01/21/2012 3:38pm About to Land

Well, according to the flight info, I’ve got about 21 minutes before I land.

Since  the last update, things have been uneventful… And that’s a good thing. I was a bit worried about everything falling apart like it did prior to the last trip, but I was praying against anything that may happen… And I’m sure several others were, too. And thankfully, nothing happened. I was really concerned there’d be some heavy spiritual warfare going on, and at one point, it looked like there might have been some, but it was quickly overcome.

I quit my day job. It was about as dead-end that you could possibly get. I had worked there for five years, with no raise. That job was about as hopeless as it comes… The only reason I stuck around so long was that they didn’t care that I worked when I felt like it. This let me juggle gigs and Craigslist sales and work my hours around them. I was hoping my guitar repair business would take off, and I’d slowly just work that day job less and less, but that never really happened. And for good reason, I think… God has plans for me. Still don’t really know what that will involve concerning a job, but will find out soon enough.

So… All I had to worry about this week was saying goodbye to everyone. Unlike last time, I wasn’t planning on having any sort of going-away party or anything… But, a lot of people wanted to have a send-off for me. Sunday, right after offering, Pastor Q called me up to the front to have the whole church pray for me. Then Monday at BFF, after filming a ridiculous commercial for a missions’ fundraiser, we had a bit of prayer time for me. Then Wednesday, praise team had a send-off for me… Su prepared some tasty food, including some spicy wings in an awesome, Thai-chili sauce, and really, really delicious tenderloin pork. After stuffing ourselves and a brief, brief practice, we had another prayer session. I actually had to cancel out on Pastor Mimi/Pastor Q because they wanted me to come out to Wednesday prayer meeting so that everyone there could pray for me there, but it would have been at the same time. And then Tommy and Albert wanted to have a going away dinner thingy with some beers and American food. A good number of people came out to that.

Wing-Wah, America's Best Wings, various expensive sodas... Good times, good times...

Yummmm... I have the best friends. :)

Through all that, I really feel like I have been unfairly blessed… I am so surrounded by people who love me. And though I don’t really know all that many people in Korea, I am going to be surrounded by people who love me there, too. God has given me so many people… It’s such a change from before. But, I feel like I’ve been given way more than I should have. All I really wanted before was just a couple really good close friends and a loving girlfriend, but now I have a lot of really close friends, a small group, praise team and now an actual family, and of course, a very loving girlfriend. God is just so good… I was being sent best wishes from a lot of people, getting calls and stuff all the way up to my flight. It’s really amazing, especially to me.

So, yeah. Nothing bad happened, but some really cool things happened. When I quit my job, turns out HR messed up or something and I had a 401K. Of course, I didn’t make much at that job, but I have a little pocket of money in that thing, which I’ll have to pull out soon (the timing’s weird b/c I’ll be in Korea when I have to pull it out), but that will definitely help me get by when I get back. Also, I had mailed a lot of important papers to the courthouse to get my name changed, and for some reason, they held them all this time. That included my birth certificate, certificate of naturalization, certificate of adoption- ya know, important stuff. I gave them a call, wondering why they hadn’t mailed them back, and they said that I had to write an appeal to the judge to get a release on them. Well, I wrote the judge that same day, and on Thursday, I got a letter from the courthouse with all my papers in it! Sweet! So, I’ll be bringing those with me and will try to get dual-citizenship while I’m over there.

As far as the flight went, I had two big check bags, which I sorta packed a bit unevenly. The one was quite a bit over the weight limit, and the other one was under. While checking in, the lady was asking if I could move some stuff around, but I had packed so tightly that I didn’t want to bother, so I just told her that I’d just pay the fee. However, she was pretty persistent, and ended up asking her manager is she could waive the fee… And sure enough, her manager let her! That’s like, a free $75 right there. And on the flight, I had a seat alllll the way in the back, in the aisle. It was in the center section, but there was nobody next to me, so I had plenty of space to put stuff. I think the flight stewardess liked me… She kept checking up on me, and gave me earplugs for sleeping and stuff. Actually, she just gave me a little brownie after asking what this is I’m writing. :P Haha… Anyways. All this to say, the flight wasn’t too bad. I felt like… well, normal for the first half, but later, I started to feel like I was dreaming.

At the terminal, looking at the tin can I'd be on for 14 hours...

Doing quite alright... Got some breakfast. Things are reasonably priced in Dulles!

The past two international flights were tough because I had no idea what time it was, but on this plane, the in-flight entertainment thingy had flight information... Certainly helped to know how long it'd be before I got to Korea.

I’m cranking on only three hours of sleep from home, and a few uneasy hours of sleep on the plane. But, I’m doing ok. I really feel like I’m dreaming, though. I can’t believe that I just left everything behind. I really don’t have any idea what’s ahead of me. Good things, of course, but I have no details about logistical stuff, or plans or anything like that. It’s all a wonderful mystery. Flying off into an unknown future… I still can’t believe I’m going to see my girlfriend in a couple minutes… I can’t believe I’m going to meet my brother. I can’t believe I’m going to finally meet my umma… Just… wow.