Yesterday was terrible. Not a great way to start a blog post, I know, but I don't know how else to describe the level of awful surrounding our travel snafus yesterday. I won't bore you with the details but suffice it to say that I was yelled at by a ticket agent in front of kids, cried like a baby, and we ended up with two large piles of bags in the waiting area that were not allowed to be checked until later in the day - you know, just in case we were bad guys. That was all before 10am. Later we had a flight group miss their flight and get re-routed through Houston where they almost missed their connection because of thunder storms. Terrible.
Yesterday was also awesome. The students did really well with all the upside down changes and we even had time to go to the French Quarter for a little bit. Everyone got home safe and sound. The planes were filled with laughter and conversation from students and leaders who had gotten close over the week. And that amount of awesome far outweighs the terribleness of flight snafus.
Now we are back and the team is spread far and wide. But one of my favorite things to do today, the day after, is to watch my Facebook newsfeed. I do this so that I can check out everybody's pictures, but I also do it because it is so great to see the connections being made. On the day after NOLA my newsfeed is filled with "So-and-So is now friends with So-and-So." Something really special happens on the mission trip - students go outside of their normal groups and comfort zones and gain new friendships. Students are willing to stretch themselves on their work sites and sweat through their clothes because they are working so hard. Its an amazing week and I love that when the team comes home they don't want to lose these new connections.
God is so good.
