We have now been in Jakarta a few days. We are getting used to the time change and even to the hot weather.
On Tuesday, we were introduced to the BTGH staff in Jakarta and to the work they do. The BTGH office here in Indonesia produces 4 radio programs: 2 short 5-min dailies, one long weekly program and a weekly radio drama for kids. In addition to the radio broadcasts, the office writes weekly scripts for a children's television program and is beginning work on a 52-episode adult TV show. Also, they produce devotionals for mailing, like the "Today" from BTGH in North America. However, they make 4 different devotionals: one each for kids, teens, young adults, and adults.
Beginning on Wednesday, we started work on our own radio scripts; one for the long program and one for the short program. It is interesting to work on a radio show for an audience you do not quite know. Keri and I are quickly learning that some ways that Indonesian radio broadcasts differ from their American counterparts.
As for our free time in Jakarta, Keri and I are immersing ourselves into the Indonesian diet. Lots of rice, spicy sauces and fresh melons are typical of daily meals. Wednesday night, we took a taxi to a local mall to buy some Indonesian shirts, aka, batik shirts. On the way back to our host house we got caught in a torrential downpour. Even though we are in the "Dry Season" the rain came down in sheets. Also the streets we needed to take to get back were flooded with water, with the water coming up over our shoes. Needless to say, Keri and I looked like drowned rats by the time we made it back to home. I think our hosts believe we were a little crazy for not carrying an umbrella. We will know better next time. I guess this is what happens when Minnesotans try to visit a tropical environment. We get soaked.
Well since tomorrow (Friday) is a Buddhist holiday, the country has the day off of work. Keri and I plan on relaxing a bit, and perhaps shop for some souvenirs from local vendors. On Saturday, we will go see Mini Indonesia, an attraction that has examples of dress, buildings, and plants from all over Indonesia's 10,000+ islands.
You can hope to hear from us again on Monday, when Keri will leave already to head back to the States, leaving all the spicy food for me.
Jonathan and Keri
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
A Weekend in Jogjakarta
Sorry that we have not updated the page in awhile. We have not had a chance to update until today. If you have not read our previous entries about San Fransisco and Taiwan please scroll down to read them.
On to our current story. We spent the weekend in Jogjakarta (Yogykarta) or Jogja for short. Jogja is in Central Java and is the former capital of Indonesia and home to 3 million people. It is a crowded province with 2500 people per square mile (compared to my home county of Pipestone, MN which averages 21 people per square mile.) We stayed in a hotel on crowded Malioboro Street known as home to possibly the world's longest restaurant. The length of the street is nonstop little sidewalk eateries and wheeled food stands. We ate great traditional Indonesian food nightly from the little stalls. For our weekend this is the run down.
Saturday - We traveled with Pastors Untung and Lukas and visited two of the radio stations that the Indonesian Back to God Hour broadcast plays at. At each station, we met with listeners who gather at the stations for Bible studies and fellowship during the week. It was interesting to listen to the stories of those who began to listen to the Christian programs and Christian music from these stations.
Next, we traveled to a Christian School in the small town of Klaten (it calls itself a small town - only 1.2 million residents). It is a growing school with over 400 students in the grade school and another 300 students in the Middle and High Schools. They are currently in the midst of renovating some of the classrooms, so the smell of fresh paint was everywhere. We were given info about the history and finances of the school (the entire school budget is under $70,000 U.S. Dollars - many of the teachers are unpaid.)
Untung and Lukas spoke to some of the teachers who were there about the Indonesian BTGH devotionals for children and teens and about the collaboration they have together with other Christian Schools in Indonesia and with Christian Schools International.
We then went to Prambanan Temple, a Hindu temple built in the 9th Century. It is the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia. What a beautiful temple! The spires were so ornate and carvings were everywhere. Inside each temple is a shrine to a Hindu god with a sculpture in the center. I suggest you Wikipedia Prambanan to see more pictures. Some of the temple complex was destroyed by the recent earthquake though they are restoring some of the spires. The temples were closed off because of the damage, but the guards were letting "special visitors" in, so we were able to walk through by ourselves.
Sunday.
