We made it!!!!

We finally made it to Okinawa, but it certainly did take a while! Before our flight took off, we got to spend a great day in Seattle with the Eekhoffs which was really nice and helped take our minds off of the long flight we were about to take. After a great day with them, we had the pleasure of spending the night in the airport :) It was absolutely miserable!!! There is no possible way to get comfy on those chairs, and we couldn't check in yet so we were stuck on the tile floor rather than having carpet by all of the gates. We eventually made it through with little sleep and then had to wait in a very long line to get our baggage checked. Once we got that all done, we had to wait another 2 1/2 hours before our plane started to board. It didn't really surprise us that we had all of that waiting because that's basically what the marine corps life is about!!! Hurry up and wait!! Once we got onto the plane we instantly took sleeping pills so we could sleep most of the 10 1/ 2 flight we were about to take. They had movies and tv shows playing throughout the flight which was very nice, but half way through our flight, one of the fuses went out and we couldn't hear the movie anymore. We were able to sleep for a lot of the ride which was very nice, but it didn't help the time go by any faster. We were served two meals, one for breakfast, and then another for dinner. I missed the breakfast one because I was sleeping, but Sam got pancakes and sausage which he said weren't the best. We both got a beef and mashed potatoes meal for dinner which was actually pretty good. From then on it was just snacks and drinks!
Our first flight landed in Yokota, Japan. We had to stop there to drop some people off and fill the plane with more gas. We all had to get off and get back on which took way too much time, and added another 2 hours to our arrival time. We then took another small flight to Iwakuni, which is on the south side of Japan. That is where the USMC base is on mainland so we had to drop some more people off there and pick some more up as well. We had to get off the plane again for this one and that added another two hours to our arrival time once again. After we all got boarded we were finally on our way to Okinawa!! Unfortuantely, it was raining once we arrived, but we got bused from the plane to baggage claim so we didn't have to walk in the rain. We breezed through customs and were able to get out luggage quite quickly. We then we greeted by a man with a microphone, and a bunch of people waiting. The man said our name out loud, and our sponsor stepped out and led us to where we needed to go! From there, our sponsors took us to our hotel!
It is hard to believe that we are here already, and it honestly has not qute sunk in yet. It is now morning here and it looks like it is going to be a gorgeous day. It is only 9 o'clock and it is already 59 degrees!!! I know everyone at home in the midwest will be jealous of that as you guys were dumped with a bunch of snow recently!!! haha!
We will be receiving a tour of the island today from our sponsors and we will hopefully be purchasing our phones!!! It will be a while yet before we can get a car since it is the weekend here. So, hopefully on Tuesday we will be able to take a test to get our license and then get a car!!!
It is a beautifully area from what we can tell, and we hadsome beautiful sights from the plane. We were able to see Mt. Fuji from the plane which was pretty cool and many other mountains as well as lots of ocean. We are eager to see what this next week has to offer!!!
Proverbs 3:5-6 will lead us through this week, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."