Day 1 of this Mexico missions trip did NOT go as planned. 
We boarded our 7am flight and waited in our plane for two hours as they rerouted our trip around a storm, only to find out that the radio transmitter was not working. This meant our transmitter would need to be fixed, replaced, or everyone on the flight would need to change flights. After two hours, option number two was the solution (transmitter replacement) and we were on our way. Because of the delayed flight, we missed our connecting flight to Queretaro. When we landed in Dallas, Jay and Mary (our leaders) worked with the airline to get us booked on a new flight for Saturday. This meant we had to stay overnight in a hotel. Two ladies at the counter worked very hard to get us hotel vouchers and meal vouchers to cover our incurred expenses from the flight delay.
In the process of sorting out all the logistics, Jay could not find his passport. He looked in his bag multiple times and Mary looked, too, but they could not locate it. Not having a passport means not going to Mexico, so this was a big deal. As a team, we circled up and asked God to help us locate the passport. Before we even finished praying, Mary ran over to us and exclaimed, “We found it!” The team erupted into a cheer and we thanked God for His provision.
The next hurdle was our luggage. Because we were now having to stay overnight in Dallas, we needed access to our bags. Again, the ladies at the counter worked hard to track down our belongings and get them delivered to baggage claim rather than continuing the journey to Mexico without us. All the bags were located and delivered except for two: mine and Lisa’s. Lisa had two bags, so she had access to some clothes. But all of my clothing was in the lost bag, leaving me nothing to change into. We decided to tackle the issue further after we settled at the hotel.
Waiting in the Texas heat for our hotel shuttle to arrive.
After we settled into the hotel, Mary B. suggested we pray together about the missing luggage. So we circled up once again and asked God to intervene. I ordered a Lyft (similar to Uber) and Lisa, Sienna, Hannah and I headed to TJ Maxx and Target to purchase some clothes. An hour later I checked out and while we waited for Lisa, I checked my phone. The message from Mary read: “Luggage Found. Please confirm you received this message.” I told Lisa just in time for her to abort purchasing unnecessary items. Again, God answered our prayers and we praised Him.
After our shopping excursion, we returned to the hotel for a pizza dinner (courtesy our meal vouchers) and we discussed our highs and lows of the day. Despite the challenges of the day, most of us really had little to say in the way of “lows”. The whole team maintained a great attitude throughout the day- there was a lot of laughter and fun despite the issues we experienced.
Please continue to pray for our attitudes- that we would choose joy, especially when things do not go as planned. We were told many times before the trip to be flexible- now we are being tested. So thank you in advance for praying!
Doing Life Deliberately 