This is the conference I am heading to in Bangkok. I had an unplanned 24 hour delay in Detroit, but Lord willing I will still get there just a few hours before some of the pre-conference seminars begin.
“Flight Cancelled.” When you are a long ways from home and getting ready to board an international flight, these are not the words you want to hear.
Yesterday I departed Orlando en route to an exciting conference in Thailand which my team is helping sponsor. About 200 Internet strategy leaders from CCC all around the world will attend. … And I certainly am hoping to be one of them. 🙂
The plan was to catch a connecting flight in Detroit which would fly me over the Pacific. But Delta ran into some unforeseen mechanical problems with the 747 well before boarding was to begin in Detroit. Several mechanics were dispatched as you see in the photo here.
So Delta issued meal vouchers and hotel vouchers to all the grounded passengers. Delta sent me to a nice hotel and got me booked on another flight on Sunday (hopefully this one WILL get off the ground.)
Of course, another variable to all this is the fact that all of our luggage was loaded (and is still there!) on the waiting to be repaired aircraft:
Orlando is 80 degrees and Bangkok is 90 degrees. I am wearing short sleeves and Detroit is 48 with low tonight of about 34. Fortunately I did pack some extra underwear, one thin long sleeve shirt, and a toothbrush in my carry on.
SO, I purchased a few items in the airport for my hotel stay:
Please pray for:
1) Flight to depart Detroit on time.
2) Connection in Tokyo to go smoothly. (I don’t take these things for granted now!)
3) Pray for the 200 attendees – our missionary staff and volunteers – also flying in to Thailand from about 26 different countries. Pray that they make it safely and that the Lord provides for their every need.
3) If it goes well with my travels this time, I should make it to the hotel in Bangkok about 6 hours before my first seminar is set to begin. Fortunately I am not scheduled to facilitate the first seminar, but will be facilitating two short seminars later in the day. I really need time to prepare AND would nice to be refreshed before going into the seminar. Pray for rest and focus from the Lord as I arrive.
Thanks! I’ll try to post more updates to Facebook and Twitter after I arrive.
What a week in Bangalore, India! We arrived late Tuesday night (or early Wednesday morning) and will be returning home Monday.
Thanks for praying for the training. It went very well. We actually covered more ground than I thought we’d be able to.
How can I describe the people, the sights, the total experience here? This video might help a bit. I captured this on my phone while we were driving down the street – weaving around several cows just out for a stroll.
In the video, you don’t get the full range of sounds and smells that come with this city. Here are a few word pictures which add to the story:
~ Horns honking all the time
~ Traffic is insane (the video clip doesn’t do it justice)
~ Street vendors, garbage and dogs all compete for street space
~ Warm, friendly and often quiet people
~ People are gracious in manners and service: I haven’t been called “sir” so often ever in my life.
~ They are incredibly fast learners
~ Seems to be much chaos here, yet much productivity emerges
~ Extreme poverty contrasted by booming economy
~ Bangalore is one of the fastest growing cities in the world
~ Over Half a Billion cell phones in this country!
~ Islam rising very rapidly here
~ Jesus is also moving mightily: New churches are planted almost daily
~ Opportunities for global influence from this country are beyond plentiful
~ Truly, the Good Shepherd is calling his sheep here; and many new flocks are multiplying
Our time with the Campus Crusade staff was humbling and encouraging. There were 12 staff who attended our training. They came from places all around India and also Nepal and Bangladesh. Several traveled for a day or more by train.
Impeccably Hospitable: All of them were incredibly gracious, and went much out of their way to make us feel welcome here. I was expecting to be intimidated by them but they acted as if they were intimidated by us. Yet we all connected well and the Spirit ministered to another as we helped each other learn, serving one another and enjoying different perspectives on reaching our world for Christ.
Training Huddle: My teammate Mike assists some of our trainees
To see my entire set of photos and videos from the Bangalore experience, visit the album here.
After returning home from our U.S. staff training conference and being at home for a couple of weeks, I’m on the road (and the air) again for a week or so. This time it’s a trip to Bangalore, India with 3 of my teammates to conduct a training for several of our tech leader staff in India.
Shannon cranked up homeschool with the kids last week and they are ramping up to a fall full of activities. She’d appreciate your prayers this week as well. Mommy + schoolteacher + cook + activity chauffeur + everything else = overtime work, even when I am at home!
This is my first time to India. Bangalore is a major city in the south part of India where our country office and training center is located. If you’ve ever had to call customer service to get assistance with your malfunctioning computer, TV or DVD player, chances are the person who answered the call was located in Bangalore. It is one of the world’s major technology centers and also where a lot of North American firms place their call centers. 🙂
I’m a little nervous about conducting a technical training for Indians. They’re very smart! India has more honors students than America has students (total). And they all grow up speaking English and other languages, using computers and have a breadth of international experience. As usual, I’m sure I’ll learn more from them than they’ll learn from us.
Prayer Requests …
~ Safe travel August 15-16 and returning Aug 21-22
~ Lift up Shannon and the kids holding down the fort. Pray for peace, strength and the Lord’s presence.
~ Pray that I’ll be able to connect with Shannon and the kids via Skype or video call at least once while I’m there.
~ Pray for the training meetings: 11:30pm – 8am eastern time on both Aug 17 & 18.
~ Pray that all our training materials arrive safely in India.
