8/14 - Day 13 - Leaving Venezuela and Going Home

Oh, can’t believe it’s the last day and it’s the day for us to head back to the US

簡直不能相信已經是最後一天了, 我們要回美了

 

Last “night”, all of us slept at about 2am since we were busy packing and finished the one last evaluation for the whole missionary trip. If the previous blog didn’t say what we did “last night”, we gave comments to each one of us and telling what is good about our B&S and what they could be improved. That’s why the meeting ended pretty late. Pastor Wan and Cmo were really energetic and they were never tired of giving their all to God’s work.

昨晚我們約在凌晨二時睡覺, 我們忙著收拾之餘也因為我們要做最後的一個 “宣”後檢討. 如果之前的部落格沒有提到的話, 我們昨晚互相給了大家意見, 分享我們對各弟兄姊妹的優點和可以改進之處, 好像是我們第一次這樣給弟兄姊妹這樣的意見, 但對我們的幫助很大, 當我們知道自己的優缺點後, 我們更可以肯定神對自己的恩賜, 和更注意我們有什麼可以改進的地方. 溫牧師和師母也竭盡所能, 即使已到深夜, 但他們也盡力為短宣做到盡善盡美, 讓我們和日後的知宣隊得到最大的幫助

So we started the day by waking up at 6 am and getting ourselves ready by 7 am. Pastor Nip and Fernando (a brother at the Caracas Church) picked us up at 7:30am and we arrived at the airport 3 hours in advance. Usually in the US, we ignore the 3 hours requirement for international travel, but we found out in Venezuela we could not ignore that because it really took us 1.5 hours to reach the check-in counter (even there were not so many people) Couple things happened in the airport also amazed us apart from the 1.5 hours wait for the check-in 

Wait Wait Wait 1.5 Wait for Check In  等等等一點五小時的等候

1)      we have to pass through 3 X-ray check, and 2 of them were just 20 meters apart and we don’t know why after we got our bag X-rayed just seconds ago, we have to put in the X-ray belt again in 20 steps

2)      Our bags got searched thoroughly: our wallet got opened, and our bible got opened and flipped. The snacks in the paper bag got taken out one by one, we joked with the officer that we could sell him each snack one dollar each

3)      After the security check, we were close to the boarding time, but before we could get on the plane, there was another X-ray check. While we wonder how they could keep X-ray check our bags, different people give different answers:

a.       A brother suggested that it is a kind of strategy adopted by the airport, it is use to 疲勞轟炸 the real smugglers that they will finally surrender and admit they carried prohibited items

b.      A Venezuelan suggested that they want to have more X-ray check than the US to show they are superior to the US

c.       I like both of the explanations, how about you?

當日, 我們六時起床, 七時多委京教會的聶牧師和弟兄Fernando接載我們到機場. 我們提早三小時到機場, 通常在美國我們會漠視三小時前check-in的要求, 但原來在委內瑞拉, 我們不能忽視這要求, 即使人龍不是太長, 但我們真的等了一個多小時才能跟空中先生相見, 還有好幾樣在委內瑞拉發生的奇事趣事

1)      我們要經過三個X-ray帶, 其中兩個只有二十米的距離, 我們真的不知道為什麼當我們剛從X-ray帶上拿完行李後, 二十步以內, 又要再把我們的行李放在X-ray上

2)      他們仔細地搜索我們的袋: 我們的錢包給打開, 我們的聖經給翻開, 我們盛滿食物的紙袋給官員完全搜索, 我們以為他很想吃那些零食, 便說笑跟他說每個一元賣給他

3)      我們經過這林林總總的搜查, 已幾乎來不及上機, 但臨上機前他們還要我們過最後一叢的X-ray. 當我們不明為什麼我們要經過這麼多X-ray時, 不同人有不同的答案

a.       有一弟兄說這是委國機場的策略, 要疲勞轟炸真的有帶違禁品的人, 讓他們受不住壓力, 自首說他們真的有帶違禁品

b.      有一委人說因為委國的搜查要比美國更嚴謹, 如果美國有兩次X-ray check, 委國要有三個

c.       這兩個解釋我都很喜歡, 不知道你喜歡那一個?

We finally got on the plane and arrived at the Miami airport, our leader originally proposed visiting a beach in Miami which is 11 mi from the airport. Of course we were all happy about that. However, some other amazing things happened to us, let me put it in points so it is easier for you guys to read it

1)      We touched down at Miami 3 pm

2)      It took us “hour” to walk from the gate to the custom, a brother commented that the distance from the gate to the custom was 3 mi, and all of us agreed it is the longest distance we have walked from a gate to a custom historically (just kidding, but I believe it really took us 20 minutes to walk to the US custom) I start wondering if Miami has the biggest airport in the world

3)      Most of the announcements were broadcasted in Spanish, we almost want to go to the officers and ask them to be considerate about our situation (of not being able to understand Spanish) We felt like we were still in South America!

