Riza Fortuna

DIARY: My Pre-Thanksgiving Week

Nov. 11 (Sat) – I left Manila for US. First pleasant surprise: I flew First Class since PAL automatically upgraded me from Business Class. Wow, what a great way to start my trip! We also flew and arrived on time. I felt like PAL was able to redeem itself before me, having experienced my 14-hour delay from LA to Manila in my last US trip on August.

Nov. 12 (Sun) – I arrived in Cincinnati on time after three flights from Manila (via San Francisco and New York). Truly, there is always a better time. In my August US trip, not a single flight was on time. First challenge I had was finding my way to my hotel. This was my 3^rd time to drive in Cincinnati this year but being geographically challenged, it took me more than two hours (versus 45 minutes estimate) to get to my hotel. In as much as I printed two sets of directions from Map Quest and my hotel’s webpage, and studied them in the plane, still I got lost. Lesson learned: read and study maps even if I hate doing so. Before I left for the US , I was deciding whether to attend anticipated mass on Saturday (Nov. 10) at home, or attend mass in the US when I arrive on Sunday. My flight from Manila was at 1030pm so it was somehow tight if I will attend anticipated mass considering I have to be at the airport around 8pm and that there is a Saturday night traffic. I was led to decide to attend mass at home and so I did. I still made it to the airport at 8pm. After getting lost on my way to my Cincinnati hotel from the airport, I was so glad I have attended anticipated mass back home. Otherwise, being so exhausted upon arrival, I may not have attended mass at all.

Nov. 13 (Mon) – First day of my meetings. I woke up at 2:30am and can no longer sleep. That meant a lot of struggle to be awake. Miraculously, I was very much awake during my two meetings. The first one in the morning gave me my first work blessing: I was declared to be fully qualified by my global coach on a technical qualification I have been working on for around one year. The second meeting was a one to one with my boss whom I only meet twice to thrice a year. Prior to our meeting, I have been trying to accomplish all she asked me to do in time for our review. However, things really go through some process and so I faced my boss knowing that not all that she asked of me to do have been completed. I thank God for the grace to see things from the right perspective. To meet my boss with courage and present things as they are and get coaching from her. Though I got out from our 3-hour meeting having more work to do, I felt so energized and confident of my contribution to the company. Again, I thank God for the privilege to have great coaches like my current boss.

            The night was highlighted with my traditional dinner with Jay-r, brother from the mission team of Lingkod Alabang who is based in Cincinnati. As the faithful “courier boy”, he brought the stuff mailed to him by sisters who asked me to bring home stuff to the Philippines. A night of conversation that mutually blessed us.

          I thought the night was over until I talked with Alle, my best friend-sister from Lingkod Alabang who is based in Idaho (but will soon be assigned in Philippines). We talked for over two hours and we cannot have enough of it. It was her birthday on Nov. 11 and it was quite hard to catch her so being able to chat with her that night was a big blessing!

Nov. 14-16 – The next three days were my major meeting days. They turned out to be super blessed. One key blessing was having someone who is a genius and an expert in his field helping me author the program that I am leading globally. I recognize my limitations in writing especially in putting them into language that can be approved by our legal and purchasing contacts. I just feel so blessed to receive his full support! Thanks be to God. It was also great to have the half day working session I led run smoothly and with great cooperation from our global team.

Nov. 17 – After work on Friday was supposed to be a shopping time. However, I got sick which was due to the chilly Cincinnati rains I believe, so I ended up sleeping from one to eleven PM in my hotel! However, I felt that it was God’s way of allowing me to rest after successive nights of lack of sleep due to jet lag. So I was grateful, and indeed I was refreshed after.

Nov. 18-19 – I spent the weekend in LA. That was not originally planned but since I wasn’t able to get a Northwest flight from Manila, I decided to take PAL where the point of exit from the US is LA. That was my first time to go around LA, to even go outside the airport perimeter. My first cousin Gigi whom I grew up with in Cebu and whom I haven’t met for almost 3 years have been my most gracious host. She took the time off from work and showed me Hollywood among others. One of the best things that happened to me was being able to attend mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels officiated by the Bishop of LA, and receive communion from him (unexpectedly since I was seated at the end pews). I felt God was so kind to me especially that we arrived late for the mass. We sat at the back but we were ushered to the front to be the first ones to take Holy Communion (both bread and wine)! I believe God hugged me that morning. Also, the last pleasant surprise was another upgrade to First Class upon going home to Manila. Life can truly be better, if not the best! Praise be to God who allows me to live a full life in Him, and who have once again been my perfect travel companion and provider during this trip!