So, for the last few months and almost the whole year, we have been trying to return to the Philippines for our next mission. As many of you already know, we returned from Camiguin Island last November just before Thanksgiving. We visited family and friends in Texas, Louisiana, and Kansas. We were invited all over Kansas to share our experience while also concentrating on raising funds for this trip. After bake sales, talks, driving, talks, and more bake sales we raised enough to purchase one way tickets to get back "home". We failed twice in as many weeks to get on board as there were complications with these tickets. We transferred all of our energy to serving in Mexico in April until we could make the appropriate corrections. Fast forward to July/August...we returned to Big Woods after deciding that it would be best to fly before the baby comes. Yes, we are expecting Baby Alvarez in late November! We were at risk of losing all of the money our donors had generously raised for us to return if we didn't use it before February '13. At that time we would be travelling with about a two-month old and that's if we would have received his/her passport by then. Too many IF's so leaving in October made more sense. This time we were prepared. Going to the airport didn't seem real. Arriving at the airport didn't either. Getting our boarding passes was unbelievable!
Then, before we knew it, there we were in a Boeing 777 flying over the ocean. Our first stop was Moscow, Russia. I only bring this up because it had always been a dream of mine to be in Russia even if it was for only 1 hour...it still counts. A thought occurred to me as the little TV in front of me showed us headed over Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern countries- We are flying over some of the most dangerous parts of the world right now and looking around almost everyone was asleep. I immediately said a prayer for all of the violence going on below us and that this part of the world would know and serve Jesus, the King of Peace.
We reached our destination in Singapore for a 6-hr layover. Changi Airport is probably the best airport to have a huge layover like we did. There was so much to see and do while we waited. We met a young Vietnamese woman who "noticed" our big family. She was excited to meet Catholic missionaries and wished that we would visit Vietnam one day. Her husband is close to retiring and they plan to start a school for a rural area that is lacking basic educational needs. Maybe, we thought. With God anything is possible.
We continued looking around at the koi ponds, art stations for the kids, the Sunflower Garden, but the most memorable visit we had was at a Prayer Room. How awesome was that!
It was close enough to our regular Morning Prayer time anyways so we went in. Although many signs were visible stating it was a "Multi-Faith" room, we had to weave our way through a lot of Muslim men waiting outside. Inside, there were two rooms: one for men and another for women. Ummm, that's a problem because we like to pray as a family. So, we found a small corner at the entrance before the entrance to pray. It was an awesome experience watching men and women leaving their individual rooms and stumbling upon a family of 9 (remember the baby) praying psalms and especially singing the Canticle of Zechariah. Powerful moment.
"This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to set us free from the hands of our enemies, free to worship him without fear, holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life." -Luke 1: 73-75
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