoothly at the security point until they scanned my backpack and I see a TSA officer pull my bag from the scanner, and start to hand search it. I thought they flagged it because of the cake in there, but no, there was something else they were looking for. After a few minutes of searching, they finally found what they had been seeking.

As the TSA officer pulled out the brand new, unwrapped, expensive computer tool kit from my bag, my heart dropped. Of all the things that couldn�t fit into my suitcase, why did I put that on my carry-on!? When the officer held the toolkit in front of me, I already knew what he was about to say, �Sir, there are certain tools in here that are not allowed on the aircraft. If you choose so, you can place this into your checked baggage and it will go beneath the plane where you will not have access to it, or you can leave it here where it becomes property of the United States government and will be destroyed.� At this point, my plane was going to leave in 20 minutes and I had no time to go back trough security to check it with my bags.

I turned around and stood on my tippy-toes struggling to look over all the barriers to see if my parents had left yet, but I didn�t see them there. So I turned back to the officer and asked him if I had enough time to go back out and check it with my bags, but he responded, �I am not allowed to offer advice in this situation. Is there someone here I can give this to?� I said no as I turned around on my tippy-toes once again hopping to see my parents. Suddenly I saw my mom�s head pop-up and I waived my arm frantically to let her know not to leave. The officer was nice enough to go out and give the tool kit to my parents and as he walked me back to the end of the screening line he asked me why I was going to Guatemala. When I told him I was going down as a missionary, he perked-up and told me about how he was connected with the Mennonite missionaries down there. He wished me well and I headed to my gate.

When I arrived at my gate, I sat down to wait, looking forward to getting some mad sleepage on the airplane. About 5 minutes before boarding, a lady gets on the intercom and says, �The flight to Miami [this is the airport I had to go to before Guatemala] has had a gate change to [such and such] gate at the other side of this section of the airport.� Immediately, hoards of people got up and started �run-walking� to the other gate. When we arrived, we were greeted with a ten-minute delay added onto our flight. After a few minutes, another ten minutes was added to the delay. Then, they finally called us up to board the plane. When everyone got up and in line, they got back on the intercom and said, �Actually, we�re not ready to board yet, please wait a few more minutes.

By now, there are people getting quite frustrated. I just kind of laugh it off because if you think about it, it�s really hilarious. Once we finally were able to board the plane, we started to taxi out onto the runway when the plane stopped. After a few minutes, the captain got on the intercom and said, �The plane is saying that the fuel-pump has failed, but we don�t believe it�s a concern; it�s probably just a computer glitch, so we are going to taxi out to a �safe zone� to have an engineer look at the problem.� I start thinking about my one-and-a-half-hour layover in Miami and wondering if I will have enough time to get to my next flight.

After all the bugs were worked out in the plane, we headed off ended up being one whole hour late to the Miami airport. I had thirty minutes to get to my next gate, but there was a problem -- the Miami airport is the most poorly designed airport I have ever been in. In most airports, there is a nice big monitor in front of you as soon as you get off the plane with a list of all the flights and what gate they are at. In Miami, there is NOTHING like that. The only thing I could do was follow a hallway which took me out of the secure part of the airport and into the public part. I found a worker and asked him in what section my flight was, he responded, �Section D,� which was several sections over. Now, in most airports, this is not a problem because they either have those moving walkways or a tram. In Miami, there is NOTHING like that! I was booking-it and made it to section D only to go through security, AGAIN. I had only a few minutes and I ran like a crazy boy going on about 8 hours of sleep for the past 4 days, carrying a 40lb carry-on with a cake in it, in an airport with no trams or moving walkways.

I was gasping for breath as I finally made it to my gate, but there was not a soul in the waiting area or at the counter. With sweat dripping off of my face and wheezing like an old man with asthma, I plop my arms on a counter in front of another gate that was manned and asked where the flight to Guatemala City was. They responded with, �Actually, that�s at gate 13, not 16.� I looked at the clock behind me that read 5:46 � just one blasted minute past the take-off time.

