Pastor A

We boarded our plane bound for Argentina around 9:45 p.m. Wednesday evening. We were seated in the rear quarter of the plane; however, we were able to sit in “A” and “B” which made it a little more private for Shelli and me. The flight was totally uneventful – it was one of the smoothest flights I’ve ever taken. We made have had two little bumps in the entire 10 hour and 45 minute flight. The food was gross and the individual screens were not great. Both Shelli and I tried to sleep on and off throughout the flight but the seats simply were not very comfortable.

Once we arrived, we had to get in the line to pay the reciprocity fee to enter the country. This is basically another tax. Argentina charges US citizens the same amount that the US charges for Argentina citizens to visit the US. This line took some time but we survived only to be greeted by another line to clear immigration. We retrieved our four pieces of luggage without any difficulty. The customs declaration form is very specific that you have to declare any new items that you are bringing into the country and if you do not declare and they inspect your luggage, you can be subjected to a hefty fine. We had items in all four suitcases for the Greenwood family (legos, Dewalt drill, plumbing products, security cameras, tools, food, school supplies, etc.) We had several hundred dollars of new supplies for the Greenwoods. We had taken everything out of its original packaging except for the DeWalt drill and plumbing products.

As God would have it… we approached the suitcase scanning machines we noticed quite a scene unfolding. There were 10 scanning machines and a line behind each one. The line on the left appeared to be moving really fast so Shelli and I got into that line and approached the scanning machine. Once at the machine I noticed the man wasn’t even watching the scanner; he was looking over his shoulder. Our four suitcases and two carry-ons went through the machine and he never even looked at our luggage. Once we had retrieved our luggage we could see what the distraction was – a Hollywood movie star had been on the same flight that we were on and he was being “mobbed” by the paparazzi. The flashbulbs were going off like a strobe light. The guy at the scanning machine never even new we passed through… therefore, we did not have to pay any custom fees. God is good all of the time.

The Greenwood family picked us up and then we travelled the 45 minutes to Pilar (North of Buenos Aires). We were given a tour of their house and then left to unpack our suitcases. It was like Christmas for the children with all of the items that we unpacked from our suitcases. After lunch, Shelli and I took a one hour nap, showered, and then took a drive to see the city of 270,000 people here in Pilar. James and I went to visit some of the men of the church who were painting. After spending a couple of hours with them, we returned to the Greenwood home to visit for the evening and eat supper.

Today, Friday, has been wonderful. We went to lunch at a local steak restaurant. It was delicious. We then dropped off Amy, Lauren, and Shelli for the ladies event at the church. James took me to several different available properties and a Nazarene Camp. Property is so expensive here! This church needs property and a building and God will have to provide this need for this growing congregation. We returned from our tour of the various available properties to set-up for the Missions Conference tonight. Amy and Shelli told us that a lady had been saved today. There were 11 member ladies and 10 visiting ladies at the event. Shelli “survived” her speaking engagement. Although nervous, she had diligently prepared and I’m proud of her for allowing herself to be pushed outside her comfort zone to try to be a blessing to other ladies.

Now we are preparing for our meeting at 7:30 p.m. tonight. The first ever missions conference will begin. It is going to be a missions conference and evangelistic meeting at the same time. Tomorrow we have a men’s BBQ during the day and then the conference continues tomorrow evening.

TBT supported missionaries, James and Amy Greenwood, have invited Shelli and I to participate in their first-ever missions conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This trip has been several months in the making and everything final came together with our departure scheduled for Tuesday, November 1 at 10:12 a.m. from the TUS airport.

Over the last month the Greenwoods have had a number of items shipped to TBT for us to carry with us to Argentina. Due to the weight of these items we ended up with four suitcases in addition to our carry-on luggage. It looked like we were leaving for a long time when we checked into the TUS airport. At any rate, Jonathan took us to the airport and we checked in without any problem. Once we cleared security I had my shoes shined. I was able to witness to Rebecca who is a Seventh Day Adventist. She even sang a song for me as she was shining my shoes. We had a great conversation and I look forward to talking with her again in the future.