We got up early to attend a 7:30AM service in the town of Bantul, a town near the epicenter of the 2006 earthquake. The church is in the GKJ (Javanese Christian Church) denomination. The church had been leveled by the earthquake last May, and the congregation met in a tent for seven months until a church structure was built. Though the building is not yet completed we spent the Pentecost Sunday service with them in their new building. One interesting feature of the congregation was the special Pentecost offering. In the picture you can see at the bottom of this page, food was brought up front as a sign of offering. Then everyone walked up front to give their Pentecost donation in a vase up front. It was quite a scene.
After eating, we then went to the Sultan's Palace in Jogja. Tourists are allowed to see a couple buildings on the immense Palace campus (kind of like only seeing the Blue and Green rooms of the White House.) The current Sultan (the tenth) is the governor of Jogja province. The rooms and the horse carriages we saw were ornate in design and often gold-plated.
Next, we went to a Christian School in Wates, a small town southwest of Jogja. There the Christian School is very small with 60 students, most of whom are Muslim. Muslims who go there tend to be moderate Muslims who like the education they can get at a Christian School.
Monday.
We visited Bethesda Christian Hospital in Jogja. There, the BTGH program is broadcast over the radio in the 400 patient rooms. Additionally, we met with the pastoral care staff there who minister and pray with all patients, whether they be Christian, Muslim or Buddhist. The staff talked about the struggles they faced in the aftermath of the Earthquake. Over 4000 people were admitted into a hospital that can serve only 400. They said in that situation everyone becomes a nurse and that many patients had to be cared for in the parking lot as they rested on newspapers on top of the pavement.
Afterwards, we went to Borobudur, the world's largest Buddhist Stupa, built in the 7th Century. The temple has 10 levels which signify the 10 steps a Buddhist needs to climb in order to go to heaven. It is still a Buddhist pilgrimage site. Well, I guess Keri and I will make it to Buddhist heaven since we made the climb to the top all while wearing my Calvin Theological Seminary t-shirt. At the top of Borobudur, you can see over the beautiful mountain valley. But it was a brutal climb especially for a pregnant Keri. We were grateful for shade and cool water at the bottom.
After the temple, we went back to the airport in order to return to Jakarta. When we arrived at Jakarta, we were taken to our hosts for the next several weeks, Joseph and Theresia Gunawan. Grateful for a cool bed, we fell asleep by 10PM.
So today (Tuesday) begins our stay at the BTGH offices in Jakarta. I hope to hear from you all through emails or comments on the blog. Remember my email is jspronk4@calvinseminary.edu.
On to our current story. We spent the weekend in Jogjakarta (Yogykarta) or Jogja for short. Jogja is in Central Java and is the former capital of Indonesia and home to 3 million people. It is a crowded province with 2500 people per square mile (compared to my home county of Pipestone, MN which averages 21 people per square mile.) We stayed in a hotel on crowded Malioboro Street known as home to possibly the world's longest restaurant. The length of the street is nonstop little sidewalk eateries and wheeled food stands. We ate great traditional Indonesian food nightly from the little stalls. For our weekend this is the run down.
Saturday - We traveled with Pastors Untung and Lukas and visited two of the radio stations that the Indonesian Back to God Hour broadcast plays at. At each station, we met with listeners who gather at the stations for Bible studies and fellowship during the week. It was interesting to listen to the stories of those who began to listen to the Christian programs and Christian music from these stations.
Next, we traveled to a Christian School in the small town of Klaten (it calls itself a small town - only 1.2 million residents). It is a growing school with over 400 students in the grade school and another 300 students in the Middle and High Schools. They are currently in the midst of renovating some of the classrooms, so the smell of fresh paint was everywhere. We were given info about the history and finances of the school (the entire school budget is under $70,000 U.S. Dollars - many of the teachers are unpaid.)
Untung and Lukas spoke to some of the teachers who were there about the Indonesian BTGH devotionals for children and teens and about the collaboration they have together with other Christian Schools in Indonesia and with Christian Schools International.
We then went to Prambanan Temple, a Hindu temple built in the 9th Century. It is the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia. What a beautiful temple! The spires were so ornate and carvings were everywhere. Inside each temple is a shrine to a Hindu god with a sculpture in the center. I suggest you Wikipedia Prambanan to see more pictures. Some of the temple complex was destroyed by the recent earthquake though they are restoring some of the spires. The temples were closed off because of the damage, but the guards were letting "special visitors" in, so we were able to walk through by ourselves.