Still looking at the clock in defeat, a voice behind me says, �It�s long gone.� I turn around to see the origin of the voice and ask her in a winded voice what I had to do next. I told them my flight was delayed and without hesitation, they printed out a new ticket for me, but the new flight didn�t leave until the next day. Now, since I was on Delta for the first flight, and American Airlines for the second, American Airlines said I had to go to the Delta counter to get accommodation vouchers since it was Delta�s fault I missed the flight.

Not knowing where the Delta counter was, I ask the helpful American Airlines employee its location. She stopped and sucked up some air while saying, �Now just take a deep breath and take your time to get there, but you are in section �H� which is the last section and Delta is in section �A� which is the first section. In other words, it�s on the other side of the airport.� Wow. I can�t describe how much I didn�t want to carry the blasted 40lb carry-on any further. My back was beginning to hurt, my hands were raw from the handle of the bag, and I was EXAUSTED after running so much and having no sleep. I thanked the employees for their help, and began my long journey to the other side of the airport; one blasted step at a time.

As I walk, the bag seems to keep getting heavier and heavier. I think to myself, �Man, I need to somehow get word to Mark and let him know to not pick me up from the Guatemalan airport in a few hours.� Suddenly I realize that I have no American money on me, only Guatemalan Q. I come upon an exchange place, but of course it�s closed. Then I search for an ATM, but can�t find a one. I found a phone that took credit cards, so I swiped mine and tried to call my dad several times to no avail. By this point I am so mad I could cry. God was whispering in my ear, �Don�t worry, you will have a great time to rest here in a hotel all by yourself.� That calmed me down quite a bit.

I finally find an ATM and guess what? It�s out of order! So I keep walking towards the Delta counter which is located in Egypt. At one point, out of sheer exhaustion, I drop my 40lb carry-on in the middle of the hallway not caring about the cake or anything else in it, and walk around it several times with my hands on my hips while shaking my head in frustrated exhaustion. I am sure it looked hilarious to those passing by, but I was not laughing.

Once I found an ATM that worked, it charged me $2.75 to take out any money. Now I have big bills, but no change to call at a payphone. A nice lady working at a coffee place exchanged my big bills for change which was really nice. It cost me $1 to call my dad for 4 minutes. OUTRAGE! But at least I got the message to him that I was stuck in Miami for the night. After the call, I at least felt a little bit better knowing that people weren�t going to be waiting around on me at the airport in Guatemala.

I pick up my bag with fingers so sore that I thought they were going to bleed and kept walking into the desert on my way to Egypt. Then it happened, the moment I had been anticipating for so very long. I was able to make out the Delta logo way off in the distance. �Home free!!� I thought as I gathered all the energy left in my body to walk as quickly as possible to the counter. When I arrived, the lady behind the counter was very helpful giving me a voucher for a hotel room and two vouchers for dinner and breakfast the next day of $7 each. A shuttle came and picked me up and took me to the hotel.

When I got to the hotel, the man checking me in asked if I would like to upgrade my bed to a king-sized bed. I didn�t hesitate to say with a grin, �Yes! I am worn-out and I am not paying the bill, so definitely!� I asked him how much the dinner was, and he said it was kind of expensive, but they honor the vouchers from the airport. When I got my bill for dinner that night, I had to pay $9 even AFTER the $7 voucher! OUTRAGE! The food was not even great food!

I can�t tell you how great it felt to lay down in a king-sized bed that night and actually get more the 4 hours of sleep in a night. When I woke up the next morning, I realized I had no clothes or hygiene products on my carry-on, so I had a �dingo�s breakfast,� if you know what that means. In other words, I was mighty stinky.

I hope you didn�t fall asleep during this entry. It�s quite possibly my longest entry EVER! HAHA! :p Oh! And the computer stuff all got here fine, and everything is working great! God had his protective hand on all of the things in my bags! (Well, except a small container of molding wax for my hair which somehow got smashed into pieces, but that�s ok, I had like 8 of them in there!)

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