Things were coming along smoothly for the upcoming mission trip my husband and I were planning to Peru, until about two and a half weeks before our departure. One of our Indonesian students, Chrisheline, came to us distraught and upset. She told us, she had passport problems and it didn’t look like she would be able to go on the mission trip.
Upon further investigation, we found out she currently held an Indonesian Passport, which was expiring within just a few days after we arrived back home from Peru. Most countries require an expiration date between 6-12 months after departure from said country. She had applied for a U.S. Passport in January, 2017, plenty of time to process by our March 9, departure date. Just 11 days before departure Chrisheline received a letter from the passport agency saying that they needed more documents to be able to complete the passport process.
Chrisheline was devastated, she had worked hard and had raised all the funds for the trip. This was her first mission trip, and she was really looking forward to going. My husband, working with Chrisheline, immediately started making phone calls trying to figure out how to get the right documentation to the right place and get her passport processed, in hand, and all in a week and a half.
Working with her parents, Chrisheline, and with numerous phone calls, documents were overnighted to the passport agency. We started praying. We gathered as a mission trip team to pray over Chrisheline’s plight. We had the entire student body praying for her. Our prayer was for Chrisheline’s passport to arrive before we left so she could join us to Peru. And let me tell you, God answered our prayers…. just not in the way we asked for. He always has something better in mind. It usually takes stepping out in faith and what looks like to some, risky decisions.
We kept checking with Chrisheline, as she had a tracking number for the passport as it made its way through the mail system. The day before we were to leave, the passport was in Commerce City in the big mail distribution center. Chrisheline and her parents went to the mail distribution warehouse to try to pick it up, to no avail. They wouldn’t release the passport to her. She was told it would be delivered within the next day or so and she would just have to wait. We kept praying…
We had about 45 students and sponsors going on our trip. Because some of the participants had made the decision to go after we had purchased tickets, we had our group split in two. Ten or so were leaving at 8:00am and routed through Miami, the main group was leaving about 2:00pm the same day and routed through Dallas. The group traveling through Miami was supposed to land in Cousco, Peru, our destination city a couple hours before the rest of us. Chrisheline was in the group leaving in the morning, thus not able to wait for the mail to arrive before she left.
The night before we were to leave, my husband talked to Chrisheline and her parents. They had a decision to make. Chrisheline could leave as scheduled with her Indonesian passport and hope to get through the boarding check in Miami, and through Customs in Lima, and hope the passport arrived before the later group left; or she could choose to not go on the trip. My husband put the decision in their hands. We all continued to pray…
Let me just say, for those of you who may not have experience traveling outside the country, just how scary this decision was. There was no guarantee Chrisheline would make it out of Miami, normally as you board your flight departing the US, the airline agents check your passport and boarding pass. So there was a risk of her being sent home once she reached Miami, as she didn’t have a passport that was valid for 6-12 months past the return of her trip. Then there was the risk, that if she did make it onto the plane leaving Miami, she would not make it through Customs in Lima, and onto her connecting flight to Cousco.
Chrisheline decided she would try to make it to Peru on her Indonesian passport, and she left with the group leaving at 8:00am. We continued to pray…
Mean while, we waited at the school for the passport to arrive before we left. It didn’t. We couldn’t wait any longer. So, without her passport in hand, my husband and I, along with the 35 others traveling on the 2:00pm, through Dallas, took off from Denver and we continued to pray.
We knew everyone had landed in Miami safely but were in the air when they took off, so did not know if Chrisheline had made the connection or not, until we landed in Dallas. As my husband turned his phone on in Dallas, a text came through that everyone had boarded the flight to Lima! I teared up, how awesome! We thanked God, and continued to pray….
As we arrived in Lima after an overnight flight from Dallas, we didn’t know if we needed to be looking for Chrisheline to helping her get home, or if we could go onto Cousco. There were a couple sponsors who had international texting plans, and soon word came through; Chrisheline was with the group in Cousco waiting for us to arrive! We all cheered and hugged and shed some tears of joy. But wait, the trip was not over… Chrisheline had to make it home! We thanked God, and continued to pray…
In the mean time, back in Colorado her passport arrived the next day. Chrisheline’s parents picked it up from the school, and sent it through DHL to our contact person in Cousco.
When we were all united together in Peru we found out what had happened. Upon arriving to Peru, one of the group sponsors went through the customs line first and informed the customs agent that he was with a group of students on their way to help out at an orphanage. The sponsor put Chrisheline in the middle of the line, so by the point she got up to the desk to get her passport stamped, the customs agent would hopefully just stamp the passport and move on.
When Chrisheline got up to the customs counter, the agent asked if she was part of the group on a mission trip, she said she was. There was a long pause, as the customs agent looked at the passport, looked at her and back at the passport. Everyone there held their breath. He stamped it and called for the next person. WOW!
When Chrisheline got up to the customs counter, the agent asked if she was part of the group on a mission trip, she said she was. There was a long pause, as the customs agent looked at the passport, looked at her and back at the passport. Everyone there held their breath. He stamped it and called for the next person. WOW!
As we started our work at the orphanage, we continued to pray for everything to work out and for Chrisheline to have a smooth trip back home. On Friday we got word that the passport had arrived and our contact person had it in hand.
But wait, there’s more. Chrisheline couldn’t just take her US passport, with no entry stamp to Peru in it, waltz back through Lima and Dallas then home. So we continued to pray.
But wait, there’s more. Chrisheline couldn’t just take her US passport, with no entry stamp to Peru in it, waltz back through Lima and Dallas then home. So we continued to pray.
My husband instructed Chrisheline to use her Indonesian passport to get out of Peru. We were hopeful they wouldn’t balk at the expiration date coming up in a few days. We hoped that since she was leaving the country they would stamp the exit stamp and not say anything. She had her US passport in her bag if she needed it. But, we told her not to have both of them out at the same time, as that would raise questions. We put her in the middle of the line again, and prayed. The customs agent again looked at her, looked at her passport, I mean really looked at her passport, looked at her, and finally stamped her out of the country. Praise God! Just one more hurdle.
When we arrived in Dallas we got in the customs line. There were no customs agents, everything was computerized for US citizens. This time we told Chrisheline to use her US passport. She went through, scanned the first page of her passport; the one with her picture and passport number on it. Then, the computer took her picture and printed a black and white mug shot of her along with a print out of her travel information. We all proceeded to pick up our bags and go through the final check point. There, the customs agent glance at the first page of her passport, looked at her, and glanced at her print out, and let her through!
Every time I think about Chrisheline, I get goose bumps remembering how Awesome that God had a series of mini miracles set up to create one giant miracle for Chrisheline. Had she not stepped out in faith God would not have been able to show her and the rest of us what He had planned. She could have gotten hung up or turned away at any of the many checkpoints and things still would have gotten sorted out. But a seamless entry and exit! WOW GOD!
I think this experience was for more than just Chrisheline, though she will have a special memory of this for the rest of her life, it was for all of us, including you, who are reading this story. To remind us that amidst all the chaos, God is still in control, and He cares about the details.
~Honali Marin
