I can't do the math

Okay, it's Monday morning here in SA and we're scheduled to start our three flights just before noon today and arrive in ATL sometime tomorrow. Hope they updated the movies on the flight!

Knysna: Where your Bible doubles as a drum

Our second trip to Knysna this morning was neither by train or for site-seeing, rather, we drove up the coast for a Church service and a wedding. The one-room building was probably 40 X 20 and decorated from ceiling to floor with balloons, flowers, table settings for the wedding party and some old Christmas lights that started blinking and playing music during morning announcements. It never fails, does it? Pete was the only one tall enough (6'7) to reach the switch. Problem solved. There was some impromtu singing right out of the gate, something we've grown accustomed to over the last week and a half. Since this Church has no means of acquiring instruments for worship, the Bible doubles as the drum! People were signing and banging the "good book" against their hands, benches, and whatever else they could find. Mine was the cheapy, pleather kind, contibuting very little to the overall cadence of the room. I switched to clapping, which never works. Scott evenutally led a Bible study from John 12:1-50, teaching us about Jesus' encounters with the people God loves, encouraging a life of Christ-like reflection. It's really amazing how people from all over the world can quickly take something an American is says about Jesus and immediately "amen" it and assimilate it to their own community in which they live. It's almost like you can feel the room lean in and, not only agree but, want to put it into practice.

Part Two: The Wedding
In some ways, the wedding was very familiar and at-home. In other ways, it was from another planet. There were the usual vows and exchanges, there was even the "you may kiss the bride" part of it all. But the dancing! And the singing, too. Following the kiss and the introduction of the newly formed family, the audience broke into 20 minutes of singing and dancing, both in the Church building and outside in the yard. Oh, and I sang two songs before the ceremony. I was asked on the fly to do so and couldn't remember the words to "The Rose" quick enough so, they got a couple of worship songs instead. I was introduced as the American who plays guitar and has a really bad voice. The place laughed. I grew self-conscience. Quickly. Couldn't remember a D-Chord to save my life. Everyone lived and Joseph and Elsie are now married.

There's Something We Didn't Tell You
A couple of days ago, Scott, Lindy, Joy, Brittni, Terri, Pete and I went to this Bungy Jumping place about hour up the road. I wasn't interested on account of too many "caught on tape" specials I had seen. But Joy, Brittni, Scott and Terri threw some Rand on the counter, signed the wavers and we all walked down to the bridge for good-byes and such. Scott went first, paving the way for the others. Lindy, Pete and I sat on a ledge off to the side, holding our breath as Scott's body flew towards the earth. He came off the platform in perfect swan-dive form, looking like a pro X-Games participant. Joy went next, jumping off the platform without much fear, doing a perfect routine. Brittni screamed "NO!" as they guided her to the edge of the platform. It turns out that she went. It was awesome to watch. Terri was the last to go, rounding out the morning in style, screaming the whole way down. Totally worth the trip and everyone has mad-respect from me now.

In Closing
As the sun was setting, we drove to the beach to finally touch the waters of the Indian Ocean. It was a good ending to our trip. It brought to mind the passage from Ecclessiastes 1:7-8 that reads:

"The rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows again to the sea. Everything is so weary and tiresome! No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content." (NLT)

On the front end of an all-out search for meaning, the writer brings forward a true observation about us: We are never satisfied. As soon as we get what we want, we're already looking ahead for something else. Voids in our lives develop out of many reasons but, the ultimate issue is not feeling empty & being on the search; the issue lies in how we fill our hearts. Missions exists to take a permanent message into temporal and transient places. In our short stay here on the Cape our team has tasted the hearts of the people here and has taken part in the lives of the Laughrens, as they journey to take the message of Jesus to a lost and hurting culture. Thanks for all your reading and for your prayers - we have enjoyed our stay so much and our prayers will continue to be lifted up for this place.

"Sisters, fill this room with singing so that we may feel the blood of Jesus in our veins."
-George Sigo, Elder at Knysna Church of Christ (Sunday, July 2, 2006)


Scott does the swan dive.








Joy on the plank.








Brittni all-in.









Terri ready to go!









Derek & Lindy from the cheap seats.

