Day 17 – June 6th - Friday

This morning was an early one, particularly considering last night's festivities. In comparison to past trips though, leaving the house by 6:30am with all our bags in the car and ourselves fed and ready to board a plane isn't too bad. We bid a sad farewell to Kevin and Debbie, who have been SO fantastic on this trip. We will miss them greatly!!! Still, the hardest part about this morning was saying goodbye to Ryan and Malachi, who are staying in Europe to visit friends or family for a few more weeks. Thus bereft (as one of our members mentioned, like the Fellowship of the Ring once Merry and Pippin were kidnapped), the nine of us continued on to our flight. After our trek across the Atlantic, we had to say goodbye to Mr. Wilson in the Newark airport (much like when Gandalf fell off the cliff to fight the Balrog), and we spent our three hour layover in mourning (and in discussing who on our team would be which LotR character - I was elected as Merry!) As I was too tired most of the day to keep track of how long individual flights took, I have no idea how long which part was; but I do know that it was 10am in France on Friday when our plane actually took off, and it was 4am on Saturday in France when we landed. In California time, we landed still on Friday, at 7pm. Longest day EVER. And yes, that means I flew nine hours into the past. MIB status right there. Fast forward, meeting team family members, tearful hugs, saying goodbye to some amazing people I may never see again, ride back to campus (where I am living this summer), dinner with stateside friend, BED. Glorious bed. And thankfulness. :)

Well, that concludes my missions blog for this year - and the last VISION blog I will ever make. :( It has been an amazing blessing to work with this team the past four years, and if any of y'all are going to San Diego Christian, I highly recommend auditioning! I will definitely miss the program, but I have a feeling God has something even more exciting up His sleeve... stay tuned in to my regular blog, atorchintherain.blogspot.com, within the next couple of weeks to find out more. Until then, let's go experience whatever adventure God has for us in the interim!
Allonsy!