Sunday.
We got up early to attend a 7:30AM service in the town of Bantul, a town near the epicenter of the 2006 earthquake. The church is in the GKJ (Javanese Christian Church) denomination. The church had been leveled by the earthquake last May, and the congregation met in a tent for seven months until a church structure was built. Though the building is not yet completed we spent the Pentecost Sunday service with them in their new building. One interesting feature of the congregation was the special Pentecost offering. In the picture you can see at the bottom of this page, food was brought up front as a sign of offering. Then everyone walked up front to give their Pentecost donation in a vase up front. It was quite a scene.
After eating, we then went to the Sultan's Palace in Jogja. Tourists are allowed to see a couple buildings on the immense Palace campus (kind of like only seeing the Blue and Green rooms of the White House.) The current Sultan (the tenth) is the governor of Jogja province. The rooms and the horse carriages we saw were ornate in design and often gold-plated.
Next, we went to a Christian School in Wates, a small town southwest of Jogja. There the Christian School is very small with 60 students, most of whom are Muslim. Muslims who go there tend to be moderate Muslims who like the education they can get at a Christian School.
Monday.
We visited Bethesda Christian Hospital in Jogja. There, the BTGH program is broadcast over the radio in the 400 patient rooms. Additionally, we met with the pastoral care staff there who minister and pray with all patients, whether they be Christian, Muslim or Buddhist. The staff talked about the struggles they faced in the aftermath of the Earthquake. Over 4000 people were admitted into a hospital that can serve only 400. They said in that situation everyone becomes a nurse and that many patients had to be cared for in the parking lot as they rested on newspapers on top of the pavement.
Afterwards, we went to Borobudur, the world's largest Buddhist Stupa, built in the 7th Century. The temple has 10 levels which signify the 10 steps a Buddhist needs to climb in order to go to heaven. It is still a Buddhist pilgrimage site. Well, I guess Keri and I will make it to Buddhist heaven since we made the climb to the top all while wearing my Calvin Theological Seminary t-shirt. At the top of Borobudur, you can see over the beautiful mountain valley. But it was a brutal climb especially for a pregnant Keri. We were grateful for shade and cool water at the bottom.
After the temple, we went back to the airport in order to return to Jakarta. When we arrived at Jakarta, we were taken to our hosts for the next several weeks, Joseph and Theresia Gunawan. Grateful for a cool bed, we fell asleep by 10PM.
So today (Tuesday) begins our stay at the BTGH offices in Jakarta. I hope to hear from you all through emails or comments on the blog. Remember my email is jspronk4@calvinseminary.edu.
Monday, May 28, 2007
There and Back again.... A Calvin Seminarian's Journey to Indonesia
Well, Samwise and Frodo... er.. Keri and I have made it to Indonesia. Great to be here. Our travels (or travails) have taken all kinds of twists and turns. Here are the latest updates beginning with where we last left you, our loyal readers: Tuesday Afternoon in San Fran.
5PM We take the shuttle to SF Airport to confirm our new 1AM flight on China Airways. We are told that their ticket counter will not open until late tonight before the flight. Okay, so we head back to the hotel for our third trip on the Hotel Shuttle (We are beginning to know our Shuttle driver by name).
7PM Since we are in SF we decide to call up an old friend of ours from Edgerton, Brett Nibbelink. Brett and I went to grade school, high school and Dordt College together. He and his wife Michelle live in San Jose where she is a teacher and he works as an engineer for a defense contractor. Michelle is out of town on a class trip, but Brett is free for the evening, so he drives up to the Hotel.
8PM We enjoy a splendid dinner at the hotel restaurant on EVA airlines. Keri has chicken breast stuffed with with prosciutto, Brett has the grilled salmon and I have the Ribeye Florentine. The steak was so-so, but considering I did not have to pick up the bill, the meal had a certain desirable flavor.
