Packing

Tomorrow I will fly out of Wichita to Dallas and then to Narita, Japan, Lord willing. I have been gathering together all of my clothes and things. Last Tuesday I had a cavity filled. After looking at Garage Sales in vain, I still had not found a large suitcase. I thought that I could go to TJ Max to get one at half the going price, at $60-$70. So after returning home from Hillsboro mom, dad, and I all got into the car to go to Wichita. Mom had a load of things that she wanted to drop off at the Goodwill, so we had to go in of course. I went to go look for shirts to take with me. She came looking for me in great excitement, and led me towards the other side of the store. Now I was rather skeptical as to what kind of suitcase she could find at a thrift store, and I like to have quality things even when I have to pay more for them. I had, up to this point, rejected all of the inferior pieces of luggage presented to me. So as I approached the wondrous finds that mom was to show me I was, to be honest, not expecting much. She showed me two upright wheeled suitcases of the type that I had requested her to look for. They were both decent finds, if not up to TJ Max's level. One was somewhat superior and I was uncertain as to if I wanted either one. Mom was especially excited about the price. I always have trouble deciding on things immediately, so to sooth her I took the nicer of the two and returned to shopping for clothes. By the time I got back to the clothes I had pretty much decided that this suitcase would do. I got my suitcase for $5.

   When I got home I found that it was the same brand as my carry-on, which I rather like. I have spent the week between the purchase on the suitcase and my departure packing. There has been a lot of weighing and moving things around so that I can keep the weight under 50 lbs. I have yet to succeed, and will probably have to put some more effort into it. As of my last weighing I am at 51 lbs. My carry on is almost 40 lbs, and I might have to go through that again too. I have put almost all of the heavy things in there.

The books are the heaviest things, and shoes are no better. Maybe I should take fewer shirts? I still have a way to go before I fly out at 7:25am tomorrow morning.

Today I went to my bank and added my dad as power of attorney to my account so he can access it if there are any problems. I also had to wire 320000Y to Japan for Homestay fees. Since the exchange rate about now is something like 85Y to the US dollar that was something like $3,700. Ouch! and the fee for the wire was an additional $40, double Ouch! I got my money from the school on Friday, somewhere around $6000. I had to take out a Direct Loan of $5,500. I hope that I will be able to budget the remaining $2000 for the next four months. The Lord is exhorting me to trust Him to provide for all my needs and not to worry. I'm used to living on a very small income, but there I will have no income, only a fixed amount.I do not know what expenses I will incur. Please pray for me that I will spend my money wisely, and that I will trust only in the Lord for my needs and not worry about what I will eat or wear, but only to seek first His Kingdom. Also Pray for a safe Journey and on time flights. Thank you all for your prayers for me. I thank Him for you. I also thank Him for $5 suitcases.