August 18th, 2024

Bolivia Travel Start!

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Romans 12:2 NLT

I'm writing this as I'm sitting at the airport next to one of my best friends, Jayden Cushing. We're both students from SAU that have put in the sacrifices to go out into the mission field. But before moving on... Let's retrace our steps to the start of the day... It was around 1AM and I had around 12 hours before my flight to Bolivia. For some reason, the group chat was coming to life with a bit more information about our plane travels. It was a benefit that a group of "coming-in" missionaries were in one group chat so we could ask questions and get the information we needed. But the texts coming in tonight? Not so good news for Justin Bobo. As a videographer/media personnel, I was planning to bring in equipment. The problem was- equipment is heavy. What was said in the group chat was: "Just a reminder~ Carry-on bags cannot be over 22kg on Bolivia Airlines. They will NOT let you on if it's anything more than that." I read the text and looked at my bag. It was definitely over the limit. I started to stress, rambling the calculations in my head, trying to figure out what could be moved to where in order for everything to work out. I spent a few adrenaline filled minutes just looking at the weight of each of my bags. There was no way. Nothing I would do would have any effect. The clock was ticking. I needed sleep. Fine. "God. If you really need me to bring all of this equipment, I will leave this to you." I remember just resigning myself to sleep, slowly blacking out.

*Alarm blaring* It's going to be a long day. Better prepare my last few adjustments to everything. Everything is basically packed. Musical instruments for the kids. Camera equipment for media creation. Clothes picked for the hot humid country known as Bolivia. There were a few things that were on my mind... I've been in contact with some of Student Missionaries who already were in Bolivia. They were saying they were needing a mini oil diffuser to keep pests away. We were in talks of having one of the current in-coming SMs to bring it in our luggage. I had volunteered. So they had Amazon ship it to my location. The problem was- it hadn't arrived yet... And today was the day I leave on the plane. Welp. If it doesn't come- it doesn't come. Besides, my baggage were basically popping at the seams. It seemed the only things that I needed was some items at Walmart. My family and I ate breakfast and quickly headed to Walmart to finalize everything. It was just a quick errand. To Walmart and back home to fit in the luggage, then head out for Walmart. We put the items in the luggage, and started loading our van to begin the trek to the airport. We were basically ready to head out, but then- something crazy happened. My aunt and uncle came to the house. No- that's not the crazy thing. They had mentioned that a mailman had stopped by to drop off a package while we were out at Walmart. What could have that been? The diffuser that the SMs were asking for. What perfect timing! I literally thought: "This is a God moment." Because we were about to leave, but were stopped for a second. With this, everything came together. Time to head to the airport!

I had 2 over-weight luggage and 1 specialized luggage. That would be an expensive ticket... luckily I came prepared! For those who work with media in the States, most airlines would honor media by discounting their luggage. I had my media card ready in the luggage loading area. My heart was pumping though. Sometimes, they would just not care. But God is good. The baggage lady took my card and inquired curiously on what I would be filming in Bolivia. I told her I would be doing some documentaries and creating an advertisement for an orphanage. She smiled and said that's really cool! Step 1 was completed! It was time to meet up with one of my best friends, Jayden Cushing, who had already passed through security. That meant I had to pass through security before I could meet him. I had heard horror stories of videographers or photographers who had a hard time in security at airports. I had several electronics: cameras, lights, mics, laptops, phones, and much more equipment with me. It was time for me to experience this for myself. Laptops out. Batteries out. All the big electronics were out of my bag. I put it through the machine- Done! I was cleared easily!

I quickly ran out of security and saw Jayden sitting at the closest seating area waiting for me. We had to wait for a bit before our flight, so I decided to go and take my camera and go around the airport a bit. I'll have to upload them later. The rest of the trip was eventful, we flew on the plane and landed. Honestly, there's not much to say. We were slightly confused on what to do when we got to the airport. Our tickets said that our baggage would go straight on through to the next flight without us having to pick it up. However, we had doubts after meeting up with 4 other SMs, Aiden Wilhem, Kelsey Bright, Carlie Alvarez, and Lauren Vitangcol. 3 of them had to grab their luggage and had to check them in again. Jayden and me were pretty terrified at the thought of needing to grab our luggage. After all, we left our area thinking we never needing to pick it up. Plus, it was a long walk. On the plus side, we found ourselves in the business-class line for help. The man there was really kind and helped us out a lot. My overweight carry-on... which he said could not go on the plane... we eventually figured things out and he let a few kg slide and let me through! God was really on our side during this trip.