TULSA, Okla. — A global IT outage stranded about 20 missionaries from Tulsa in Amsterdam.
The outage impacted their flights from Ghana to Tulsa.
The large group is trying every avenue to get home, but without being separated it's becoming difficult.
"She’s ready to be home. It was fun. You know, I’ve seen the pictures of Amsterdam. It was a great experience. She’s going to come home a different woman but she’s ready to be home.," said Kelly Hugghins, whose daughter is on the trip.
The trip started as a ten day mission trip, the first global mission the Southern Hill Baptist Church had since 2020.
Now, after the global issues involving Crowdstrike, they are some of those having to deal with the aftermath.
"It’s been a long time since they’ve been gone. Now I’m getting a little anxious. Wanting them back home," said Hugghins.
Those on the trip are in good spirits as they worked to get home. 2 News did a long-distance Zoom call with some members of the church.
"It’s been a little bit crazy. We spent all day yesterday in the airport. We would go talk with one person and they would say 'Oh no you need to go talk to this person.' So it was a lot of back and forth," said church staff member Michelle Norman.
During a layover in Amsterdam, the group boarded their Delta flight ready to head back to the U.S. While on the plane the system went down.
After four hours sitting on the tarmac, everyone deplaned. Church leaders started to take action quickly.
"We wanted to make sure our students were taken care of. Our students were in a hotel, they had food to eat, and we went shopping today to get some clothing for them. Because we have no luggage. Nobody has a suitcase right now, we don’t have our stuff," said the group's leaders.
Norman and Jesse Graver said the airline promised refunds for some expenses including hotel fares and food.
2 News also talked with some youth mission members. They did not feel as bad to be stuck in Amsterdam. While waiting to hear what's next some went to see the sights. But they are ready to be home.
"I think when I go to Tulsa, I’m going to pet my dogs and probably go to Subway because I really want Subway," said Gunner Hitchcock.
Another student has a different motivation to get home.
"When I get back I will probably be sleeping 24 hours before talking to people again," said Aryin Ethridge.
One of the sponsors of the trip spent about ten hours on the phone trying to get the group home. They are currently booked on a flight for later in the week.
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