Rail Line to Knysna

Kynsna (pronounced n-eyes-na) is a small fishing town about an hour's drive from George, which would normally be drab and not worth the visit. But on a old-school steam train, now that's another story! After morning devotions (go Brittni!), we drove two blocks to the George train station and boarded, what looked to be, something straight from the set of The Great Escape. Complete with a cafe car, toilets and full-on wooden seats, this ride was at least going to be a throw back in time. Our plan was to take a morning off and ride the line all the way to Knysna, look around for Pete, get in the van, and return quickly so that we wouldn't be late for the final night of VBS. The ride? Awesome. The total trip time was nearly 3 hours, half being along the coast. Our first view of the sea came after we cleared a tunnel and saw 20 or so surfers braving the freezing waters, which looked to be breaking right at 6 feet. (I don't really know what that means but, I've seen a few surfing videos and that's what I remember.) Ninety minutes into the ride we stopped at a little railside town called Sedgefield. There's was this small cafe 12 feet off the rail, selling coffee and breakfast foods. Yet another jewel we've stumbled upon here in SA. We finally did make it to Knysna, found Pete and returned home safely, ready for the bell lap of VBS.

Final Night: 364
Fran informed us that normal Fridays during VBS weeks are considerably lower in attendance. Not this one! We lost 35 kids from the night before and in a one-room Church, that's something we didn't even notice. Three-hundred and sixty-four children returned, ready for more snacks, more crafts, more singing, and more stories about God. Terri led both the singing and the lesson for the night, doing a great job at keeping everyone's attention. The singing was, of course, very loud and hard to control but, oh well, it's fun. After the children were bused home, we all sat around for about 20-30 minutes, talking with two local teenagers named Patrick and John. These two boys had been helping us all week and were quite sad to see us go. To wrap up the night, Patrick spoke a sentence in Xhosa that had every click, snap, pop, and any other sound that Xhosa has - it didn't even sound real! When you're in the groove, doing your thing on these trips, it's hard to stop and take notice of what's going on around you; you're just too busy making sure sure that 400 kids get enough glue on their "God Keeps His Promises" craft and keeping an all-out riot at bay. But after the final night, we did have some time to breath and debrief. Scott asked each of us to share what made the biggest impression on us this week. Here are the responses:

Terri - hearing the Lord's prayer in Xhosa
Melanie (from Berea) - the singing with the kids
Stefanie - the singing and the picking up of kids in the vans
Lindy - getting to know returning kids throughout the week
Scott - driving the kids home each night and getting to know them throughout the week
Brittni - the hugs from the kids
Derek (me) - talking with the youth pastor of the area and learning his struggles
Eric - getting to know the kids
Carol (Berea) - that this acutally works (VBS)
Joy - just being with the kids
Pete - the unexpected help from locals during the week
Fran - the car loads of kids that came and how each night seemed liked the first

The greatest lesson: Learning how to serve (like this) back home, in the states. The more mission trips I take, the more I learn to transfer habits formed here to life back home. It's hard. We have a great deal of easiness in ministry at home, regarding the tools we have at our desposal and the means to use them effectively. I don't have to worry about whether or not the Church floor is going give way and cave in. (That was a real concern this week, actually.) I don't have to think too much about electricity going out simply because I forgot to buy more. In these ways, it's easier at home. But what I (and all of us) must learn to do is return with the same spirit of serving and helping that we are "forced" to do here. Romans 12:1 says, "Therefore, I urge you, my brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, for this is your spiritual act of worship." That's the lesson we're constantly revising in our own lives and in our group. It's tough. But it's the right way to journey.
Once again, sorry
I lost track of time yesterday and was not able to update for you and for that, I'm sorry, once again. We're headed back to Knysna tomorrow morning for Church and a traditional African wedding. Look for the pictures of that one!!!


Just a picture of my cup of tea...random.

Happy Birthday, Denzil!

Today was a good day. It started with a little birthday celebration breakfast at this hip place called Mugg & Bean – the coffee was good and bottomless. Denzil (Pete and Fran’s son) turned 12 today and although we weren’t able to get him anything more than a card with a few rand as an insert, it’s been fun filling in as an ad-hock spend-the-night-party for our new friend. Since 8:00 am this morning we’ve been singing Happy Birthday to him every hour, on the hour, until 8:00 pm tonight! Funny stuff.

