Ain't nothing like the South!

DAY ONE: Friday morning April 25 we boarded our flight along with Ptr. Primo Tabanda, his wife and grandson; and Ptr. Tom Raguirag and his wife. They are all such fun people to be around so right away we knew that we would be in for a good time. By the time we made it onto the airplane there were many times we had heard Karissa say "I have never seen that before"...that was a trend that was set for the entire trip which would bring much laughter. I must also add here that there were many things that even the 30-year veteren missionary had never experienced so in a way that brought some comfort.

Our flight was a relaxing 1 hour and 15 mins. The highlight of the flight was a toss up between walking the tarmac in the rain with a "complimentary" umbrella or the "in-air games" that the crew led. I think we were so busy laughing at that idea that we couldn't even hear what was happening with the game much. Hospitality at it's finest {I guess}.

After Karissa picked up her confiscated weapons, we were taken to grab a little lunch and then we were off to visit the MacArthur Memorial while we were still in Leyte. The memorial is placed at the exact spot where General Douglas MacArthur returned to the Philippines in 1944. It was quite overcast and the heavens opened up to pour down on us as we were leaving, but it was a wonderful site to see and we were all very excited to have the opportunity.

Day one ended with travel by car from the island of Leyte to the island of Samar. The four hour drive delivered us to Ptr. Raguirag's house for dinner and then off to the hotel for the remainder of the night. As with any roadtrip we would come away with laughter that cannot be explained to anyone absent and memories to last a life time.

Award for the best one-liner of the day: ".....For a bear!"

~~Coming in at 2nd place: "The more you hate, the more you love"

Bear with me, there is much to share. I will be posting the events of the trip according to days so hopefully day 2 will be processed this evening. Until then....