Uhh... Snow? Not at our debrief!

We left for the airport in Thailand at 3:30 in the morning and were amazed at the large number of students who arrived at the airport at such an hour to see us off!  It has been such a blessing spending so much time in one place, being able to make friends, and it was a joy (and a bit sad) to see them see us off.  Who knows, perhaps some of us will be back in the near future? We were kinda hoping a couple of them would fit in our suitcases, but they were all over 23 kilos. 

We were a bit surprised to land in Honolulu to find weather typical for England (60s, rainy, gray), yet we had a sneaking suspicion that Hawaii was going to be more enjoyable than Minnesota despite our not having slept in more than 48 hours. Okay, yeah, we know about the collapsed Metrodome and 45 cm of snow. Wait, we're in America, we can do inches again!  Nahh, too depressing.  We know how much snow that would really be.

Phil Bjorklund has joined us for this last leg of our journey.  He's had many years of experience leading ICS groups through debrief and we appreciate his experience, knowledge, and, of course, stories.  Each evening we've gathered together to go over our trip, starting from day one.  It's been interesting reliving the past two months, one day at a time.  So many experiences!  What does it all mean? 

There's the expectation that going on a short term mission trip "will change your life!"  We know that only Jesus Christ can truly change our lives; a trip like this simply helps us to change our perspective.  The most obvious changes that our friends and families at home will notice when we get off the plane are the new hair styles.  (Professional cuts for $4, well, how can you not?)  What will you notice different in us over Christmas break, back in Naz in January, or bumping in to us at Caribou?  We're not sure we can tell you that at this point, and more than likely, most of us may not even know or understand what sorts of transformations have taken place in our minds and hearts for years to come.  We know that God had a purpose for bringing us all together for these two months, bringing us to the places he's brought us, for his purposes and for his glory. 

This may be the last update before we land in Minnesota.  We leave tomorrow at 4:00 and most of us will arrive in Minneapolis at 4:09 on Wednesday afternoon (some have different final destinations).  A quick note: if you are picking up your student at the airport, PLEASE BRING A COAT!  I guarantee that our wardrobes are not sufficient.  :)