major hiccup but now resolved

    The countdown was on...finally we loaded up and made our 7-minute trek to St. George airport to start our journey to Hong Kong.  We had four 50 lb suitcases, 4 carry-on bags and were full of enthusiasm and excitement.
 
    Can't believe how this happened, but when we got to the airport, we could not find our passports.  They were sitting snugly in Elwin's shirt pocket all day with the printed boarding passes.  They were no where to be found.  Kong and Cami went home to look for the passports for us thinking that we might have left them on the dresser by mistake.  But, nothing.  The staff at the St. George airport were the nicest and most helpful people.  But, still, the passports were no where to be found.  Finally, the lady at the counter changed the schedule to a day later.  But we still weren't able to find the passports. 

    We have been on bended knees and know they will appear soon.  I had put the passports in a ziplock bag in our special pouch in the purse, but decided that Elwin would handle the paperwork this time.  We had some errands to run before going to the airport.  So we thought they might have slipped out of Elwin's pocket without him knowing it.  We have backtracked and will again stop at the banks to see if anyone had picked them up. 

    I did my morning hike first, and felt good at the top of the "gap trail" behind our house.  On top of what we called the Relief Society Rock, I prayed.  It was quite a morning as Elwin and I went out looking for the lost passports.  St. George has to be the nicest place to live because of its people.  Everywhere we went, people stopped their work and helped us.  But, still no passports.  We took a break and went to the St. George Temple.  It was there we felt the solace and assurance that things would work out.  Elwin unpacked the four 50 lb suitcases and carefully checked each and then repacked them; he was frustrated but calm.  At 2 PM, he said that he was going out to the car and look again.  Within a few minutes, he was back with the passports.  Hallelujah!  We surmise that the ziplock bag had slipped out of Elwin's pocket when he was loading the suitcases.  He had to put down the 3rd row seat and the bag/passports had fallen in between the seats.  The passports were at the airport when were there; we just didn't know where!  What a relief!  We were worried that we would have to replace them and the visas (the one to China mainland is very expensive and we were fortunate to get them for a year); it would also mean that we would have to wait for new documents in order to go.  As it is, we were only delayed for a day.    As our new friend Helga in Hong Kong said:  Satan sure is trying hard to stop you from coming.  How true!  Glad we won.

We are now at SFO.  Our second trip to the St. George airport went flawlessly.  Kong, Cami and the kids sent us off.   When we got to SLC we exited one plane, walked to the adjacent concourse and got on the flight to SFO.  In SFO we went to retrieve our four humongous suitcases and requested the help of an airport worker; he got a cart and hefted the bags onto the cart.  He then took us to the International terminal and to EVA airlines; no waiting!  We got our boarding passes and headed for security.  We got body scanned.  Our plane for Taipei leaves in an hour and fifteen minutes on EVA airlines, a Taiwan carrier.  We

    As much as we don't want challenges, this experience taught us many lessons.  Love, humility and patience can conquer all.

    Thanks for those who heard of our plight and prayed for us.  We love you and thank you!