A Slight Detour

The first rule for any international mission team is to be flexible. So is the second rule as well as the third. I was first reminded of that 10 years ago when Chapelwood member Colin Wilkinson led a mission team to Kenya. What was true back then is still true today.

When we arrived to the Manila Airport for our domestic flight to Davao, we learned Philippine Airlines had made a schedule change in their daily departures, but without notifying us. You would think after booking the flight three months in advance, the airline would contact the group, but not so. The surprise came when we checked in, although there was some good news, we still had seats on the plane. With the departure now being pushed back until 3:00 p.m. we now had a narrow window to drive to Kidipawan in daylight. Our host Missionary, Janet McCarty gave us a 5:30 deadline to meet her or we would be forced to spend the night in Davao. With the flight only an hour and 30 minutes, the plan was still a go, but when it took 40 minutes to corral all the luggage, are plans changed and we were forced to spend a night in a hotel in Davao. Driving by day in the Philippines is an adventure, and at night it’s just not safe. Kidipawan is not only a three hour trip during the day, at night the conditions are pitch black, far too risky for even the safest of drivers.

So instead of bouncing through a rural road at night, we got to experience rush hour driving through Davao at dusk. They say Rome has the worst drivers in the world; Davao can’t be that far behind. Traffic lights are mere ornaments, and pedestrians are obstacles much like the pot holes which the motorists try to avoid by keeping one foot on the accelerator and the other on the brake. When we did arrive at the hotel, we all felt like we had just been through the spin cycle of a Maytag washer. There was even a little rain to dampen the walk from the mini vans to the hotel lobby.

While on the subject of wash, all of the pictures of the team are with our red mission t-shirts. This is not a fashion statement, but it does make the stops through the various security checks along the way much faster. We breezed through customs in Manila, and today we got a discount on the luggage charge since the agent saw that we are doing mission work. Of course now that we’ve had them on our backs since early Saturday morning, the shirts are way past the “rank” state, so tomorrow we’ll break out some fresh clothes as we continue on to Kidipawan.

Carleton Cole