The Sun Also Rises
Thank you for yours prayers and encouraging notes on the blog – our time at the Thembalethu VBS was like daybreak! Per last night’s debriefing meeting, we made some minor adjusts that yielded major results. We left tonight’s gathering more energetic and confident of our efforts. All of the children, save a few rowdy ones, were very compliant and interested in what was going on. Stefanie taught on Jesus being the only void-filler for our hearts…enough said.

Let us not give up in doing good…
Terri led us on a journey through Galatians 6:9 for morning devotions, encouraging the entire team to put faith in God that he will bring fruit from our labors. This is a very tough thing to do, being the instant-result people that we all are. Sometimes you can leave a township VBS, a small group, a Bible study or a conversation over coffee and wonder if anything mattered. Paul reminds us in this passage that God will work things together, whether we’re around to see it or not. Good stuff.

Pictures
There wasn’t really any time to take pictures today…sorry. VBS jumped another 80 tonight, topping out at 400 hundred! One more day to go!!!

South African Lingo:
Full Stop – phrase meaning the end of it; final say.

This will be short (wink, wink)

We’re learning how hard this is. We’re getting the vibe that ministry in the townships is less than predictable and anything but gated. There’s a since in which you feel ineffective and it makes me think about how the day to day trudge taken by the Laughren family must, at times, take it’s toll. Tonight was a rough go. It was simply laborious just to settle the room, much less guide them through any sort of project or lesson. True to form, more kids showed up tonight than did last night. To be exact, 321 children framed out the room, with more coming tomorrow night, no doubt. But the room was vigorous and almost forceful in nature. Kids were booting craft items left and right, taking more than they needed, leaving many children with nothing. And it’s hard to blame them – they don’t have anything to begin with. Running a lesson through two different translators is a very tricky thing; the rhythm of communication is lost and you have to reboot every time you start to speak. And tonight was tough because the translators spent much of their stage time trying the chill the room and quiet down the kids. As I glance back, I know that my words are insufficient in helping to paint the picture for you (it might be because it’s terribly late here) but, in our debriefing earlier this evening, it was apparent, even from missionaries Pete and Fran that tonight was tough. It’s like, I know I’ve had those conversations about significance in ministry many times over, however, it was weird and somewhat comforting to hear Fran wonder aloud if things were working. There’s resonation in that conversation for me, and the others here, because we’re all involved. But those feelings only come from a caring heart and a burdened soul. There’s no discontent in a jaded life, but those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they are haunted by the idea of people not being helped or the thought of injustice never crossing paths with Jesus and his saving message.

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it written, ‘how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.’” –Romans 10:14-15

Team Update
Despite the night’s difficulties, the team worked very hard. Joy and Brittni did an amazing job at telling the story of Jonah (and the big fish) to the children. Terri was super-good and leading the kids in singing tonight. Scott and Lindy are now involved in the bus runs with the children. (Scott’s doing pretty well at driving on the “wrong” side of the road!) Eric is taking some amazing pictures of the children, our team and the scenery. Stefanie is running crafts like a pro. And I, of course, am teaching teenage boys how to play my guitar! But all of us are busy with the ministry here and also very tired. Thanks for your prayers and your comments – we’re reading them over and over. We miss you all.

PS – Tomorrow is Denzil’s 12th birthday! He’s the son of Pete and Fran. If you get an extra second, send him a birthday comment on the blog.

So there's a button...

With Pete at the airport picking up more help from Hampton, GA (small world), we were left with the remaining van and 300 hundred kids bus home. The sun was setting and the rain was starting. After the nightly load-out of equipment into the van, we all piled in and…nothing. Scott turned the key and nothing happened. He turned the key again. Nothing. Again. Nothing. “Let’s get out and push!” (The van is a stick-shift, by the way) So we all leaned into the van and started to push. Nothing draws a crowd in a South African township like 6 white people shoving a van down the street – help soon arrived from out of nowhere. With the locals on our side, we all pushed the van while Scott kept trying the jump the engine. It never happened. So Fran called Pete and we waited on the side of the road for rescue to come. I played a little impromptu soccer with some children on the sidewalk and was schooled, once again, by some 7-year old. Pete showed up some 15 minutes later, climbed into the van, pushed a button, and the van started up, like new. “So there’s a button?” Oh well. There’s a phrase we learned in Panama a couple of years ago that goes, “Flexibility is your friend; rigidity is your enemy.” Double true!

