April 21-22, 2011
We got away from Augusta on time with not too much incident. Bill Trotter arrived at the airport without his passport and had to return to Evans and back in about half an hour. He made it back and they held the plane. We still got away without delay. Upon arriving in Atlanta we met up with Drs. Pruett and Hamilton. We had supper (or so I thought) at Chick-Fil-A. The six of us that were together then went to the Sky Club lounge to wait for our flight. For the 9 hour flight from Atlanta to Santiago, Chile I was in the Business class. What a way to fly! The flight attendants totally take care of you and the seats are fantastic. See the leg room in the picture! We were given menus for supper and treated to a three course dinner and dessert! Now, I have seen how the other half lives!
We arrived in Santiago and waited in line to pay our reciprocity fee, then waited in line to go through immigration to collect our passport stamps, then went to baggage claim to get our bags before going through customs. I was the lucky one that got stopped on the way through. The dental equipment wasn’t the problem. It was all the glasses that had been packed in my bag. After using my very limited Spanish with three even more limited English speakers I and my bags were released. The rest of the team had gone on up to the third floor. Once I figured that out I headed up as well. Jerry Bowling was standing with them and introductions had already been made. I quickly removed the proclaimers and the C PAP machine to give to him before re-checking my bag on the LAN Chile flight. At first, there was question as to the weight of my bag, which I am still unsure if it was overweight after removing the above items. Once she realized I had only gotten to Chile this morning by plane it was no problem to send the bags through as a continuation. I, however, still had to wait at the desk although I wasn’t sure why. It turns out she was not able to tell me the gate we would be going to 4 or so hours later because it was too early. That was all. No issues beyond that.
After rechecking our bags we all headed over to Dunkin’ Donuts for a snack which allowed Jerry and I some time to chat about future partnerships in Chile. I was able to snap pictures with him and the C PAP machine and the Proclaimer. Jerry is planning to come to Los Muermos on Tuesday or Wednesday to talk with David and Boris about what the future holds once the Hughes leave in July.
Now, we are waiting to board the LAN flight in about half an hour to make our way down to Puerto Montt and PV. I think we all would really like a shower and a nap. Hopefully, I will find some time to work on a devotional message for Sunday. The butterfly idea, resurrection, and new creation seems to be a great theme.
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