Ridiculous

To continue the saga of my passport....

Thursday, I emailed a friend and asked her to go to my house and dig through a ton of paper work to find the copy of my passport and visa that I had made. Of course, I didn't leave it in a handy location so I am sure she had to dig for a while. I have amazing friends!!!!!

On friday, I woke up and went to the embassy to start the process for getting a new passport. I had to fill out 4 forms...one of which was to file a lost or stolen report and another to get a new one. We then had to get a police report stating that it was lost. This task alone could have been a huge hassle but the guy at the embassy called a friend and it went super smooth. I had to find a photo booth which is basically a stand on the side of the road where I sit on a stool and a man holds a white sheet up behind me. They then provided a nicely done passport size photo....pretty impressive for a stand on the side of the road. Of course, we asked for only four and they produced 6 which we then had to pay for. We had to truck back to the office to get $100 to pay for the new passport. This whole process took about 4 hours of our time on Friday morning. I was very appreciative of Heidi, a Bangui missionary, who went with me through this entire process to help if there were any problems.

Than this morning, I woke up and finally had some time to unpack my stuff. As I was doing so, I noticed an odd looking paper under my night stand. I bent down to see what it was and found it to be my plane ticket and right behind it was my passport. Oh my gosh...I am the biggest idiot. I could have sworn that I had dropped it at the airport...but I was totally wrong. What a fool?

To get the passport, they had to send the paperwork to Yaounde Cameroon via DHL. It isn't supposed to arrive until Monday morning. The embassy is closed on the weekend so I will have to call on Monday morning and see what they want me to do. I just need to make sure they have not cancelled my passport in the system because if they have than the passport is useless and I will need a new one anyway.

I swear...I bring drama whereever I go. I am very grateful for friends who are willing to walk through my stupidity. They are truly the best and I am so sorry for all the hassle I have caused....ugh all around!!!

Tomorrow is Sunday...I agreed to go with Heidi to a Sango church. I am really not excited for this. It is hot, uncomfortable, long, and I don't understand a word. Hey, it will end so I can make it through. ...right? She also asked me to go to a communion later on...which in this denomination means the breaking of the bread, the love feast, and the washing of the feet. It is what is called a three part communion...I decided against that one...largely becuase the love feast is gozo and I just can not stomach that food. I will tell you more about that food later.