10PM We say our goodbyes to Brett and take the shuttle to the airport for our third visit to the SF airport in 24 hours. We stand in line at the ticket counter for an hour. We find out that we were never confirmed in our China Airlines flight so we do not have tickets for this flight. We are now on the 10AM Wednesday EVA Airlines flight. Since we were going to be on a different airline, EVA airlines had already pulled our bags. However, they told us they only could find two out of three bags. At this point, I could not stop from laughing. What else could go wrong on this trip? The EVA airlines people ask if we would like our bags. Yes, we would like to change out of our two-day old clothes. Amazingly, when we go to the area to get our bags, all three are waiting for us. They ask us if we would like to check them in now so they can hold on to them. We tell them a resounding NO. We will take care of our own baggage. Weary, we take the hotel shuttle back to the hotel (at this point we get to know another hotel shuttle driver and we know the route by heart). Fortunately, we still have our same room since we were booked in it two nights.
Wednesday.
7AM we take the Hotel Shuttle for the possibly final time. I have now seen the same two miles of California six times. We check in and the agent says they booted us off the flight. Thankfully, there was a manager there who knew us from the night before who promptly put us back on the flight. Amazingly the flight is on time for 10AM. We get on board. We taxi the runway. We are ready for take-off. We are ready to finally leave this country after three days of trials and tribulation. Keri has her passport, nothing can stop us now......... The Captain asks if there is a doctor on the plane...... Someone on the plane needs medical attention so we taxi back to the gate...We are delayed an hour.... Finally at 11:30 our plane leaves the USA, and we are on our way to Taipei.
Thursday
3PM (Taipei Time) After a 13 hour flight complete with fairly good airplane food (the beef tips were great) and several mediocre movies (My reviews: Music and Lyrics 2 stars, The Pursuit of Happyness 2 1/2 stars, Norbit 0 stars) we land in Taipei. However, we have now missed our flight to Jakarta, Indonesia, so we will have to stay in a Taipei hotel one night. Alright, we now get to see a little of Taiwan or the Republic of China. We stay in a nice hotel with a great view of the city. We have authentic Chinese food that is mediocre at best. We shower and sleep, eager to start day five of our trip.
Friday
6AM Catch another hotel bus to the airport. I have decided that we should have just taken shuttle buses to Indonesia, at least they run on time. Our flight to Jakarta leaves at 10AM. We stand in a variety of lines until we finally board our plane to Indonesia. We are away.
2PM land in Jakarta. Spend an hour going through immigration and visa lines. Get our bags and meet Rev. Untung and Pastor Lukas of the Back to God Hour ministry. Untung quickly tells us that we are all scheduled to leave on another flight to Jogjakarta in an hour. We get on the next plane and leave for Jogja.
6PM we land in Jogja. Jogjakarta is the former capital of Java island in Indonesia and home to 3 million people. It is the Javanese people's cultural headquarters. Also it is the epicenter of the large-scale earthquake that hit Indonesia last May 2006. Over 6000 people died in that 6.3 magnitude earthquake with an estimated 1.5 million left homeless in the region. We will be in town for the one-year anniversery of the quake. We will spend the weekend visiting BTGH listener communities.
We stay in a hotel in Jogja, glad to be finally resting in Indonesia. We want to thank God for safe travels, and we want to thank everyone who was praying for us on this trip. We hope to have more details about our weekend in Jogja soon. Also make sure you scroll to the bottom of the page, where we will post new pictures.
5PM We take the shuttle to SF Airport to confirm our new 1AM flight on China Airways. We are told that their ticket counter will not open until late tonight before the flight. Okay, so we head back to the hotel for our third trip on the Hotel Shuttle (We are beginning to know our Shuttle driver by name).
7PM Since we are in SF we decide to call up an old friend of ours from Edgerton, Brett Nibbelink. Brett and I went to grade school, high school and Dordt College together. He and his wife Michelle live in San Jose where she is a teacher and he works as an engineer for a defense contractor. Michelle is out of town on a class trip, but Brett is free for the evening, so he drives up to the Hotel.
8PM We enjoy a splendid dinner at the hotel restaurant on EVA airlines. Keri has chicken breast stuffed with with prosciutto, Brett has the grilled salmon and I have the Ribeye Florentine. The steak was so-so, but considering I did not have to pick up the bill, the meal had a certain desirable flavor.