From 110 to 283
Our opening night of VBS become a memory as the second night trumped its attendance by more than double, leaving us to adjust immediately to more kids, more noise, more crowd control problems and less room. We were getting close to the seams in the one-room Church building as more and more kids came in during the worship. The scary thought is that more will come throughout the week. However, Lindy did an awesome job with the story of The Good Samaritan, creatively teaching from the aisle, walking up and down the room, holding the attention of the kids like a pro. We all weighed in and helped by acting out the story alongside her teaching; this helped visualize the story for the kids. The Good Samaritan is one that resonates with everyone – all around us people are needed help and more often than not, we “pass by on the other side,” leaving family members, friends, and strangers to survive on their own. It’s one of those things that reminds of what Rob Bell said in Velvet Elvis, “I believe the Bible because it happens.”

Like I said earlier, night two of VBS was more than double from the night before. The kids are as full of energy as any in the states, and very eager to hear about this Jesus and his love for all people. Save a few disruptions from the older kids in the back of the room, our gatherings are awesome to behold. The singing is unreal, especially when the song calls for dancing. The building shakes as the 300 children jump in unison, similar to fans at a soccer match cheering on their team, all with one voice and rhythm. Terri is now in charge of worship – I think Fran got wind that Terri leads the preschool worship back in the states and the rest will unfold this week.

In Closing
Mission trip Vacation Bible Schools are tiring. Following Jesus is tiring. Our devotion this morning (Lindy G.) was from Luke 10 when Jesus quoted the Shema in answer to the question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” The Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) is the call to give your whole self to God; not a piece here and there but, the whole being. It’s easier to hold it together for an hour on Sunday than it is to live a life of worship. Seeing all parts of life as a service to God is rough sledding, straight away. Our vocations, conversations, free time, etc. they all count, or, we must make them count. To love God with our heart, soul, mind and strength is a life-long journey to turn our whole lives into worship. So that’s our prayer. That’s our goal. That’s our stumbling block.

I ended the day with buying a local paper, all excited about reading the articles and such. Here’s the first line of the front-page story:

“Mnr. Riaan Loots (24) se lewensonderhoudende masjiene is Sondagmiddag afgeskakel nadat ‘n speller van Delicious hom Vrydagaand met ‘n stywe arm op die strot geslaan en daarna teen die kop geskop het.”

Your guess is as good as mine.

Good Morning

We had a pretty bad windstorm last night that knocked out all of our technology, leading to the delay in updates. Sorry about that. That being said, please check back in the mornings from this point forward; our days are just too busy to pause and spend a couple of hours on bloggin. The internet is very, very slow here and it takes a lot of extra time to simply load pictures and script. Thanks for your patience.

Fana noYesu

My flannel board flew away. Terri worked all morning piecing together the best reenactment of the Zacchaeus story anyone had every seen on a flannel board but, it was all for not. Right out of the gate, I was talking about Jesus being in Jericho and how the whole town came out to see him, including Zacchaeus, and it was right about that time a wind blew through the Church building, taking out Jericho quicker than Joshua, leaving me, the nervous teacher, to look at the children and say, “Hang on, I have to pick up Jesus.” (Zacchaeus, somehow, stayed on-board, though)

To Be Like Jesus (Xhosa: fana uYesu)
The township of Thembalethu is the spot for our vacation Bible school this week. It’s much like Conville, the streets are lined with one-room houses and hundreds of people just walking somewhere. It reminds me of the Apache reservations out west, without the graffiti. Our theme for the week is Be Like Jesus, or, in Xhosa (The language of this township), fana uYeshu. We arrived at the church building around 2:30 pm to set up and ready the room for, by the end of the week, will be some 500-600 children. Feverishly hanging some homemade decorations and trying to find an outlet that worked took up most of our first hour there. News travels fast in Thembalethu and soon kids were hanging out in the field by the church. With 30 minutes or so until VBS start time, I tried my feet (and lungs) at some South African soccer with some of the children. Pointing to a middle school aged boy, I turned to Eric and said, “That kid is really good.” The kid’s friend turned to me and said, “No, he’s excellent.”

