"We will pay $1800 for your seat!"

The leg of our flight from L.A. to Sydney (about 15 hours) departed late Tuesday night;  90 minutes late.  At that point, we knew we would miss our connecting flight from Sydney into Vanuatu where we had actually planned a 3-hour time slot to claim luggage and go through customs.   It seems there were 285 passengers on the Boeing 787, and that was 14 too heavy.   After we were all boarded, AA asked for volunteers to give up their seats to the tune of $1800 per seat.   Fourteen people volunteered; we were thinking about our connection in Sydney!  The winds changed (what?) and that would aid in the short runway departure!  So, only two volunteers were needed.  Twelve came back and settled in.  We taxied down the short runway.  Just as we thought that perhaps we could make the connection, the captain announced that a passenger was ill and we had to return to the gate.  You can't blame an ill passenger, so we were towed back to the gate.  We realized that connecting was over for us.  We had to overnight in Sydney.  But caught the next flight to Vanuatu the following day.  A piece of our luggage decided not to follow us. 😒  It is Sunday afternoon now and no sign of the bag, which has the lesson plans/master copies for the college courses inside it.  Goodness! 🙏

 

How Do You Spell That Place?

Click on the Time
Zone Map  to see how many
hours will divide us. 

Fun Facts about Serving in Vanuatu:    

We are leaving shortly to begin our fifth Mission Corps/Global Missions assignment where we will serve in the Asia-Pacific Region on the South Pacific island of Vanuatu, which has a population of 264,652.  So, we will not be alone.  We have been invited to teach English courses at the South Pacific Nazarene Theological College and begin Conversational English Groups as an outreach for the church.