As the plane left the runway, I sent up a silent prayer and brief cheer! At last the adventure had begun, but first we had to land in LA.

We had checked out luggage through LA so we had to pick it up and head to customs. We were met in baggage claim by two young women from the organziation that sent us. They were there with smiles and luggage carts to help us get from one place to another. The infamous pipe-bending machines were already in LA so luckily we didn’t have to cart them all over the airport. Our first stop was the Cathay Pacific desk where I found out that I would be sitting in the middle for our 15-hour flight to Hong Kong. I’m 6’1” and middle seats are made for 10 year-old little girls! Oh well, a little discomfort will be worth it right? In LA we wheeled and dealed until they accepted our 10 (100lbs.) pipe-bending machines on to the airplane. God knew that we needed them and had paved the way for them to get checked all of the way through to Hong Kong. Our next roadblock would be getting Hong Kong to check them through to Islamabad.

After we checked in, the girls (Jennifer and Jessica) told us that they had a feast prepared for us. Later we found out that we were headed to In-N-Out. For non-West Coast people, this is quite possibly the greatest fast-food burger joint ever. I’m not much for fast food, but I figured, “What better to end my American time with than an All-American meal of a double cheeseburger and chocolate shake?” I indulged as we sat outside and watched planes land for the next 45 minutes.

I was dreading what had to come next…my final phone call to Jaci. I had been alright up until this point because I knew that I was still in phone range. I called as we were leaving the In-N-Out and was able to talk for 30 minutes. I finally felt at peace with leaving Jaci in California. I knew that she was going to be okay, especially because my buddies and our community here were going to take great care of her (which they did–now she’s really used to the royal treatment!).

Next stop–customs. Made it through with no problems and prepared to board our longest flight of the trip: a 15-hour non-stop flight to Hong Kong. I love to fly so I was thinking that this 15-hour flight was going to be a great adventure and that I would be totally fine. What I wasn’t taking in account was the fact that I had injured my back a month prior and it was still pretty sore. Within 30 minutes of the flight, I was uncomfortable with no where to go. The tiny woman sitting in the aisle seat (who should have volunteered her spacious spot to the tall American sitting next to her) spoke no English so I decided to ignore any discomfort and enjoy my personal T.V. screen that worked sometimes.

After an hour in the air, the captain came on and told us that we would be landing in Seoul, Korea for 45 minutes to refuel due to a strong head-wind. 300 people groaned but I was excited because one of my closest friends was adopted from Seoul. He had never been there (since he could remember) so I was excited to fly over and tell him that I had seen Seoul. 45 minutes turned into 1.5 hours, making our total travel time 17.5 hours from LA to Hong Kong. Luckily I ws able to sleep several hours so by the time we reached Hong Kong I was doing pretty good in the jet-lag department.

The Hong Kong Airport is pretty “westernized” so our cutlural assimilation didn’t need to begin quite yet. Our next stop was Bangkok though. Cultural assimilation would need to happen quickly!

I will start at the beginning.

Saying goodbye to someone you love and stepping into the unknown is a unique experience. I have been dropped off at the airport several times by my wife, but never have I felt the way that I did on November 27th. I remember watching for her until I couldn’t anymore, wondering when the next time that I would see her would be….

I flew to Phoenix that day to connect with the rest of the team and to get orientated. Up until then, my focus was securing my Visa and getting everything packed. I had friends and friends of friends helping me with supplies that I didn’t even know that I would need. Thanks to them, I was more prepared for back-country, high-alpine life than anyone else. Other than flying to Pakistan and heading towards the ravaged areas of the north, I really didn’t have much of an idea of what it was that we would be doing while we were there.

I was expecting to end up in a room with 15 or so other guys so I was suprised when I walked into a room filled with 40 Americans ready to head overseas. The demographic was mostly caucasian and highly intergenerational.

Our orientation began with a, “Thanks for answering the call” type of a speech followed by a presentation by a gentleman that had gone over to Pakistan to walk the paths that many of us would walk so that we would know what to expect. It was helpful and not helpful at the same time. It was helpful because it prepared us for traveling and some of the cultural things we would encounter. It was not helpful because his most common phrase was, “…I don’t know.”

Our next job was to get into teams of four–this I mentioned in my previous post. My team ended up being Ben, a young guy named Justin, Jeff, and myself. Once in our teams of four, we had to determine who was going to play what role. Jeff, being older and more experienced than any of us took the overall leadership position. I was given the responsibility of being the voice of our team. That is, I would make all travel arrangements, food arrangements, and would be the liason between the Pakistani military, police, and locals. Justin would become the expert of shelter building and Ben would take all monetary and budgeting responsibilities.

The night ended with a picture and rides to a hotel where we would spend our last night in America for two weeks (and take our last hot shower). Ben and I decided to room together, had breakfast and went shopping for more food the next day and prepared to disembark. At this point, we weren’t sure if we were going to be fending for ourselves for food or not. I love backpacking food (freeze-dried) but I couldn’t find a place in our area to grab any. We decided to stock up in Clif Bars and packaged fruit which was heavy but I decided that I’d rather be safe than sorry.

We left for the Phoenix Airport and, once checked in, met a group of three guys from South Carolina. Rodney, Chris, and Corey are three fun-loving, rugby-playing, laid back bros that are my age. We connected instantly at the airport which put my heart at ease knowing that I had a couple more fellas that were like-minded and hearted. All three of them teach at a private school in Carolina (the same school!). Chris found out about the opportunity to go to Pakistan and talked to the principle (his dad) about it. He got the green light, talked to Rodney and Corey about it and before they knew it they all had subsititute teachers, the financial support to go, and were on their way to Phoenix.

It was amazing to hear how God had paved the way for 40 men to go to Pakistan. I remember looking around the room in Phoenix and thinking to myself, “None of these guys knew that they were heading to Pakistan three weeks ago.” That’s what happens when God calls and people obey.

We stepped on to our first of many airplanes (Phoenix to LA). The journey had offically begun.