Most assuredly, the building filled up, as we sang song after song with the children. They love to sing. And they sing very well. They would sing in English, Afrikaans and Xhosa, all in the same song. It’s really good on the ears. Once again, Joy and I played guitars and taught the children the song All We Need, as we did in Conville at the Church. They, too, loved it. We’re going to try and teach a new song every night at VBS. After the Zacchaeus story, the children spread out around the room and we all dove in on the crafts we had prepared. Each of us grabbed a handful of craft items, found a spot on the floor, and waited for the children to come gather around us. Surprisingly, it was very fluid, with no real hiccups. As always, the children pile into your laps, on your back, around your neck and anywhere else they can find. Brittni had a little girl hanging onto her neck for the most of the evening.

These are the moments you remember, though. They’re really the reasons why you come.
We are having such a great time here, with Pete and Fran (and Denzil), as they guide us through their daily lives – the mission work and all. They have been in this town for 10 years now and their influence is obvious. They seem to know everyone that works in the local restaurants, the exchange offices, the banks, etc. They definitely are not missionaries waiting for the people to come to them.

Spiritual Update
Our devotion this morning was from Esther 4. The back story on this passage is that Esther had been made queen of Persia through an impulsive beauty pageant sponsored by the king and his staff. Esther was one of the many Jews that did not return to Jerusalem in the late 6th century B.C. and was left to live her life in a different culture under different ideals. Her adopted father, Mordecai, gets wind of the king’s plan to exterminate the Jews and sends message to Esther, encouraging her to stop it. Esther nervously denies the challenge, to which Mordecai sends these words back:

“Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” -Esther 4:13-14

Mordecai was saying, “Listen, you’re not the only hope but, don’t you want to be? And who knows, maybe God has placed you here to do this very thing.” Our take-home: Don’t overlook daily opportunities to share God’s story with someone.

Continue to be in prayer for all of us. We appreciate all your comments on the blog – we’re reading them! So, keep ‘em coming!!! We all send greetings back home.

The Day Before VBS

Did I mention that it's winter here? Well, it is. In fact, we carried blankets to Church this morning! And we used them, too. Of course, I forgot to pack "dress" shoes which led to a suit and flip-flops. Go figure.


Church at Conville: Singing in English & Afrikaans
Our day started in the township of Conville, a place of streets lined with one-room houses and wandering residents. It's a town of "colored" people. See, there are three races here in SA: (1) white, (2) black, & (3) colored. The first two are obvious. The third is a mix of the first two, leading to all kinds of social acceptance problems; they're like a population group that can't find it's way, sort of left out to dry. The Church we attended this morning (Conville Church) is a colored Church. The preacher's name is Calvert and he's very short. We had this contest after the Church service to see if Eric Hoover may have found someone shorter than him. Calvert lost. Eric was super-excited! There was much rejoicing. (Sorry, had to)

The service, although totally unplugged, was simply electric. We sang so many songs in Afrikaans that we almost learned the language. Conville meets in a school building, having to move desks to make room for Church members and guests. The children are quite behaived and spend most of their time singing, dancing and starring at the white visitors. (We may have been the best childcare in a long time) At the very last, Joy and I were asked to sing a couple of songs using our guitars. So we tuned up and sang Here I Am To Worship & All We Need. All We Need is a new Charlie Hall song, with almost no exposure in Conville, I'm sure. So I taught them chorus and they outsang us! (We're going to try and upload the video soon) The most memorable part of the day was when they introduced Scott as the guest preacher for the day and the congregation stood up and sang, followed by a dance around the communion table (Oh, no!), which we later learned was a way of welcoming the preacher. It went over five minutes and it never grew tired. The service ended with a hug and a song from every member. Very unique. Will never forget it. Will always miss it.

