Home!!!!!!!!!!!

After an eventful flight from LAX (which included an unexpected landing in Kansas City & 1 piece of lost luggage) we arrived safely at our St. Peters, MO hotel at 4:00 this morning. We let the kids sleep until 9 or so and left St. Louis at 10:30. Our very sleepy crew of travelers arrived at MCC at 3:30 this afternoon. We are a tired but fulfilled group and very thankful for our experience.

Leving Chapman

We are on a school bus heading from Chapman to LAX. Our kids have had a wonderful time and made some really wonderful, life-long friends. Believe it or not our kids sat in over two hours of worship each day and really enjoyed it.

Our flight will leave at 6:20 pm and we will arrive in St. Louis at 12:30 AM.

See you tomorrow!

Melanie

Chapman University

Sorry for not updating sooner, things have been crazy here. Yesterday we took our kids and the group from Macon, MO to Laguna Beach between our mission experience and the ICYF Assembly. It was great fun except that San lost his glasses in the surf. Dave was kind enough to take on "Project Buy Sam New Glasses" last night. Yay! So we got settled into our dorm late last night and now we are in a flurry of ICYF activity. Most of our kids are still spending their time with the kids from Macon and Lexington who we were with on our mission experience. We have more feature groups this afternoon with family groups to follow. Tonight there is a luau on the schedule. I'm sure they will love that.

Miss you all!

One more picture...

Hanging out at Downey Memorial Christian Church in Downey, CA

more pictures

Andy & Grant on the shuttle from the parking lot to the St. Louis Airport

Althea getting through security in St. Louis.  Not fun with metal joints...  poor Althea.

Leaving Downey

We finished up our mission work at the Eastmont Community Center today and were treated to a wonderful meal by one of the two Hispanic congregations that are housed at Downey Memorial Christian Church.  Tomorrow morning we will be picked up by school bus and taken to Chapman University in Orange, CA.  The ICYF assembly doesn't begin until 6 pm so we will likely spend our afternoon at Downtown Disney.

Eastmont Community Center

After finally getting to sleep last night we were treated to a wonderful breakfast at the church this morning. We are now at the Eastmont Community Center in East LA and will be here until 4:00 pm

pictures

http://m.flickr.com/photo.gne?id=2686629277&

We're Here!!

The flight to LA was smooth and we all arrived safe and sound. After a very crowded school bus ride we are at Downey Memorial Christian Church waiting on some more groups. Dinner will be in an hour and we are HUNGRY because even though the clocks say it is 5:00 our stomachs say that it is 7:00.

In St. Louis...

waiting on our flight...

FLIGHT CHANGES!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello all!

I got a message from the travel agent yesterday that our flights had been changed. (I had wondered if they would, we booked a long time ago and lots of flights have been eliminated since them)

Anyway - our new flight plan is as follows:

20Jul08 12:55pm Sunday
Air Alaska Airlines Flight# 1153 Class:K
From: St Louis Intl MO, USA 20Jul08 12:55pm Sunday
To: Los Angeles CA, USA 20Jul08 02:45pm Sunday
Meal: FOOD TO PURCHASE Equip: McDonnell Douglas MD Status: Confirmed
Stops: 0

OPERATED BY AMERICAN AIRLINES
Depart - STL TERMINAL M
Arrive - LAX TERMINAL 4
Alaska Airlines locator: HRNKVX

Class of Service: Coach
Flight Duration: 3 hour(s) and 50 minutes


27Jul08 06:20pm Sunday
Air Alaska Airlines Flight# 1110 Class:K
From: Los Angeles CA, USA 27Jul08 06:20pm Sunday
To: St Louis Intl MO, USA 27Jul08 11:55pm Sunday
Meal: FOOD TO PURCHASE Equip: McDonnell Douglas MD Status: Confirmed
Stops: 0

OPERATED BY AMERICAN AIRLINES
Depart - LAX TERMINAL 4
Arrive - STL TERMINAL M
Alaska Airlines locator: HRNKVX

Class of Service: Coach
Flight Duration: 3 hour(s) and 35 minutes

I am concerned about making it to St. Louis in time for our flight. I would like to LEAVE MCC at 6:00 AM so we won't be sitting in St. Louis waiting for hours until there are 9 open seats on a later flight. I know it's early. You'll have lots of time to sleep in the van or on the plane.

I'm excited! Hope you are too!

Melanie

5 Days and Counting...

5 Days until CYF takes off for California!

Our itinerary will be:

Our itinerary is as follows:
7/20 - 6:30 AM: Leave MCC
7/20 - Noon: Arrive St. Louis Airport
7/20 - 1:20 PM: Alaska Airlines Flight 1885 from STL-LAX
7/20 - 3:10 PM (CA time): Arrive LAX
7/20 - 4:30 PM: ICYF transportation to Eastmont Community Center in Los
Angeles, CA (mission site) http://www.eastmontcc.org/
7/20 - 7/24 9:00 AM - Mission Experience at Eastmont Community Center
7/24 Noon - 7/27 Noon - ICYF Assembly, Chapman University, Orange, CA
7/27 - 1:30 ICYF transportation to LAX Airport
7/27 - 5:05 PM - Alaska Airlines Flight 1110 from LAX - STL
7/27 - 10:35 PM - arrive in St. Louis
7/27 - Stay at Ramada Inn, St. Peters, MO
7/28 - 10:00 AM: Leave St. Peters, MO
7/28 - approx. 2:30 PM - Arrive at MCC

Things to pack:

* Government issued id (they won't let you on the plane without it)
* Something to do in the car/plane
* Money for food while traveling and souvenirs (I'd recommend $50, if you need assistance with this please let me know ASAP)
* Closed toe shoes for mission work
* Long pants for mission work
* Towel
* Clothes/Toiletries for the week
* Your Bible
* Swimsuit
* Sweatshirt or Jacket for chilly nights

Notice - We were planning to meet at the church at 7:00 AM on Sunday, June 20th. This has been changed. We will now plan to meet at 6:00 AM on Sunday. I know, I know. It is really early, but we don't want to miss our flight out of St. Louis.