God is Good

The following is an email I received about how God works to make things happen. This email serves as a reminder that God is in control. NEVER doubt how big he is in the small stuff.

My friend Matt McClure is in Pakistan now with a team from In His Image Family Medical Residency doing medical relief work. Pray for them. Read this for an amazing story of how God got them out of the country:

"LEAH DUININCK'S EXCITING REPORT OF GOD'S FAVOR OVER THE MEDICAL TEAM TO PAKISTAN:

I just wanted to let you know that Mitch and the team made it out of Tulsa this am without a hitch. Without a hitch is an absolute miracle because there were several hitches J First of all, yesterday as we prayed for the team we prayed for favor with the airline. We didn't think we knew anyone at United, and we needed someone understanding and helpful to work with our team.

When we arrived this morning at 5:30am a women came running out yelling "Dr. Duininck how are you?" That woman "just happened" to be the senior supervisor for United Airlines that also "happened" to be a good friend of ours from Sam's baseball team. We had no idea that she worked for United and was only there this morning because one of her employees called in sick at the last moment. When Vickie came up to us the team about dropped their mouths J

On check-in we were informed that though we had been told that each piece of luggage could weigh 70lbs, the connecting airline into Hong Kong would only allow 50. Therefore each and every one of our 16 pieces was 20lbs overweight. Along with that, we had brought two 80lb tents and stoves for the team. Vicky worked like crazy for the next hour getting every single piece of luggage checked all the way to Islamabad. United waived the luggage charge (over a thousand dollars) on everything, including the overweight pieces and oversized tents and stoves. God is so amazing!!!!!

The next and biggest hurdle was that two of our doctors of Indian decent were not granted visas as of Friday to travel with the team. Meaning their passports was in LA at the embassy. After a quick conversation and a wave by the airline, the two Indian doctors where granted tickets to LA with the team, and the rest of their itineraries were not cancelled. Those of you who have traveled know what an incredible miracle that was, especially sense 911 and the civil war going on between Pakistan and India. God is sooooo good guys!! What a joy to just sit back and watch God work today.

After arriving in LA the two Indian doctors left the airport and raced across town to the embassy where they were granted their visas, another mad dash back to the airport just in time to go through security and board the plane with the rest of the team. As I am writing this the team is headed to Hong Kong with every member on board and every piece of luggage underneath. God is so very very good.

Please continue to pray for everyone as they continue on. Pray for traveling mercies and favor. This leg is 14 hours, and then they have a layover in Hong Kong before going to Bangkok, and then on to Islamabad.

The team will arrive about 7am Wednesday morning, which is Tuesday night for us. There is a 14-hour time difference. The team will shower and then head four hours north to the clinic site. The team will be staying in tents and cooking on the stoves they brought and living off the hundreds of power bars they brought J. The conditions are not good, no electricity and no running water not only for our team but also for the thousands of victims of the earthquake.

As to date the death toll is up to 80,000 and there are 20-25,000 people not expected to live through the next few weeks without help. There was another aftershock yesterday measuring 6.5.

Thank you again to all of you for your prayers and support. We love you all so much and know that you also will reap the rewards of this amazing trip. I'll keep you posted.

Leah and the gang

PS Ryan Duininck a special thank you to you for all your help with the tents that will house our team and will afterward provide incredible shelter for the teams to come, bless you!"

Wow.