God's Testing and My Trusting

I wrote this narrative just over a year ago about my trip to Mongolia in March of 2010. It was a challenging trip in many ways, but the Lord worked everything out and I enjoyed my time with many dear friends over there. Thought it would be a good introduction to my travel experiences. :)

  Some of you have heard of my latest adventure, but most of you are still in the dark. Maybe some didn't even know that I left the country recently. I was trying to keep this trip on the down low, so I could surprise some of my good friends.

    Back in December, God provided me with airline tickets to Mongolia through some friends here in Alaska. I hadn't planned on visiting Mongolia for a several more years, but when I was given this, I couldn't say no. The only time that could work for me to go overseas was during my spring break. Since I was traveling so far, I decided to take an extra week also. Plan was to be gone exactly 2 weeks.... but the Lord had other plans.

   So, I left Fairbanks on March 1st, flying to Seattle then to Beijing and finally to Ulaanbataar, Mongolia. I was told here that my bags could only be checked thru to Beijing and not my final destination. I tried arguing with the airline agent, but she said it wasn't something she could change, that I would have to talk to the airline in Seattle. Since I had been thru this scenario before (4 years ago), I wasn't too happy about the situation. Arrived in Seattle and talked with the Chinese airline. They said no problem, took a copy of my itinerary and promised to find my bags and check them thru to Mongolia. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. From there I flew 11 1/2 hours to Beijing... that was a LONG flight! I was very tired when I arrived.

Me, Hossa, and Jaaz

  I landed in Beijing at a different terminal that I have before, so wasn't sure where to go. My first attempt to clear customs was a flop. I showed them my passport and flight information, telling the agent I was only passing through and needed to get to a different terminal for my connecting flight. He said that my itinerary didn't have my confirmation code on it, therefore he couldn't let me thru. WHAT?  So, he told be to go back behind the yellow line and wait. Wasn't sure what I was waiting for.... then a young man from the airlines came and got my itinerary and left. He came back about 20 minutes later with a paper from both airlines saying I was confirmed on the next flight. So, I made it through customs, headed downstairs, passed through baggage claim and out of security. Once I was 'outside,' there were swarms of people everywhere!

  After asking several people where to go, I walked out the glass sliding doors and out into Beijing! Now to find the right bus.... among the 50+ buses lined up on the street. Located the right one and climbed onboard. After a couple minutes we drove off, passing through Beijing to reach the other terminals. Dropped off at Terminal 3, I made my way inside the massive building and found the Mongolian airline check in counter. They were checking me in and the clerk asked how many bags I was checking. I told here they were being transferred over from ____ airline. She said, oh no, they don’t get transferred; you need to go get them from baggage claim and then come check them yourself. Oh and by the way our counter closes in 1 hour.

  You’ve got to be kidding me! So I walked back outside to look for the bus to take me over to Terminal 2’s baggage claim. I was waiting, pacing the sidewalk, thinking there is no way I can get back over there, locate my bags and make it back over here in 1 hour. Lord, what do I do!?

  Decided to go inside and find the help desk again. Had the receptionist there call the ____ airline and I explained them again about my baggage. She assured me again that they would transfer my luggage over to my next airlines. So, back over to the Mongolian airline counter I went. She asked again about my bags, I said just put me on the plane and they’ll be there. The Lord was testing me.

  After a 2 hour flight, I landed in Ulaanbataar. Of course, there were no bags at baggage claim for me to pick up. I kept trusting the Lord would get them to me in His time. I was besieged with Mongol taxi drivers as soon as I stepped foot out of the security. I waved them all off, looking for a familiar face among the sea of people. A young man came up and asked if I was Barrie. I almost hugged him, I was so happy to see someone that knew me (even if I didn’t know him yet). lol He was there to pick me up with his aunt and several cousins.

  I should probably try to condense this. I’m sure you all don’t want to waste an hour reading about my 2 weeks. So…. to make a long story short. I stayed in UB, for 3 days waiting for my luggage to arrive. We called the Mongolian airlines every day, went to visit their office once and kept calling and calling. Finally after 2 days, I emailed and called the ____ airlines to find out what was going on. Don’t know what they did, but my bags came in on the Friday flight from Beijing. So, I got them Friday night about 1130pm and the next morning flew out to Hatgal at 8am. I was very glad to have clean clothes!