We had no problems with our flight to LAX. Once in LAX, we quickly grabbed a bite to eat at McDonalds and then boarded our plane bound for IAD (Washington, DC). The stewardesses were exceptionally nice and friendly as we were talking to them while everyone else was boarding.

Shelli and I were seated in bulkhead seats and the entrance into the airplane was behind the first class seats so we were able to see all the passengers as they boarded. This was a completely full flight and several people had to “check” their carry-on luggage with the gate agent as the room was gone in the overhead compartments. Once everyone had boarded, the door remained opened as several ground people kept walking back and forth to the flight deck and outside.

The pilot announced on the intercom that there was a mechanical issue but that they should be able to repair in 10-15 minutes. The 10-15 minutes came and went and then another announcement that they were able to repair so they were now looking for replacement parts. It would be at least 30 minutes now before there would be an update. I immediately called United to see what they could do to reroute or make other arrangements as we would now miss our connection in IAD (Washington, DC).

Several people were really getting upset on the airplane and one younger lady in her 20’s even asked to get off the plane and stand outside the still-open door. She was extremely claustrophobic and was going to lose it. One man said “he was being held hostage.” He stormed off the plane. Then, several people got up out of their seats and began exiting the plane. It was quite interesting to see all that was going on.

The pilot came back to talk with the stewardesses that were standing in the bulkhead door where we were seated. We were eavesdropping on the conversation. The pilot said that the closest part to repair the landing gear was in San Francisco and that they would have to either fly the part down from SFO or find us another plane. The pilot made an announcement that it would be best for everyone to get off the plane until a decision was made as to the future of this flight. This was a 757 and it was completely full.

Shelli and I exited the airplane and I immediately called United rather than wait in the line at customer service. I was on the phone for 57:55 minutes. The agent finally found a flight for us on LAN Chile through Lima, Peru. We would arrive on Wednesday around 4:15 p.m. However, we would have to secure our luggage as on all international flights you must be on the same plane as your luggage. I went back to the CSR only to learn that they were not unloading any luggage and if a new plane was used, then all of the luggage would be transferred to the new plane. Therefore, we were at the mercy of United.

Finally they announced that a new plane had been found and that we would now board from a new gate and at 4:40 p.m. (more than 3 ½ hours after our originally scheduled departure time). We were in line to board when they asked for Brent and Shelli Armstrong to come to the counter. I went up to the counter and the agent gave us two new boarding cards. We had been moved to first-class! WOW! I still have no idea why or how this happened. We have no special status with United. If it were Delta I would understand. For whatever reason, the two of us were selected to move up to first-class seating and it was really sweet! The seats were incredibly comfortable and large and padded!

Finally we were all boarded and ready to take off when the pilot (same one as before) announced that we had to make an unscheduled stop in Denver. He and the copilot were out of hours and a crew change was needed. The flight from LAX to DEN was very, very bumpy. So bumpy that the stewardesses were not even allowed to get up. We finally landed in DEN and it was snowing! Thirty minutes later we had a new pilot and copilot. Now the new pilot announces that we have to deice before we can take off. Great – another thirty minutes in the airplane. The plane takes off and at the time we take off, Shelli and I have now spent 12 hours traveling. We have made it from TUS to DEN in twelve hours. What a day!

We finally arrived at 1:45 a.m. Once off the plane we were met by a CSR who had our hotel accommodations and food vouchers. They had made arrangements for us to stay at a Sheraton and gave us a $15 food voucher. We went outside to wait on the shuttle bus and it was COLD! In fact, Shelli had a really bad neck ache and on top of the cold, she was miserable. 35 minutes later the bus picked us up. We drove to the Sheraton in Reston, Virginia. There were no problems at check-in and we arrived in room 338 at 3:00 a.m. It was a very long day!

Check out at the Sheraton was noon so we got up, got ready, and headed back to the airport. We are back at the IAD airport and will wait nine hours until we depart at 10:15 p.m. tonight for Argentina. It has been great spending all of this time with Shelli. We have certainly seen lots of interesting people. We were able to purchase two hamburgers at Fuddruckers here at the airport for the most economical price of $22.15. Outrageous!

We eagerly anticipate our ministry with the Greenwood family and pray that we will be able to encourage them over this next week. I will try to add an update once we arrive.