What a trip! (Day 1)

I've been asked to sum up our trip for all the many people who have asked how it went. Given this mission trip was financed by several churches and individuals, a lot of people were invested and have been eager to hear how it went. To say, "It went well!" is a massive understatement. I'll break up the posts into three to highlight each day because so much happened and I don't want to leave anything out. So, here goes. I'll do my best!

Day 1 had us up early to catch our flight. Having now experienced O'Hare in all of its glory, can I just say how much I appreciate our little Richmond airport? No delays. Easy to get around and even a familiar face at the gate. A friend from Petsworth sat right behind us, headed to Chicago for a completely different reason. 

The flight was uneventful. We were told a limousine service was picking us up. Not quite a limousine, but the gal was friendly and stuck in the car with us for quite some time. She was the first to hear the Gospel. She rejected it, but she heard it. She mentioned Kristy was one of the healthier looking patients she'd transported for stem cell treatment. We didn't really grasp the weight of that statement until later...

We had to wait a bit for our room to be ready and it gave us a time to sit and people watch in the hotel lobby. That's when we understood the driver's statement. There were so many sick people that were very, very ill. It was heartbreaking. Several in wheelchairs. A few with crutches. We observed some obvious ailments like Parkinson's and one older gentleman laid nearby on a lobby couch as we all awaited our rooms. You could tell this stem cell treatment was a last ditch effort for many and the hope in their eyes made me pray this thing would bring healing to them all. 

In case anyone reading is unaware, I want to mention why we were there in the first place. Kristy had stem cell treatment seven years ago that put her in remission for three years for her several auto immune disorders. This treatment was a bit more involved than her last one, including harvesting stem cells from bone marrow, rather than from her fat cells like last time. We're praying that makes all the difference.

The first step of the treatment was a pre-op with the doctor. That took place the very first day, right about the time everybody got their rooms. We unloaded our bags, had a bit of a meet and greet with the coordinator of everything in the hotel lobby and then waited on Ubers to get us to the treatment center just a hop, skip and a jump from the hotel. That's when the fun began.

Our first of many, many Uber rides went to a very crotchety old man named Bruce. He was not a good driver and he was not a kind person, but we will never forget him. As soon as we hopped in, he was frustrated with us(and life and cars and technology). He somehow fat fingered the button that initiates the ride. The bubbly greeting of, "Hi, Bruce! How are you?!" by Kristy was answered with, "Not good, grumble grumble grumble." She replied as anyone would with an, "I'm sorry, do you want to tell us about it?" I think the light in her angered the darkness in him and the entire .3 mile ride became a back and forth that he never seemed to actually hear a single word she was saying. Nothing crazy was said to him. As aforementioned, the stem cell place was literally 3 turns away. He somehow managed to miss two of them. During the exchange he said something along the lines of, "You seem to have an answer for everything." To which Kristy, realizing he was super frustrated, kindly replied, "Well, I can listen, too." He shot back, completely missing the olive branch she was extending, "See what I mean?" The conversation just never got off the ground. We were happy to exit his car. 

In our excitement to get away from this man, we didn't realize he was dropping us off at the wrong place. Another uber had to come and correct his mistake. He was a real (rotten) peach, but we laughed it off as we finally got to the stem cell office for the pre-op.

Kristy hit the ground running. She started evangelizing to the few who were sitting there. We'd met one of the gals already at the hotel, so it was nice to see a familiar face, especially knowing we shared the faith. She traveled all the way from Hawaii. We met another sister in Christ, Ruth, who was there hoping stem cells will help with her spinal cord injury. She traveled all the way from South Dakota. 

The third patient we met was Dave, from Colorado. He is the most precious soul. He came into the room, shuffling, barely able to catch a breath to answer even yes or no questions. He developed COPD over the last few years, but this seemed way worse than a run of the mill lung issue. Right away he softened to Kristy. She led him to the Lord within just a few minutes and it was truly a beautiful thing to witness. She explained what it means to be born again and that very phrase popped up again the next day in the most beautiful, beautiful way. 

We all made a lifelong friend in Dave. He shared many stories about his wife who passed away a few years ago. His love for her brought us all to tears as he reminisced. It was amazing to watch his response to the Gospel over the few short days we got to know him. 

After all the pre-ops were done, we met back up with several patients on the curb, awaiting Ubers back to the hotel. We joked, "Hope nobody gets Bruce!" Sure enough, Dave says, "My driver's name is Bruce." Surely not. The coordinator who'd ordered all the Ubers realized one rider had been waiting too long and mentioned they should ride back all together. They did just that and we were the last group left waiting for a ride.

Lo and behold, who, of allllllll the Uber drivers in Chicago, should show up to fetch us? Doggone Bruce pulls up and takes the Lord's name in vain when he sees us. We were all dying laughing. Not him, of course. He didn't laugh about anything. But we cackling ladies were cracking up. Kristy said, "You don't have to take us, Bruce. We can get someone else." He took the Lord's name in vain again. "I can't believe this," he said. "This is nuts. This must be some kinda miracle." All the while, he never acknowledged that he was picking us up from a completely different location from where he'd dumped us off. With a deep sigh, he told us to get in. 

He did admit that he was in a much better mood than when he'd driven us 90 minutes before. He said he was ashamed at how he'd treated us. We all laughed it off. Not him. He still didn't know what to make of us being full of joy when he was obviously such a miserable soul. Kristy tried again to break the ice with him and get a Gospel conversation going. As a reminder, this is supposed to be a .3 mile return to the hotel, consisting of one stoplight and three turns. We could've walked it, but then we wouldn't have had not one, but two rides with Mr. Sunshine. Anyways, he seemed to be slightly less irritated with us by the time he'd made his third wrong turn. I don't think he even knew he was making wrong turns. At one point, Kristy was trying to talk to him about sin and asked him if he'd heard of the Moral Law. She clarified that she meant the Ten Commandments. And that's when the ride took a turn. Not literally, because he kept missing those, but he got mad. He said, "Now you're just insulting me. Of course I've heard of the Ten Commandments, grumble grumble grumble." He then rambled on about Jesus not dying on the cross, but being revived with special oils and then living out the remainder of his life amongst the Indians. I still don't know where that came from. I've heard it a time or two before, but I have no clue what religion believes that foolishness. Anyway, the remainder of our dozen or so Uber rides had us holding our breath to see if we'd get Bruce again. Thankfully, we did not.

Once back at the hotel, we opted to find a Chicago deep dish pizza to cross that off the bucket list. It did not disappoint. We found the eleventh commandment on the wall and obeyed with zero hesitation. We went back to the hotel fat and happy and eager to see what Day 2 would bring. 

"Thou shall eat pizza"