  I have never liked the city there, so I was happy to be headed out to the village and to my friends. I had met up with my wonderful friends, Mark & Tammy Siekbert the night before, and we flew north together. On that 1 ½ flight from UB to Murun, I felt as if I were going home. Joy was overflowing in my heart. The first person I saw as I came into the small local airport of Murun was my dear friend, Pugee! I smiled at him and he just stared back. lol I walked over to him and he still stared at me, I think trying to figure out if it was really me or if he was seeing things. I said hi and asked if he knew I was coming. He had no idea and was totally taken back. So, I would say that part of my trip was a success.

the group my last night in Khatgal

  We had a pleasant drive up to Hatgal. I sat up front with Pugee and Anka and we had a good time. It was a beautiful, sunny day, though a bit chilly and windy.

  My 5 ½ days in Khatgal were wonderful days. I spent time with the Siekberts and Cofers and all my Mongol friends. We worked, played and laughed together. My last night there, we had a house full of young people. Mark made pizza and we all played crazy games. They love my crazy games. :D

   I was flying back to the city on Saturday, so we drove back to Murun on Friday and I spent the night there in a hotel. The mattress was pretty much like a rock. But I was so tired that I slept well anyways. When I got back to UB, I didn’t want to sit around the apartment all day and be bored, so I ventured out to see some friends. Went to Sprenger’s house to visit with Heather (and see Lindin). J Lkhamaa met me there and we had a good time catching up on the past year of our lives.

  Sunday I went to the English service of Faith Baptist. It was a blessing to be in that service and see the Pattersons, Gays and others that were there. And Monday morning I flew out headed home! Almost didn’t think I would make it to the airport on time. But I’ll skip that story.

  My plane was delayed 2 hours leaving UB…. which meant that I had only an hour and 20 minutes to make my connecting flight in Beijing. Well that wasn’t possible, since I had to clear customs, leave one terminal, go thru security, take the bus to the other terminal and get back thru security. So, short story, I missed my connecting flight back to the states.

  What to do now? Of course the airline I was supposed to fly home on is a smaller company, so they don’t have a counter open 24/7. They only have representatives on the floor a couple hours before one of their flights. So, I didn’t know how to get a hold of them and figure out what to do. Asked some other people and found out their office was upstairs. I took an elevator that I don’t think I was supposed to use.  I wandered around the maze of offices upstairs for a while before locating the right one. Spent 3 hours in their office trying to work everything out. Had to call my parents on their phone, since my cell was dead. They confirmed they could get me out on their next flight to Seattle, unfortunately that wasn’t till Wednesday. Tried finding an earlier flight out with a different airline, but they would have to charge me.

   From there, I headed back to the other terminal. The airline that was delayed and caused me to miss my connecting flight, put me and a whole bunch of other passengers up in a hotel room for the night. I spent the night in a 5 star hotel, free of charge. That hotel bed was 100 times better than the one I slept on in Murun a few nights before. The only catch was they didn’t want to give us individual rooms, so I had a roommate. Thankfully, she was nice. A Canadian teacher on her way back to Tokyo from Dubai. We didn’t get to our room till almost 10pm and she went out to grab a bite to eat and she left the next morning at 530 to catch the shuttle back to the airport. So, I was able to sleep in and relax a little. My parents were able to get a hold of some friends in Beijing and they called me. I took a taxi over to their place and spent the rest of my stay at their house.

   Flew out Wednesday afternoon for Seattle. They couldn’t confirm I had a seat on the Seattle flight to Fairbanks, said I had to wait till I got to the US. Cleared US customs fine, though I felt as if I was getting grilled by the customs agent. I had never been asked so many questions about my travel before. Make it out ok and then headed to the Alaska Airline counter. The two ladies who helped me were major blessings. I explained to them what had happened and they rebooked me on the night’s flight even though my original reservation was purged from the system. They confirmed me on the flight and didn’t even charge me for my bags! I was happy.

   Finally arrived back in Fairbanks on Wednesday night about 10pm. I have never been so happy in my life to be back in Alaska! The missed flights, missing bags and all wouldn’t have been so bad, if I hadn’t needed to be back in Fairbanks for work and school. But Lord knows what’s going on and He’s in control. I just tried to trust Him through it all. Whoever thinks travel is boring, should go with me on my next trip. :D