Winging Our Way Home: A Missionary Saga of Mission Accomplished
By Darrell W. Wood, former Baptist missionary to Hong Kong, 1968-73.
As missionaries appointed in 1968 by the Foreign Mission Board (now International Board, SBC), to serve in the Hong Kong-Macau Baptist Mission, we were told in orientation to take a lot of pictures the first six months--while the cultural sights and sounds were less familiar and more exotic.
So early on, I bought a Pentax SLR Spotmatic camera with zoom lens and carrying case and started taking pictures while everything was different and eye-catching. Being a duty-free port--a virtual shoppers' paradise--Hong Kong was a great place to go broke saving money. Whether a camera or a Mercedes Benz, you could actually buy them cheaper in Hong Kong than in the country of origin. I bought my camera at a bargain price at Louie's Photo Shop in downtown Tsim Sha Tsui in the heart of Kowloon's business district. Fast forward three years as we prepared for furlough back in the States. I went to Louie's and bought 20 rolls of 36-exposure Kodachrome film (720 color shots). The cost of processing the color slide film into mounted slides was included in the purchase price.
In 1969, we went to Hong Kong by ship, a 21-day "slow boat to China" on the USS President Cleveland of the American President Lines. My wife, Priscilla, and I decided, however, to return to the U.S. for furlough by air going west--thus circumnavigating the globe of about 25,000 miles.
In our "pre-flight check" with the Chinese Air France customer relations rep, he looked over our itinerary and said, "I see that you are not going to London." I replied, "I didn't think we could afford it." With insistence, he said, "You really need to see London...I'll tell you what we're going to do just for you. At Air France's expense, we're going to put you and your family up in a hotel at Paris Orly Airport and fly you to London." (He seemed sincere, but I thought, He probably says that to all Air France customers.) So I agreed to his deal, which meant Air France would give us a free roundtrip flight to London and back and lodging since our transAtlantic flight to Montreal, Canada, originated at Orly.
Our flight itinerary took us to nine countries before arriving at Kansas City, Missouri, our point of departure three years earlier when we flew to San Francisco to board the President Cleveland. Our Air France flight would fly us to Cambodia, Thailand, India, Iran, Italy, Switzerland, France, England, and Canada.
We left Hong Kong on August 1, 1972. Our flight plans initially included Tel Aviv, Israel, and Athens, Greece. However, Japanese terrorist attacks at Tel Aviv and security concerns at the Athens airport caused Air France to bypass those hot spots and reroute directly to Rome.
Priscilla and I and our two daughters, ages 5 and 3, boarded our Air France flight at Kai Tak International Airport in Kowloon. (In 1998, Hong Kong International Airport was moved to Lantau Island, west of Hong Kong.)
We winged our way over Cambodia, which was during the Vietnam War, and the corridor for civilian flights allowed us access to Phnom Penh, the capital, for our first stop. As we flew over the rice paddies pock-marked with bomb craters below, we felt relief to reach the first leg of our journey. The next stop was Bangkok, Thailand, and a quick look at the airport gift shop. After dark, as we flew over India, we could see the many little bonfires burning in the fields of rural villages. At Kolkata (Calcutta) in West Bengal of East India, we stopped for refueling and a crew change. For the entire flight of 19 hours from Hong Kong to Rome, we had three crew changes.
Our last stop before Europe was the Middle Eastern airhub of Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, Iran. On the ground briefly, we resumed our flight to Leonardo da Vinci International Airport in Rome, Italy, where we landed around 6:00 in the morning.
I hailed a taxi at the airport to take us to our hotel (pension) in Rome. As I gave directions to the driver, who understood a little English, I almost unconsciously switched to Cantonese, which I had done during my time in Hong Kong. Then I realized how ridiculous that was!
Our nice and neat hotel room was located near the American Embassy and just a few blocks from the Roman Forum, with its ancient ruins in the valley of the Palatine Hills where triumphal processions made their grand entry. (A serendipity was a parade that happened to come by below our open hotel window--grand sights and sounds indeed!)
With our tight schedule, we took a bus to see the main attractions:
(During the persecution of Christians by Emperor Nero beginning around 64 AD, both Apostles Peter and Paul were martyred in Rome. Tradition has it that Peter was crucified--at his request, hanging upside down--while Paul was beheaded on the Ostian Way).