4)      As I have mentioned, we touched down at Miami at 3 pm, and takes 20 minutes to walk to the custom, 10 minutes to wait in line to get our “I-94” stamped L Guess how long does it take for us to get our baggage? We don’t know how long, but we took a picture when we got the baggage, which is at 5 pm. Wow, 2 hours from the time we touched down at Miami. Since the boarding time was about 6 something, so our plan to check out a beach in Miami got canceled. But thank God that everything goes smooth and we were able to enjoy Haagen-Dazs ice-cream at the departure level

5)      Once we were at the departure level, everything becomes different, at arrival, the Spanish words were as big as the English words, but at departure, the Spanish words become smaller and were probably vanishing. So we start being able to understand the announcement again :)

MIA  -> SFO

MIA -> SFO

最後我們終於上到飛機了, 也抵達了邁阿密的機場, 我們的領隊提議我們到邁阿密的沙灘一趟, 我們當然舉手贊成, 可是, 有更多的奇事趣事發生, 讓我分點說明那大家便容易看了

1)      我們在三時安全降落邁阿密機場

2)      由閘口到過關需要步行 “一小時”, 有弟兄說閘口到過關的距離大約三英里, 我們每個人都同意這是歷史上距離最長的閘口到關口的距離 (說個小小的笑話而已, 但我們真的用了二十分鐘的快走時間才到過關地, 也在懷疑邁阿密機場是否全球最大的機場)

3)      大部分的廣播也是用西文的, 我們就來要叫當地的職員顧及我們這些不會西文的人的感受, 我們覺得我們真的仍在南美 :)

4)      第一點已提及我們三點降落, 二十分鐘走到過關的地方, 十分鐘等他們蓋印在我們的I-94 :( 請猜猜我們什麼時候拿到我們的行李? 我們不知等了多久, 可以當我們拿到行李時, 已經是五時了, 我們到沙灘的希望幻滅了, 但感謝神, 我們開心的享受了我們的哈根達斯雪糕和別緻的壽司

5)      當我們在離境層時, 整個感覺更截然不同了, 西文的字變細了, 廣播已經沒有了西文了, 想不到只是一層之差, 我們猶如在兩個不同的世界了

兩小時後終於拿到行李了 Getting our baggage after 2 hours!

 

Finally we arrived at SFO, our HOME. We were treated with honor as we got 3 cars to pick us up: Beatrice taking Kevin and Enoch, Ronald taking Nicole and Priscilla, Wilson taking Nathanie and Elizabeth. Then we went to the ABC at San Meteo and took the picture below:

最後, 我們終於抵達三藩市, 我們的家, 我們受到了星級的待遇, 有三架房車接載我們, 有培瑩接載逸安與之諾, 建安接載詠姍與瀅茵, 國偉接載燕妮與質政, 跟著我們便到了在聖馬刁市的甲乙丙餐廳, 還拍了以下的照片

ABC at San Meteo 在聖馬刁的甲乙丙

 

Thank God that we have a wonderful and perfect trip. We learned a lot and we gave little but we achieved a lot because God worked with us. We were all very happy and fulfilled and we will be sharing with you more in the passage that we were mandated to write and the presentation that we have to sharing the coming Friday (8/27) So stay tune with us!

感謝神我們有著完滿的短宣. 學了很多, 付出不多卻因著神的作為而得著很多, 我們每人都很滿足, 很開心, 但我們的短宣不停在這裡, 我們還要寫我們的分享文章, 也要在這個星期五的團契分享我們的所感所得, 所以, 請繼續留意我們的消息

 

Prayer requests:

1)      See the sad face above? Nathanie lost her I-94, please pray for her so this will be settled

2)      We were so used to sharing gospel with people we don’t know in Venezuela, please pray that we will do the same in the US, like now we are in Fantasia, 2 sisters are planning to share gospel with the strangers around. Please pray that our passion of sharing gospel will keep going and will not die down

3)      We were very serious preparing the program in the church in Barquisimeto, please pray that our attitude will last and we will be as serious when we prepare program in AGCC

4)      Through this STM trip, we treat praying seriously, we prayed when someone got stick, we prayed when a seminary student had trouble entering Venezuela, in the morning we praised, shared and prayed for an hour, we prayed before we out reached, we prayed during we were outreaching, we prayed after we did the out reach, we prayed before the night program, we prayed during the night program, we prayed after the night program, we prayed when we sowed seed, we prayed when we did the harvesting, we prayed for those who received Christ, we prayed for those who were not ready receiving Christ, we prayed those who were weak in us, putting the following into practice:

¹⁶Be joyful always; ¹⁷pray continually; ¹⁸give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5)

代禱事項:

1)      看見了上面的傷心樣嗎? Nathanie遺失了I-94, 請為她代禱讓她的I-94能找回來

2)      我們在委國習慣了跟陌生人傳福音, 請為我們代禱, 讓我們的習慣能延續. 現在我們在夢咖啡, 希望神能為我們預備人讓我們能跟他/她分享福音

3)      我們在巴城很認真的為神的工安排, 希望我們認真的態度能延續, 讓我們在全恩堂也能全力以赴

4)      我們這個短宣後看重了祈禱, 有人生病了馬上祈禱, 有人進不了委國國境馬上祈禱, 早上有一小的早禱會, 出門探訪前禱告, 探訪時禱告, 探訪後禱告, 預備聚會前禱告, 聚會時禱告, 聚會後禱告, 傳福音播種時禱告, 傳福音收割時禱告, 為接受福音的人的成長禱告, 為還未接受福音的人禱告, 為我們當中軟弱的弟兄姊妹禱告, 實踐了聖經所說的:

「要常常喜樂，不住的禱告，凡事謝恩；因為這是神在基督耶穌裏向你們所定的旨意。」 〈 帖撒羅尼迦前書五：16-18 〉