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Journal of Rienne Deering, MI-8 Missionary
What follows is the journal written by Rienne Deering during the MI-8 trip:
June 1st
Today we leave for a foreign land that is only partially known to two people out
of us eight. I’m so nervous I’m shaking, but the beef jerky and knowing that I have
God and people that I can trust with me calms me down. My first time flying and
all I can think about is food and safety, but of course that’s what I’m thinking
because I’m a Deering. Our flight is delayed for almost two hours. The anxiety is
what killed me the most. We finally board the plane. As soon as we walk on I smell
a scent that is very familiar to me; I take another sniff and realize it was a smell
I knew very well -- it was the smell of curry. We sit on the plane for another twenty
minutes before the actual take off while the flight attendants put on a fake smile
and help others with their bags. Finally we start to take off, I hear a large rumble,
we go from 5 mph to 444 mph in no time. I see the wings start to shake, but apparently
that’s what is supposed to happen according to my friend Dennis, for some technical
reasons that I wasn’t really paying attention to when he was telling me. The plane
shakes, as I tightly hold my sisters hand closing my eyes, the front of the plane
begins to rise, a few more bumps and the rest of the ride is smooth. We circle New
York two times and from afar I can see our sign of freedom, and from what I can
see she is beautiful. Then we fly into the night. It’s too tight and uncomfortable
to sleep so instead I make do with a simple movie until my eyes could not open anymore.
June 2nd
I wake up from a man in front of me who leans his seat far back on me and hits me.
I then look out the window to see light, clouds, and blue skies. It’s an amazing
sight. An hour later our plane is over Switzerland ready to land. The landing was
also an experience of a lifetime, well to me at least. I could feel the altitude
drop rapidly as my stomach turned and my ears popped as I continuously chewed my
gum. The plane finally lands and the engines’ rapid roar comes to an end. We of
coarse were not going to Switzerland so we stay on and watch the other lucky passengers
get off and later watch other passengers get on, along with new flight attendants.
I guess they just could not handle us, HAHA just kidding. Again we take off and
they serve yet another meal. A few more hours on the plane nothing exciting happens.
Then we land in Doha which is a very, very small country next to Pakistan. We then
got off of the plane for the first time in 14 hours, being able to walk around in
air-conditioning was wonderful. We had no time in between our two flights so we
quickly got on the first shuttle we saw. Then we did our usual routine of take off.
Next to me was a very disturbed Arabic man who could not speak very good English,
so when he wanted something I had to play a little game of charades with him. But
we finally worked it out. Another seven hours on the plane and we watch only one
movie, which is a very strange corny Indian movie. The people on the plane seemed
to be pleased with it so I did not complain. After the Arabic man got everything
he wanted I got comfy and fell asleep.
June 3rd
I woke up as soon as the seatbelt sign came on. I look over at my sister and of
course she didn’t wake up, but she looked very peaceful with the drool running out
of her mouth. So of course I had to ruin her sleep and wake her up, hahaha I can
be so evil. The plane starts to go in for a landing, so we started to descend very
quickly but at the very last second the pilot aborted the landing and skied back
up high into the sky, then we circled back around and landed with a jolt. The plane
had landed. As we got off the plane we followed Brain like a flock of birds to get
our passports and visas checked. As we were all gathering by that poor man’s desk,
one after another you could see his eyes get wider and wider, I found this very
amusing, but then again, after that corny Indian movie anything seemed amusing.
We finally got accepted into the country I was very anxious to get started, but
first we had to get our luggage. Just some advice to anyone who has never flown…
DON’T put anything in your suitcases that’s breakable, I honestly think they have
a huge line of employees that take out all their anger on our bags with a baseball
bat or maybe even a crow bar. HAHA Again I’m just kidding. We get all our suitcases
and start heading out the door. We get past security which did not seem that efficient
and as we get to the door there is this huge paparazzi standing there with signs
smiling really big. Stephanie looks out into the crowd and somehow spots Haung Dau.
We greet him and not a second later again Mrs. Stephanie finds Mr. Hubert. I don’t
know how she did it but she did. We then walked out into the actual streets of Chennai
India and that’s when I realized I was not home anymore. Apparently in India when
it comes to lifting something heavy or lifting anything for that matter the woman
were not supposed to participate; we stand there and look pretty which I’m very
good at haha just kidding again. I had no problem with this but Wavey (my sister)
on the other hand was very disappointed and could not understand that concept no
matter how hard Mrs. Stephanie and I tried to explain, but she takes a lot of pride
in what she is capable of. This is very good for a woman in America but I don’t
think she would ever be able to live in India. The first local man I see is begging
for food but I simply turn away for that is what I was told to do. Also because
I kept the saying “give a man a fish he eats for a day, teach a man to fish he eats
for a lifetime.” In the back of my head. Unfortunately I had no spare fishing poles
or time to teach him how to fish. Seven of us plus some luggage and the cab driver
fit in one tiny little car about the size of a pumpkin. We were stuffed in the car
like a can of sardines!!! While the others got to ride in the other van with the
rest of the luggage and air-conditioning, and if there is one thing I have learned
about India’s driving they LOVE to honk. And that every time you get in the car
with a local driver you are practically risking your life because it is the craziest
driving I have ever seen. They get themselves into crazy positions that you think
they will never get out of but somehow they always find a way, and the good breaks
help. Honestly I think my heart stopped a few times but God always saw us through
it safely. We finally arrived at our hotel I was so tired I did not know what was
going on most of the time. So when it was time to sleep I was out.
...More to come.