After our sojourn in the "Eternal City," we winged our way via SwissAir to Zurich, largest city in Switzerland. After landing at Zurich International Airport, we took a taxi to our hotel. Located a few blocks from Grossmunster church, a Romanesque structure with twin towers, we relished our brief time in this historic Swiss cultural center. Picturesque lanes on either side of the Limmat River criss-crossed Altstadt (Old Town). Theologian Ulrich Zwingli, the famous Swiss-German Reformation leader, was a contemporary of Martin Luther. As pastor of the Protestant church, Zwingli preached believer's baptism and other New Testament doctrines from the pulpit of Grossmunster.
A local bus took us to the western suburb of Ruschlikon, where the international seminary affiliated with the European Baptist Union was located. Ruschlikon Seminary's campus facilities were later sold and the international seminary was relocated to Prague, Czech Republic.
Included in our sightseeing was a longer side trip by tour bus for a cable car ride to the snow-covered summit of Mt. Santis, northeast of Zurich near the Austrian border.
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The panoramic view of Alpine peaks near and far was truly a "mountaintop experience."
Enroute we enjoyed the beautiful Swiss landscape dotted with chalets and dairy farms. A quaint custom was the Swiss practice of keeping their cows and other livestock in the lower level of their homes. The Swiss tour guide announced to us that a visitor once asked a local if animals under the house ever posed a problem. The Swiss farmer replied, "Well, yes, but the animals soon get used to it."
After Zurich, we winged our way on a SwissAir flight to Paris for another adventure. After landing and checking into our hotel, we toured Paris, seeing many of its iconic images and sites:
Montmartre, with its quaint cobblestone streets, is primarily known for its art history as an artists' colony. Both Picasso and Dali once lived in Montmartre, socializing in local bistros and painting in their studios. With the white-domed basilica of Sacre Coeur on its summit, Montmartre's sweeping view of Paris from its narrow, winding hilltop lanes gives a panoramic vantage point, while the iconic Moulin Rouge cabaret below draws tourists and locals alike to its nightlife. As missionaries, we are not part of the nightclubbing, drinking scene and were content to see the famous windmill facade of the Moulin Rouge from the window of our tour bus passing by on the Champs-Elysees.
As an aside, Belgium was not on our Europe itinerary. However, had we gone to Brussels, we would have seen gargoyles (Brussels spouts) on the Belgian Gothic cathedrals.
After Paris, we flew by Air France to London for a one-day excursion. Arriving around noon, the first thing we saw when we exited the West London Air Terminal was a Kentucky Fried Chicken. Not having eaten any KFC for more than three years, we headed straight to the counter to order some finger-lickin' good chicken. Tour buses had already left when we arrived, so we struck out on our own. Some of the sights we enjoyed included:
On our return to Orly Airport in Paris, we confirmed our flight the next morning to Montreal, Canada. Since the hotel at Orly was booked, Air France put our family in a luxury hotel a few miles from the airport.
Upon returning to North America through Montreal, we boarded another flight to Kansas City, Missouri, our final destination where parents and family were waiting for us. What a joyful reunion! Successfully winging our way home, after serving the Lord in Hong Kong, was a meaningful metaphor for our final journey--crossing over to that place God has prepared for us and our loved ones. We had a sense of fulfillment in faithfulness and mission accomplished.
As we settled into our surroundings at home, experiencing culture shock in reverse, I took the cannisters of 36-exposure Kodachrome film to the drugstore to have them processed. About a week later, the clerk called and said my slides were ready to pick up. When I went to the counter, the clerk shook his head and said that none of the pictures turned out. I was shocked in disbelief. Then, I opened the first box and saw beautiful slides of the Colosseum, Grossmunster church, Eiffel Tower, and Buckingham Palace. Most of the slides turned out well. I realized the reason for the confusion. Because the cost of processing was included in the purchase price of the Kodachrome film, each box had a "No Charge" label. The young man behind the counter had assumed that meant that all the slides were bad.
That experience--like a roller coaster of emotions--demonstrated to me that life is like that. One moment in the "slew of despond," the next "on the mountaintop." Things can go from bad to good in an instant--with God's divine intervention.
The God of reversals, our Lord gives us victory over life and death through the power of the resurrection. God's promise of life eternal is fulfilled when we are called to our heavenly home--the ultimate mission accomplished.
Jesus said, "The things that are impossible with people are possible with God" (Luke 18:27).
To God be the glory!
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2yLoved hearing of your journeys...I never knew before. All done for the glory of the kingdom and it's King...our Lord of Lords. Our King soon to come surely. What a blessed life Darrell.!! Continued blessings to you and Priscilla Sir! Much love...Bubba... Floyd.