On Deck: VBS
Tomorrow begins Vacation Bible School in the African township of Thembalethu, just outside the city of George. This endeavor will, no doubt, involve nearly 600 children from the surrounding area. Our whole day has been framed in preparing crafts and lessons for the children. The VBS will take place in a one-room Church, housing the whole gig, including craft time. Tonight we watched a video from a past VBS in the same town and got a good read on the situation. In one part of the video we counted 57 children empty a Volkswagon van. Fifty-seven. Five seven. Way over the recommended capacity. We're very excited about the coming days with these children and your prayers for us are greatly appreciated.

Team Update
All is well! Everyone is working hard and getting to know each other better and better with each passing day. We're all still a little tired but ready to get to work this week.

UPDATE NEWS: I will try my hardest to update this journal every day at 3:00 pm your time. So check back before you leave work! Thanks again for your prayers.

No Sleeping In The Aisles

Trip to the airport: easy. Ticketing: right on. Customs: breezy. Movie screens on the back of the seats: nifty. The announcement from the flight attendant that there will be no sleeping on the floors in the aisles: perplexing. This only means someone has done it. It's one of those rules that makes the list after the fact; like everything was fine and normal and then some flight crew member made their way into the cockpit and said, "Um, excuse me, Captain. There is someone sleeping on the floor." "Really," the Captain says. "Where?" "In coach, of course." "Yes, right. Well, make a note of it and drop it into the announcements on the trip back."

Sorry for the delay
First of all, sorry for the lapse in communication; it really took us nearly a day & a half to get here and unpack. But here we are and it's awesome. Flying into the George (our third flight) looked like the opening scenes from The Sound of Music - mountains that touched the sky, based with huge green fields, connected to small streets and farms. The airport rivals Savannah's, with one terminal and a baggage claim. We hooked up with this German boy making his way to George. I took 4 years of German and thought "I hang with this kid, no sweat." His English was about as good as my German so, we just sort of looked at each other while I said ridiculous things like, "I have a friend in Munich." He asked me what my French name was, which seamlessly ended our conversation. Pete, Fran & Denzil met us at baggage claim and we loaded up in a couple of vans and made our way to their house, a few miles away. It's very Euro here, which, to an American, means, it's all backwards! The steering wheel was on the "wrong" side. I was riding shotgun. I flinched the whole the way there. (So that's what it felt like for my parents as I learned to drive?) Once arriving at the house, we settled down for a dinner out at a place called Nando's. We hear it's Mark & Annette Tuttle's favorite spot. It was very choice! The table was covered with baked chicken, French fries and ginormous rolls. (That's not a real word for all the scorekeepers out there.) After dinner, we met as a team for 30 minutes or so and then all went to bed by 7:00 pm, sleeping well past sunrise.

Saturday: Team Glue Gun
We had an official sit-down orientation this morning, learning about our tasks and duties for the week. Pete shared some interesting things about South Africa and its culture, not the least of which was how 11 different tribes inhabit the country, with as many languages, to boot. Our job this week is to help run a vacation Bible school in a township just outside the city of George. We're planning for nearly 500 kids with two interpreters. Most of today (Saturday) is being spent setting up and preparing all the crafts for the week and various others items for the VBS. I'm actually operating a glue gun! My wife would be so proud.

So be in prayer for our time here. Be in prayer that we are able to help Pete & Fran in their endeavors with the African peoples. Be in prayer for our team, as we all are getting to know one another, some for the first time. I will post pictures very soon; our trip thus far has been all travel.

A 17-Hour Flight Looms

Africa is a long way away. It's like tomorrow away. (I heard there are two flight crews on one plane...) If we had those signs in the skies, like in The Jetsons, it could read "Welcome to Savannah! Next Town: Cape Town, South Africa." Seventeen hours in the sky is a long ride. We're all praying for good movies! Anyway, despite any fears and uneasiness about the long, 17-hour flight across the ocean, our team of 8 is quite ready for what God has laid before us. After leaving Monday night's meeting, there's a real sense of purpose and mission within the hearts of our team, as well as in the hearts of those family members staying behind. Months ago we all decided to lean into this project and raise the funds to spend nearly 2 weeks partnering with missionaries Pete & Fran Laughren as they work to push the story of God forward in a different culture, serving the peoples of George, South Africa. So, we're ready. And in less than 12 hours, we'll be in the skies, crossing the world, to carry the hope of God to His people.

There's traffic in the sky...
-Jack Johnson, On and On