The Month of August

The month of August was a hectic but beautiful one. Getting to surprise my family in Ohio, entering a relationship, being there for my Daddy’s surgery, and returning back to Bangkok happened all too fast.

There was a huge COVID outbreak at my school before I left, and I ended up getting sick. I took a week off to quarantine before I left and the Lord knew I needed it because getting to America was not stress free.

I did it to myself for I kept praying that God would get me to America and everything would be fine. Not true. I got to America and everything went wrong. It was definitely different seeing airports so full for when I flew over in 2021 they were like ghost towns.

I landed in Newark, New Jersey on Friday afternoon for them to tell me my flight canceled “due to weather” (honestly pilot shortage) and I couldn’t get a flight until Monday night at 9:30pm. I had a complete meltdown in front of 200 people, booked the flight for Monday night, and walked away bawling. (Not to mention all my flights over I sat in the middle – which means no sleep.)

I found a place to charge my phone and sat down on the cold hard floor. A few hours later I walked around with all my suitcases and found a cot to make a place to camp out for the night. I didn’t have any American money and had already gone for 12 hours without food or water. Thankfully a homeless man (who was arrested then showed back up later) and two ladies each gave me $5 for food. I bought food for myself and donuts to share.

Really looking like a hobo now, I went to the customer service to receive my voucher. A flight became available for the next day if I flew to Washington Dulles then to Columbus. I took it and cried happy tears sitting on the plane to Columbus knowing I would make it home. We landed in lightning so thankfully we were just in time. God really prepared the way for me!

Even though it’s not what we planned, Sis. April picked me up from the airport Sunday afternoon and dropped me off at a hotel to actually get some sleep. I was so excited we were able to pull it off to surprise my parents on Monday at El Campesinos!! A couple reasons nobody knew I was coming was the very thing that happened to me – flights canceling like crazy plus COVID-19. Everything was so up in the air I didn’t want to disappoint anyone.

My main reason for coming home was to see my Daddy and be with him for his heart surgery. I wasn’t allowed off work unless there was a family emergency so I took it as my opportunity to come home. I’m so thankful I was able to be there with him.

I was also excited that my boyfriend, Tyler, was able to fly up and see me for a week. Long distance is hard but I thank the Lord for someone who encourages me to do the work the Lord started in me here and is willing to wait for me to finish.

I know that the two weeks I was home went by so fast! I do apologize to all my friends and family I didn’t get to see while I was home but I’ll be honest it wasn’t a restful trip. I was always on the go go go.

I’m thankful for getting to pick up my illustrations from Mr. Jay Johnston for my Children’s series! They are absolutely amazing and I can’t be more excited for this project in the making!! I’m also thankful for the opportunity to speak at my home church, Word of Life, sharing what I’m doing in Thailand with Least of These Ministries. Thank you for always supporting me!

Coming home…it’s always something. My flight to Bangkok from Japan flight was overbooked and they announced people to be moved to a different flight. I missed the flight they rebooked me on because they never called my name for the switch. So I had to beg for another ticket which technically was their fault. One thing that happened though is my AirPods fell out of my pocket! The plane was about to take off and I RAN up front asking if I can go check if they were on the seat. Once you are on the plane they never let you off! They let me off the plane to check and sure enough they were on the floor. All glory to God because I wouldn’t have been able to get another pair. So thankful for the flight attendants being so understanding.

I arrived safely back to Bangkok at 2:00am to teach the next day. To say I was dead was an understatement but hearing my kids screaming in excitement, jumping up and down, and getting tackled by them was worth it for me. I missed them so much.