Are We There Yet?

 We left the missionary training center about 1 pm on Sunday, right after our last supper of ham and cheesy potatoes. The guy who drove us to the airport had served in the Philippines and had all kinds of stories for us. Because we had tons of time, we got through security super quickly and found the other single, sister missionary heading to Manila. We had a short flight to San Francisco where we then got to wait 7 hours for our next flight. It was just after midnight when we boarded the plane with several thousand of our nearest and dearest friends, or at least so it seemed. They had changed our seats since we had printed our boarding pass so we were surprised to find our seats occupied. Luckily Jack checked the online boarding pass before we contacted the stewardess and we found our seats several rows forward. I originally sat between Jack and a former marine. Both had large shoulders that extended beyond their narrow seat. I felt very pinned down. The airlines fed us a meal and then turned off the cabin lights. I wanted to wait for dinner to settle before sleeping so watched the movie, Boys in the Boat. The movie was good but the book was better. I then slept for the next 10 hours with the requisit waking. They fed us a sandwich halfway through the night and let us sleep more. About two hours before we landed, they turned on the lights and fed us breakfast. By this time I had changed seats with Jack and was sitting next to a high school senior going ot visit his grandma in Manila. He was fun to talk to. Our luggage was some of the last to unload in Manila. It took us almost an hour to get out of the security area and to meet the person meeting us. Good things missionaries are distinctive. We signed the visa paperwork and handed over our passports. He then got us checked in and to the security gate for our next flight. Jack walked around while I sat on a bench. I got to talk with several people. The first was a 20 year old seaman going home for a visit. He told me about all kinds of food to try. I then talked with an older woman. We moved to our gate to wait. The time came for us to board, but there was no plane. Our flight disappeared from the board which worried me. Eventually, they moved our gate downstairs and loaded us onto buses. I joked with Jack that I hoped we weren't driving to Tacloban. The bus took us to our plane. It was really raining so they gave us umbrellas to walk up to the plane with. Of course, mine flipped inside out. Such talent. We sat on the runway for a bit but finally took off for the last hour. It was very bumpy. Luckily Jack and I slept through most of it. We couldn't see the ground as we were landing as there was so much rain. The picture is of us arriving in Tacloban. Such hairdo doesn't come easily. It takes 29 hours of travel and a jump of 17 hours into the future. We were met outside the baggage claim area by the Mission President, his wife and the other office couple. They took us out to eat. We toured the mission office which was about the size of our house's downstairs. We had an interview. It sounds like we will be getting drivers' licenses and travelling quite a bit. I will take over apartment inspections. We may get to support a branch on the small island north of us. We then got to our apartment. I will post more about it later but it is a cute 2 story place.