Speechless already...

Dear Everyone

I just sat down for the night in my hotel room in Honolulu. It has been the most interesting 24+ hours of travel I have ever experienced. All my flights were smooth and I arrived in Hawaii as planned and very exhausted. Along the way I got to share about my trip with some folks on the plane, on the bus in Hawaii, and even Japanese people! One thing I didn't expect was to show up at my hotel and see a 100 person line out the door to the check in desk. Just so happens a tour group of Japanese ladies had their flight cancelled and had to stay at the Ala Moana last minute. As soon as I was told I was gonna have to go to the end of the line, I asked for directions to the nearest beach. One of the best questions I have ever asked in my life. I can't fully describe how beautiful and soothing it was to walk right up the cool Pacific waters at twilight, letting them wash off my travel-beaten feet, and have a chance to sing some quiet praise to God. Wow is all I can say... Once that was over I came back over the hotel and waited in line with all those Japanese ladies and it was awesome. I eventually decided to speak up. That way, I could practice my Japanese with them and they could practice their English with me. So for the next hour in line I made about 10 new friends and had quite a few laughs. Just imagine a college kid wearing a blue tie-dyed shirt with a UGA hat in the middle of 100 middle-aged Japanese women trying to interpret each others language! Best part was that I got to describe why I was headed to Japan and what type of work I am interested in to the ladies who could speak English. After that, I went on one last errand for the night. And it was an epic one: To get my Mom a Hard Rock Cafe t-shirt from Honolulu (I love you and miss you Mom!). It was fun navigating through the streets of Honolulu and just getting to see some of the town on my way to the Cafe. Hawaii is such a beautiful place and it constantly reminds me of how awesome and gracious of a God we serve. To be a complete stranger somewhere, but to feel at home is an incredible moment indeed. After the t-shirt run, I quickly walked back to my hotel and nearly collapsed. It will be so nice to actually sleep in a bed tonight and be refreshed for my long flight tomorrow. A flight that could range between 8 and 12 hours.. Please continue to pray for my travels as I head to Japan and get my body acclimated to the time difference. Can't wait to wash and get to bed. Ps, I will be playing around with pictures on here so it might be a few posts before you start seeing any but hopefully those can be up soon. Thank you for all of your support and I'll update as soon as I can..

Only By Grace,
CP