Aloha from the beautiful Valley Isle,

Well, I finally made it into Maui yesterday. What a trip! Let me tell you what happened….. (read it all to get the full story of God’s glory)

So, the night before I was supposed to fly to Maui, I decide to stay up instead of going to bed. I figured that I’d have plenty of time to sleep on the plane. Man, would I regret that one.
We left Glorieta at 4:30am so that Anson and Van Michael could get to the airport in Albuquerque by 6:30. That’s when it all started.

As I’m sure all of you know, the British police were able to catch some idiots tryin to blow up a plane going to New York. Well, I had not been so fortunate to hear about such and occurrence. So I had no clue that I couldn’t carry on anything that was a liquid. So, I got to security and had to throw away all of my toothpaste, cologne, hair spray, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, shaving cream, and even my guitar polish (I was checking my guitar at the gate). But you know, I just figured that it was a small price to pay to ensure my freedom and personal well being.

So I sat there and waited for my 8:40 flight to Phoenix and just played around on my guitar while I was waiting. I boarded my flight to Phoenix with no problems and arrive there in much the same way.

As I’m waiting for my 10:20 flight, I pull out my guitar again and start to jam. By this time, I’ve been playing all through the night as well as waiting on my flights, so I’ve played about 6 hours collectively all ready.

I get on the plane and fall fast asleep only to be awakened 4 hours later when we were landing. Wait a minute. It should’ve taken 6 hours to get to Maui, not 4. So I take a look out of the window and guess where I’m at… Phoenix!!! WHAT THE FAT?
Apparently, the hydraulic pump in the left wing had gone out over the Pacific Ocean and we had to turn back. We made a no flaps landing and the emergency crews were all waiting on the runway to “help us out” if need be. Isn’t that reassuring…. If we combust into flames, at least there’s a fire truck sitting there already. They tow us to the gate and we are told that they will be sending another flight out at 9pm or that we can stay at a hotel that they’ll put us up at and fly out the next morning.

I figure, “I’ll wait it out.” So what am I supposed to do now? Well, I pull out my guitar one more time. I play for about 3 1/2 hours during my wait, and so that puts me well over 10 hours for the day. MY FINGERS WERE KILLING ME!!!

I get on the plane again, only to find out that after sitting there for an hour and a half waiting for the pilot to show up, that the Auxiliary Power Unit fails after we have taxied down the runway. We have to turn back now and go back to the gate before even taking off. So they put us up in a hotel and I catch the next flight in the morning.

I TOLD YOU ALL OF THAT SO THAT I COULD TELL YOU THIS! Because we were delayed, Gary and I went with his daughter Courtney to the beach on Friday instead of Thursday. Well guess what… We ended up talking to a girl that was 21 years old and homeless about Jesus. And she ended up accepting Christ.

Isn’t it rockin how God would inconvenience an entire plane full of passengers just so that he could position His children in the places that He would want them to do ministry?

Because we were so late, Violette heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and her decision to make him Lord of her life forever changed her destination for eternity. Now, she is going to be able to get hooked up with the church, and it looks as if we are going to be able to help here get into some housing.

To God be the Glory, great things He has done.

-Jeff