Thursday, December 29, 2011

Jan. 30, 2011 - Chapter 13 Update #1

Raining Hope Uganda Trip
December 28, 2011-January 11, 2012
Chapter 13 – Update #1

I am currently on a layover in Dubai. Hard to believe that this is journey #13 to Uganda! Each time I travel to Uganda, it is another “chapter” in this exciting path God has put me on. So, for those of you who are new to my updates, this is why I title this update as “Chapter 13.”

Thanks to everyone who is on our 24 Hour Prayer Team! It helps me to know that at any hour, someone is praying for me. If you have committed to praying for me throughout this journey, THANK YOU! If you would like to be added to the 24 Hour prayer team, please email me and let me know.

I know that at first glance you scroll down and see how long they are. I have tried to keep you informed of what God is doing, but I know not everyone has time to read all of it. Yet there are some who want all of the details to feel like they are right there with me! On each journey I send what God has led me to write. I want to be able to share the excitement with you! Please read what you can and continue to pray for me!

It is nice after traveling for almost 16 hours to have a hotel to stay in to shower & and a bed to rest up. There have been a couple of times I have stayed at the Dubai airport for 8 hour layovers! This is much better!

God has answered your prayers in amazing ways already! I couldn’t wait until I got to Uganda to update you on just the past 24 hours!

I am so thankful for Expression Ministries who helped pay for our extra piece of luggage! I was able to bring a few more supplies with me. I jam packed the three bags as close to the 50 allowed pounds as I could. I didn’t want to be charged for overweight bags as well. All of my bags went through without a problem! Another answer to prayer!

I received a huge blessing! As I was checking in I was upgraded to Business Class! I was so overwhelmed that I told him my birthday was yesterday (the 27th) and this was a great birthday blessing! He said, “Happy Birthday, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!” Ha!

I walked around in a slight daze amazed at God’s goodness. I have been in business class before, but not like this. It felt more like First Class than Business Class. The seats were the kind that recline all the way back to lay down and sleep! The more I explored, I found that my seat had a built in massage machine! I never realized how handy this was until about half way into the long flight! They had the best gourmet meals that I have ever had on a flight. The flight attendants treated us like we were patrons in a fine dining restaurant. We had table clothes over our little tables when it came time to eat. I actually had a cappuccino before the dinner meal! Later the next morning they brought me an espresso! Really!

I tell you all this for a reason. I was totally undeserving of this pampering. I didn’t pay for it. I was singled out and chosen by this one kind man. Yet all throughout the flight, I felt like a princess.

In preparation for my speaking at the conference in Uganda, I am reading the book, “Hadassah, One Night With the King,” by Tommy Tenney. Yes, it is the book the movie of the same name is based on. The way I have been treated today reminded me so much of Esther of the Bible. As spent one full year preparing for the one night she would spend with the King. She too was singled out as the preferred candidate out of thousands. She was lavished upon & pampered in this story living in luxury because she was chosen.

My experience on Emirates Airlines yesterday gave me a new insight into how Esther must have felt. As she is one of the main characters i am speaking on as part of the conference, I can’t help but believe that God blessed me with the upgrade as part of being able to make His Word become alive when I share next week. God is so good!

As we landed in Dubai and got ready to exit the plane, I had an 85 year old woman come up to me. She needed help with where to go get a visa. She asked if I would help her and show her where to go. She kept hugging me and said, “God bless you for helping me.”

What is interesting is I had an “express pass” through passport control because of the business class ticket. This woman did not have the same pass. At first I went to the other express line, but felt that God was leading me to go back and stay with her. So I stayed with the 85 year old woman to help. Turns out, she did not need the visa at all! After she went through passport control, she waited for me so I could help her to the luggage carousel. Of all things, I got stuck in passport control for a few moments. He said, “Your passport is full. Where do I stamp it?” I was confused because there were a couple pages in the back that were blank. After a few awkward moments, he just found a spot and stamped the passport. But then I looked up, and my 85 year old friend was no where to be found! Really. I looked for her at the various baggage carousels, but she was gone.

Then on the shuttle to the hotel, I had a couple more people ask me for help. They were trying to find where on their vouchers it said which hotel to go to. At the hotel, another woman asked me about what one of the food dishes in the buffet. They actually had lobster thermidor & she wanted to know what it was. I don’t normally have so many people ask for help like has happened in the past 24 hours.

The conference theme verse is 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. you are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.”

As I sit in my room in Dubai, reflecting on all that God has blessed me with as I have barely begun trip #13, he gave me this verse as well found in 1 Samuel 12:16 , “Now stand here and see the great thing the Lord is about to do.”

I am not sure what is going to come next, but I know He will receive all the glory for what He is about to do!

I will leave the hotel about 6:30 am to get back to the airport for my 8:25 am flight to Entebbe!

Keep praying!

Kale,
Eydie Miskel

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