In flight travel Commentary...

Well, here we are in Ft. Lauderdale FL, all 28 of us. Praise God! The hotel is wonderful, the weather is hot and sweaty, and we're tired. But extremely pumped to be heading into Haiti tomorrow! The weather forecast is for a temperature feeling like 44 Celsius with humidity. Pray for health, safety and spiritual preparation. The following are some travel notes from several members of our group:

Wow, my first flight was three times more enjoyable than I would have ever expected! We took off and entered into the most beautiful clouds. I’ve always loved to watch the clouds and to see them so close was quite the experience for me. We’ve experienced little turbulance thus far. Many people on our team watch the Discovery Channel. I prefer to read and talk. I can’t wait to see what landing is like._Colton (on flight from Win. - Tor.)

Now its not that bad. I mean - man a living - it was unforgettable, it was better than I thought it was going to be. The flight attendents are pretty shiney. to be honest i was really scared. I can’t stand roller coasters, but this!, It’s beautful.  But in the end it was all good. God took me in and I was fine. Now if you think back to the movie “Airplanes” they were scared. First their pilots died, then the blow up pilot deflated and then a pilot from the war landed the plane - you have to watch it. Its the most random movie that Jenna and I have watched. But all in all it was a pleasent experience!!! _Kari (on flight from Win. - Tor.)

Another taxi down the runway, another take off and another chance to amuse myself by watching the first time flyers. As I sat and read the daily news just before take off Kari remarked “how are you so calm” and I casually replied, “comes from experience.” On the flight so far there has been much excitement, mostly because this trip will mean many new experiences for a lot of the youth. As I watch this energetic bunch while I write I can only hope that thier energy and excitement will continue as we experience all the new and exciting advertures together._Scott (on flight from Win. - Tor.)

I KNEW something like this would happen. Okay, so I get stopped at security because of a pair of scissors in my back pack. I come back and Janelle is looking a little worried, so we book it down the moving sidewalks, and down to that portal thing into our plane. I sit down with Janelle, and Doug leans over and tells us that the check in officer person said we had 30 seconds before that plane was to take off. Wow. PRAISE THE LORD!!! I still can’t believe we made it. Other then that, I plan to get some sleep after 27 hours of awakeness. :) We’re about two hours from Ft. Lauderdale, and we’re going to debrief then have pizza. I’m so excited. :D ...Izzy (on flight from Tor. - FT. Laud.)

The first flight was really exciting. lifting off the ground, hanging out in the plane, and then landing! All awesome. But then in the airport in Toronto...some troubles. First waiting, and wasting time waiting for out luggage to arrive where we were suppose to pick it up, and then once we got our luggage, standing in line for quite a while, and then when we finally arrive at the customs booth, we, being German, had to fill out the green i94 forms.   Those forms are for visas to the United States, and the guy in the booth only had french versions, so he sent us to go to the Westjet booth out in the hallway to get those, and it was getting kind of late. So thankfully this one woman helped us, she went to get those forms and brought them to us, and handed me an extra pen to fill them out. When we finally finished that, we were allowed to go straight to the customs booth, and there we had to get the fingerprints, and our picture taken, and off we went. The woman that helped us before pushed us to go fast, and the rest of the group was already gone, so we raced to through the security check, and found Scott waiting for us, telling us that we have a minute to get on the plane otherwise it’ll leave without us, so we ran down the hallways, and then found Doug there waiting with the officials, and telling us to hurry. So we quickly show the boarding pass and the passports, and leave off on the plane, where Doug told us that in 30 seconds we would’ve been left at the airport. PRAISE GOD!! Now we can finally relax. ...Timo  (on flight from Tor. - FT. Laud.)