10PM We say our goodbyes to Brett and take the shuttle to the airport for our third visit to the SF airport in 24 hours. We stand in line at the ticket counter for an hour. We find out that we were never confirmed in our China Airlines flight so we do not have tickets for this flight. We are now on the 10AM Wednesday EVA Airlines flight. Since we were going to be on a different airline, EVA airlines had already pulled our bags. However, they told us they only could find two out of three bags. At this point, I could not stop from laughing. What else could go wrong on this trip? The EVA airlines people ask if we would like our bags. Yes, we would like to change out of our two-day old clothes. Amazingly, when we go to the area to get our bags, all three are waiting for us. They ask us if we would like to check them in now so they can hold on to them. We tell them a resounding NO. We will take care of our own baggage. Weary, we take the hotel shuttle back to the hotel (at this point we get to know another hotel shuttle driver and we know the route by heart). Fortunately, we still have our same room since we were booked in it two nights.
Wednesday.
7AM we take the Hotel Shuttle for the possibly final time. I have now seen the same two miles of California six times. We check in and the agent says they booted us off the flight. Thankfully, there was a manager there who knew us from the night before who promptly put us back on the flight. Amazingly the flight is on time for 10AM. We get on board. We taxi the runway. We are ready for take-off. We are ready to finally leave this country after three days of trials and tribulation. Keri has her passport, nothing can stop us now......... The Captain asks if there is a doctor on the plane...... Someone on the plane needs medical attention so we taxi back to the gate...We are delayed an hour.... Finally at 11:30 our plane leaves the USA, and we are on our way to Taipei.
Thursday
3PM (Taipei Time) After a 13 hour flight complete with fairly good airplane food (the beef tips were great) and several mediocre movies (My reviews: Music and Lyrics 2 stars, The Pursuit of Happyness 2 1/2 stars, Norbit 0 stars) we land in Taipei. However, we have now missed our flight to Jakarta, Indonesia, so we will have to stay in a Taipei hotel one night. Alright, we now get to see a little of Taiwan or the Republic of China. We stay in a nice hotel with a great view of the city. We have authentic Chinese food that is mediocre at best. We shower and sleep, eager to start day five of our trip.
Friday
6AM Catch another hotel bus to the airport. I have decided that we should have just taken shuttle buses to Indonesia, at least they run on time. Our flight to Jakarta leaves at 10AM. We stand in a variety of lines until we finally board our plane to Indonesia. We are away.
2PM land in Jakarta. Spend an hour going through immigration and visa lines. Get our bags and meet Rev. Untung and Pastor Lukas of the Back to God Hour ministry. Untung quickly tells us that we are all scheduled to leave on another flight to Jogjakarta in an hour. We get on the next plane and leave for Jogja.
6PM we land in Jogja. Jogjakarta is the former capital of Java island in Indonesia and home to 3 million people. It is the Javanese people's cultural headquarters. Also it is the epicenter of the large-scale earthquake that hit Indonesia last May 2006. Over 6000 people died in that 6.3 magnitude earthquake with an estimated 1.5 million left homeless in the region. We will be in town for the one-year anniversery of the quake. We will spend the weekend visiting BTGH listener communities.
We stay in a hotel in Jogja, glad to be finally resting in Indonesia. We want to thank God for safe travels, and we want to thank everyone who was praying for us on this trip. We hope to have more details about our weekend in Jogja soon. Also make sure you scroll to the bottom of the page, where we will post new pictures.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
If you're going to San Francisco.......
-I no longer fear death because I have been to Kamp Krusty-
Lisa Simpson
In the same way, I think I know what that sentiment feels like as we are still in Travel Purgatory. While I don't think there is a spiritual purgatory, I know that there is a Travel Purgatory or TP. In TP you hurry up to wait in line so that you can get a number to get your place in another line. In TP, you are given hope time and time again before it is quickly taken away. In other words, Keri and I are having the time of our lives. In case you would like to hear the highlights and lowlights of our travel day/week/eternity here are the highlights and lowlights.
Monday
6AM (Eastern) Begin calling travel agencies, Congressional offices, Denominational Agencies, Passport Centers in the hopes of expediting Keri's passport process
9AM Rep. Vern Ehlers' office gets us in the door at the Chicago Passport Office. We begin to wonder if we should drive to Chicago now and hook up with our flight schedule in Grand Rapids (we were flying GR-Chicago-San Fran-Taipei-Jakarta beginning at 4PM departure with a 8:30 flight to Chi.)
