How I Got to Pella, Iowa

On June 17, one month ago, my roommate and I were having a conversation.  She was talking about needing to purchase a plane ticket to go to the RCA General Synod because Project Hospitality had purchased an exhibitor table, but was unable to attend the entire synod because she was preaching on Sunday.  Traveling on Thursday and Saturday meant she would only be there for one day.  This didn't seem fiscally responsible nor did it seem to really excite her.

I jumped at the opportunity and told her that if she'd rather, I would go... and could stay for the entire time.  Later that night, the Executive Director of Project Hospitality stopped over and she thought that was a great idea.  So did my boss... and the next thing I knew, I was buying a plane ticket to Des Moines, Iowa.

The original plan was to find a hotel room and rent a car to use while I was there.  Allow me to toot my own horn a little, okay?  Keep in mind that it was 6 days, 5 nights.  Renting a hotel room would have cost about $70/night.  Food would have cost about $40/day (per standard reimbursement for business travel).  Renting a car would have cost about $50/day + gas.  By doing some research and by bugging the main coordinator lady, I scored a deal: dorm room + meals + airport shuttle for $450 total.  I don't know how much I save Project Hospitality, but it was a lot.  I'm still doing the happy dance.

Anyway, in case you're a part of the RCA, you may have thought to yourself "wow, you decided to go on June 17th?!  Didn't it start on June 20th?" Well, yes.  Yes, it did.  The next two days were spent getting things together and doing laundry and packing and canceling weekend plans.  On Thursday morning, the taxi picked me up bright and early at 5:45a and I was on my way.

I had a brief (read: I had to run across the airport) layover in Charlotte, NC.  This wasn't so horrible because I was able to gate-check my display boards, so it may the running more enjoyable.  However, it was apparently I was not headed to the big city anymore.  The lack of diversity was my first clue.  The large families was my second clue.  It was almost funny to compare the experiences between La Guardia and Charlotte.  As I headed out, it would have been interesting to know just how many people on the flight were headed to Synod.  Regardless, I sat next to a man that was headed there.  He was hoping to speak to the Global Missions team about starting a school project somewhere in Africa (he told me where, but I can't remember and would hate to misquote him, so I'll leave it very vague for you).

Upon arrival to Des Moines, another great moment happened for me.  A lady that I'd been emailing for years as the director of Women's Ministries was waiting for the bus as well.  We finally met face-to-face!  We were shuttled as a large group from the airport to Central College in Pella, Iowa.  I got a dorm room to share and headed to the field house to set up.

Check out my table!

The rest is for another day at another time :)