Flight Itinerary

Tomorrow begins our journey to Lithuania. At 1:30 in the afternoon, Bill, Lowell and I will board a Delta Air Lines Jet at Huntsville airport and fly to Atlanta. We arrive there around 3:30 p.m. where we have a two and a half hour layover before boarding another Delta jet leaving for Copenhagen at 6:00 p.m. We travel overnight, arriving in Copenhagen at 9:00 the next morning. There is a lengthy six hour layover in Copenhagen, and I look forward to seeing some of the city before we depart for Vilnius at 3:05 p.m. We'll arrive around 5:35, and then travel to our first place of residence, a hotel in the city if I remember correctly. The trip is a long, day and a half journey, but with ample rest stops in the form of layovers along the way.

We come bearing presents. Dale Clem has put together a rather large suitcase full of gifts for the various churches in the area. These include such items as Christmas candy for the children and other presents they might have difficulty getting in the area. Bill and Lowell have assembled a collection of Sunday school material and classroom supplies for the church in Kybarti that they will be taking along. By way of reminder for your prayers, our schedule includes meetings with various public and ecclesiastical officials in the hope of moving along the building of the church in Kybarti.

As I have considered this trip, Paul, Barnabus, and Silas have been constantly on my mind. As they planned their journeys to Asia Minor and Greece so long ago, did they have similar thoughts and aspirations? Was there a sense of excitement as well as some apprehension as they journeyed into unknown areas? As much as we complain about modern air travel these days, I'll admit that I am very grateful to be boarding a Delta airliner rather than a merchant ship headed for the Baltics. And as many reservations as I have about the kind of ground transportation we might find when we arrive there, I am thankful that we will not have to walk or ride some beast of burden. Nevertheless, we covet your prayers as we leave tomorrow, and ask that you pray especially for the success of our journey. Our objective remains the same: to further the work of Christ in the area of Kybarti by building a new facility for the United Methodist church there and thus strengthening its ministry.