10AM we are told by our travel agent that we cannot cancel the GR-CHI flight, or we don't go at all. Looks like Keri will not get her passport.
10:30AM we make a mad dash to airport for pity from American Airlines. Keri starts the waterworks. Finds a sympathetic ticket agent for American Eagle Airlines who bumps us up to the 11:20AM flight. However, we do not have our luggage along. I make mad dash to home, get bags, break several traffic laws, get to the counter 120 seconds before we are supposed to board. Ticket agent ends up parking our car for us as we dash for the security point. Get on plane. Breathe and start hoping for the best at the Chicago Passport Office. (Running and pregnancy don't mix, especially when you're not in shape.)
12:00PM (central time) get to Chicago, hop on CTA blue line for Downtown
1PM Arrive at Fed building enter into a long line in a hot hallway.
2PM Finally get to counter, they have not been faxed Keri's information from the main Passport office like we were told by the Congressional office they were supposed to. We are told to sit while they try to find her info
3PM they have now found the info. They actually told Keri that it takes a day for their faxes to come in; what is this, 1934, how can it take a day for a fax to come through? Ladies and Gentlemen, your United States State Department (its no wonder our State Department cannot solve any worldwide situation diplomatically, they are incapable of doing anything in a timely manner). Anyway, we take a number and wait for the next available agent.
4PM our number is called. Keri has been approved for a Passport. Now we have to wait in another room for her passport to be printed so we can head out for our 8PM flight out of Chicago. Should only take a couple minutes.
5:30PM after 90 minutes, against all odds and common sense, we get Keri's passport. God is good; our prayers are answered. That office probably printed over 500 passports that day for weary, stressed travelers; Keri's was the sixth from the end. Excited, we catch the train for O'Hare.
6:30PM get to O'Hare, check in, and eat at Airport McDonalds. First meal for my pregnant wife in 12+ hours. McD's never tasted so good. Things are looking bright
8PM we get on plane for San Fran. Exhausted, we both sleep and I begin to dream of Asian Mangos.
11PM (Pacific time) arrive in SF. After running around the airport for an hour, we finally find a way to the international terminal. Sit at gate for our 1AM flight.
1Am "we are delaying the flight 10 minutes, don't worry, we should be boarding shortly"
1:15Am "we are delaying the flight 10 minutes, don't worry, we should be boarding shortly"
1:30Am "we are delaying the flight 10 minutes, don't worry, we should be boarding shortly"
1:45Am "we are delaying the flight 20 hours due to an engine part we need to fly in from Taiwan. Sorry." Stampede to ticket counter for Hotels, information, flights, etc.
3AM go on shuttle to El Rancho Inn in SF.
4AM get room, call the Back to God Hour and Finally fall asleep 25 some hours after we started
Tuesday
10AM wake, shower (so very needed) go for lunch at local diner on EVA airlines. Wait for our new 10PM flight. Sort of enjoy my first time to California. We buy underwear and a t-shirt at local store. Decide to burn the pairs we had been wearing.
2PM told our new flight has been further delayed until 10AM the 23rd. Try to reschedule. After holding on the line for 40 minutes we get new flight from China Airlines leaving 1AM to Taipei then 8AM Taipei to Jakarta arriving at 1PM the 24th.
Well, that is where we are now. We thank you for your love and prayers for our travels. We so deeply appreciate the way our home churches and friends and family have supported us during this very stressful time. However, we are just so happy that Keri has her health and her passport, and we are assured that someday this week we will get to Indonesia. Though it may be hard to believe, we have had so many moments of divine intervention this week that we know that we are in God's hands.
If you have any questions or comments please leave them on the blog
Love,
Jonathan and Keri
Lisa Simpson
In the same way, I think I know what that sentiment feels like as we are still in Travel Purgatory. While I don't think there is a spiritual purgatory, I know that there is a Travel Purgatory or TP. In TP you hurry up to wait in line so that you can get a number to get your place in another line. In TP, you are given hope time and time again before it is quickly taken away. In other words, Keri and I are having the time of our lives. In case you would like to hear the highlights and lowlights of our travel day/week/eternity here are the highlights and lowlights.
