September 27th to 28th: Travel Day

My plane seat over the Atlantic

Today I left Phoenix Arizona at about 9:30 am and headed off to Houston, Texas for my first leg of the flight.  It was about 2 and a half hours to Texas.  I arrived after sleeping most of the flight to make my final phone calls before heading out of the country.  It still has not really hit me that I am on my way back to Austria once again and am so blessed to have this opportunity.  Most people never see Europe in their lifetime and I have been blessed to have been there three times now.  God is so great and I continue to be amazed at what is in the future for me and where he will be leading me next.  I just give him my hands to use like my tattoo says.  After calling my parents and Megan I get in line to board our plane to London.  The plane is pretty comfortable with my isle seat and I get situated and soon settle in for the nine and a half hour flight into London Heathrow airport.  The flight goes by reasonably quick with a few movies, dinner and breakfast, some reading and lots of uncomfortable sleeping.  Once arriving in London I take a 20 minute transfer walk/ride to the next terminal where I will be departing in an hour for Vienna.  After settling down in a cafe with a cappuccino I check some emails and Facebook and send a few messages letting people know I arrived safely.  The airport in London is so large that I being walking around a bit to stretch my legs and checking the monitors for my next flight.  It leaves about 30 minutes late so I arrive after a quick flight in Vienna around 1pm on Friday.  Now I know I am back in Austria!  A representative from Haus Edelweiss picks me up along with one other who arrives from California around my time and we take the quick drive out to the Haus.  It is beautiful being back in Austria and we arrive at an amazing old Austrian lodge that has been converted to Haus Edelweiss.  I can’t wait to see this place and experience Austrian culture again.  First I go up to my room in the “Learning Center” as it is called and immediately pass out from jet lag until dinner.  We have a quick orientation meeting then sit down for our first meal together.  I notice I am one of the youngest people here but don’t worry too much about it.  God takes me places for a reason and like I learned in the past he does not comfort you to be comfortable.  After a great dinner and some good conversation we clean up and I head back to my room to hopefully recover from jet lag, get some rest and be ready by the next morning.  I unpack and put things away, lay in bed to read and fall asleep instantly.

“But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.” - Psalm 73:16-17