Sunday, May 11, 2008

I MADE IT!!!


OK so I'm here in Kathmandu and things are going really well although i really shouldn't have made it over here. When i got to the Chicago airport to fly to Delhi, India I got up to the counter to get my boarding pass i gave them all my passport information, the lady at the counter told me she was in denial about needing glasses and so i read her my passport information. So she asked me for my India visa info i told her i didn't have a India visa because I'm just going on a connecting flight to Kathmandu "it doesn't matter to fly to India you need a Indian visa" so right after that i got that feeling of my heart sinking about three inches deeper into my chest. I talked to her for a bit and she ended up giving my my boarding ticket and telling my that if their was a problem they would call me up again. I was super stressed out and praying as hard as i could and and then they called "A. Marco to the desk for passport information". It seemed a little queer how close that sounded to "A. Mark to the front desk for passport information" but soon after they called everybody board the plane so i got on as soon as i could and flew to Delhi.
I got off the plane In Delhi and went to the counter. I got to the counter and went through the same thing i went through in Chicago "what do you mean you don't have your India visa". (I didnt have my tickets yet for Kathmandu,i was told i could get them a little cheaper in India) Yeah so they sent me a few places and i had to talk to about 4 diffrent airport staff, they were pretty nice about it but i was getting pretty worried because i could tell it was turning into a pretty big deal. They ended up telling me that if somebody else bought the ticket for me i would be able to get on my flight. I couldn't go buy them myself because i couldn't go through the airport without a visa. I made a few calls, I couldn't get a ticket bought that night but it sounded like i could get one for tommorow morning. They told me they had a lounge i could go to with a buffet, open bar, and nice couches i could sleep on. So i went to the ITC welcome group port lounge. It was very nice their. Their was one main indian guy who was probably early 20's coming and talking to me about my situation about every 15 min. he then brought an older woman to come talk to me and enplane my situation she wasn't quite as nice. They brought me over to a quiet corner for the questioning. I was worried at this point and the next time the guy came back he was only whispering "you shouldn't have been able to come here from America" he listed some people and said if they found out i would be deported back to Chicago. He asked if i had cash on me, I said i did. He told me he could talk to some people from the airline and probably get me on the flight. I them bought my ticket on the internet in the lounge and told him to do what he had to do. He was gone for a very long 3 hours. When he came back he told me not to talked to anybody else about my situation no matter what. He gave me a piece of paper and told me to put the money in the paper fold it up and give it back i did then he gave me a piece of paper with my flight info on it and said that i somebody would come to the lounge before the flight and give me my boarding pass and get me on the plane. That was a the longest 8 hours of my life i really didn't know it that guy just took my money and ran. I was praying so hard for this to work out. At the proper time one of the airport staff came and got me on the flight.
So I'm thinking GOD really wanted me to be here. Right after i got here i was told not long ago a team of 8 doctors from Hawaii had the same situation and were deported back to Hawaii . so thanks everybody that was praying for me and I'm so thankful to be here. The internet and power is pretty sketchy so getting to blog is not that easy.

P.S. i was told by the pastor that there are 3 girls from one of the other churches here looking for an arranged marriage

3 comments:

Christa said...

TONY I am SO glad to hear from you!!! WE've been praying ALOT for you!! Wow sorry that's the way things started, but glad that GOD is GOOD!!
3 girls looking for a husband hey! Be careful :)

Jac said...

Tony!!

First I have to tell you that Calvin has been praying that you wouldn't be sad while all alone in the India airport. We prayed specifically that God would put the right people in your path at the right time. Calvin was so excited when I read your blog and told him how you got to Nepal.

Yes, God must really want you there! How exciting!

Jacquie

Julia Mark said...

Ant, i never figured you'd have problems like that! Now mom is all worried that they like wont let you back in to fly out of there...She's imagining that you're now like blacklisted in India.
Hope its going well.
-Julia-