Monday
6AM (Eastern) Begin calling travel agencies, Congressional offices, Denominational Agencies, Passport Centers in the hopes of expediting Keri's passport process
9AM Rep. Vern Ehlers' office gets us in the door at the Chicago Passport Office. We begin to wonder if we should drive to Chicago now and hook up with our flight schedule in Grand Rapids (we were flying GR-Chicago-San Fran-Taipei-Jakarta beginning at 4PM departure with a 8:30 flight to Chi.)
10AM we are told by our travel agent that we cannot cancel the GR-CHI flight, or we don't go at all. Looks like Keri will not get her passport.
10:30AM we make a mad dash to airport for pity from American Airlines. Keri starts the waterworks. Finds a sympathetic ticket agent for American Eagle Airlines who bumps us up to the 11:20AM flight. However, we do not have our luggage along. I make mad dash to home, get bags, break several traffic laws, get to the counter 120 seconds before we are supposed to board. Ticket agent ends up parking our car for us as we dash for the security point. Get on plane. Breathe and start hoping for the best at the Chicago Passport Office. (Running and pregnancy don't mix, especially when you're not in shape.)
12:00PM (central time) get to Chicago, hop on CTA blue line for Downtown
1PM Arrive at Fed building enter into a long line in a hot hallway.
2PM Finally get to counter, they have not been faxed Keri's information from the main Passport office like we were told by the Congressional office they were supposed to. We are told to sit while they try to find her info
3PM they have now found the info. They actually told Keri that it takes a day for their faxes to come in; what is this, 1934, how can it take a day for a fax to come through? Ladies and Gentlemen, your United States State Department (its no wonder our State Department cannot solve any worldwide situation diplomatically, they are incapable of doing anything in a timely manner). Anyway, we take a number and wait for the next available agent.
4PM our number is called. Keri has been approved for a Passport. Now we have to wait in another room for her passport to be printed so we can head out for our 8PM flight out of Chicago. Should only take a couple minutes.
5:30PM after 90 minutes, against all odds and common sense, we get Keri's passport. God is good; our prayers are answered. That office probably printed over 500 passports that day for weary, stressed travelers; Keri's was the sixth from the end. Excited, we catch the train for O'Hare.
6:30PM get to O'Hare, check in, and eat at Airport McDonalds. First meal for my pregnant wife in 12+ hours. McD's never tasted so good. Things are looking bright
8PM we get on plane for San Fran. Exhausted, we both sleep and I begin to dream of Asian Mangos.
11PM (Pacific time) arrive in SF. After running around the airport for an hour, we finally find a way to the international terminal. Sit at gate for our 1AM flight.
1Am "we are delaying the flight 10 minutes, don't worry, we should be boarding shortly"
1:15Am "we are delaying the flight 10 minutes, don't worry, we should be boarding shortly"
1:30Am "we are delaying the flight 10 minutes, don't worry, we should be boarding shortly"
1:45Am "we are delaying the flight 20 hours due to an engine part we need to fly in from Taiwan. Sorry." Stampede to ticket counter for Hotels, information, flights, etc.
3AM go on shuttle to El Rancho Inn in SF.
4AM get room, call the Back to God Hour and Finally fall asleep 25 some hours after we started
Tuesday
10AM wake, shower (so very needed) go for lunch at local diner on EVA airlines. Wait for our new 10PM flight. Sort of enjoy my first time to California. We buy underwear and a t-shirt at local store. Decide to burn the pairs we had been wearing.
2PM told our new flight has been further delayed until 10AM the 23rd. Try to reschedule. After holding on the line for 40 minutes we get new flight from China Airlines leaving 1AM to Taipei then 8AM Taipei to Jakarta arriving at 1PM the 24th.
Well, that is where we are now. We thank you for your love and prayers for our travels. We so deeply appreciate the way our home churches and friends and family have supported us during this very stressful time. However, we are just so happy that Keri has her health and her passport, and we are assured that someday this week we will get to Indonesia. Though it may be hard to believe, we have had so many moments of divine intervention this week that we know that we are in God's hands.
If you have any questions or comments please leave them on the blog
Love,
Jonathan and Keri
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