Wait Thou Upon God - 1

Past few days drifted by with so many happenings, sometimes overwhelming, but never desponding.

Tues night, when the Jordan team was checking in at the airport and i just got back from prayer meeting, Eld Boon called to tell me the latest news on TV about Suvarnabhumi airport siege. Smses sent out for prayers and the only thing NTM team could do was to pray and wait.

Eld Boon & I plus Jamesy are keen to go ahead until God closes all doors - that is when we know it is not His Will for us to go at this time. The Bangkok situation didnt get better and i had to think of alternate ways to fly up to Chiang Rai. So on Wednesday evening, i started to search the internet. All possibilities were being explored.......it was a really busy busy night of scouring the net.....amidst msn chats with Warunee, jamesy, ctyfers, etc.... What were the alternate routes?

1) Take coach to KL and fly from there to Chiang Mai. Take a coach from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai - this option meant we have to leave on thursday night and catch the Fri morning flight. Tho i managed to reserve 21 seats by coach, the air tickets were not available. And so we could not leave on Thursday night.

2) Fly from SIN to Chiang Mai by silkair - no seats available until 7 Dec.

3) Take coach to KL and fly from there to Laos. Take a coach from there to Chiang Rai - The only setback about this route is the 14 hours of coach ride from Laos to Chiang Rai. Eld Boon thot it is too tiring and energy zapping for all of us. I was thinking it is feasible coz ex-FEBC student is stationed at this Udon Thani and she will meet us at Laos with the coach to get us up to Chiang Rai. Hmmm......

4) Take train up to Hatyai and from there coach up to BKK and perhaps all the way up to Chiang Rai - i am against this idea coz we need to pass the southern part of Thailand that is constantly plagued with bombings. Besides, i have no faith in Malayan rail and absolutely bad bad experience on the two occasions that i took. So a no-no for me (personal preference).

5) Heard the Don Muang airport was still operational on Wed and so decided to call Thai Airways on Thursday morning to get seats to fly to BKK via Don Muang and from there to Chiang Rai. This seemed like the ideal situation coz we have better airlines and more luggage allowance.

Whatever the routes were, we couldnt do anything till we are sure Tiger and Airasia cancel the flights to and from Bangkok, or else there will be no refund on their part if we cancel first. BUt somehow, i already knew then that flights would be cancelled coz situation like this could never get better overnight unless a miracle intervention.

At 8.30am Thursday morning, i made my call to Thai airways and after a 30 min wait listening to thai songs and machine lady, i finally spoke to a human being! She told me no seats and airport closure. That was when Jamesy msn that Don Muang has been seiged too. Oh man....

I made the call to Tiger to see if they can confirm flight cancellation so i can go ahead with alternate bookings. Waited how long???? ONE HOUR!!!!! And what did Tiger staff tell me that i dont already know???? NOTHING! Sigh.... and what did they say that irked???

"As of now, Friday flights are still on going. We are resuming operations tomorrow until further notice."

Can you believe this crap??? (pls pardon my lingo here)

Airasia - i needed to make this call too. The wait was like 30 mins too....She told me the same thing that Tiger staff said......flights are still ongoing for Friday. The lady also confirmed flights from KL to chiang mai has no seats till 1 Dec. But she couldnt do booking for me over the phone because there is another tel number for bigger group bookings (i called the hotline and they only handle up to 9 seats.... just like the internet booking....argh) Sigh.... she didnt even manage to give me the number to call for group booking before i was cut off!!! I went back online to check and look for that number.....guess where i found it?? Under the HELP section for those who have problems booking online!!!! Isnt this a wrong place to put??? Why cant they put at the CONTACT US section.... this number for small group and this number for big group bookings???? Anyhow, what number is that? It is a Malaysian number and i am not about to make this call till i am sure the flights are cancelled.

Oh boy, my house phone bill is going to be sky high when i next receive my bill.....argh.....

And so CtYfers were tasked to watch the news closely and inform me once the airline websites update with the cancellation info. In the afternoon, i send out 2 types of sms:

a) To CtYFers for passport name, passport number, expiry dates (this is to facilitate my new booking for KL to Chiang mai flight. I needed the info at hand so i can move fast......but some yfers are just toooooooo slow lah........:( ). Angela has also offered to help me book coz we can only book 9 seats at one window and the slow and tedious process of keying in all the details for 9 people can be very painstaking.

b) To Parents - i needed to know if they still allow their child to go given this situation. As usual, not all reply and I need to make 2nd and 3rd call or sms to get a response. Sigh..... dont think we have reached that stage of communication yet or will we ever????.....adult and youth all alike.....some people just dont respond. Why huh???

At 6pm sharp, Shaun Lau sms me that flights canceled. Checked website for 30 secs - confirmed and so i started to book. Isaac helped to put all the sms info and details onto a piece of paper while i keyed in....it was concurrent. Who else helped? Hwee. He was online. I asked him to get pp info from Hilda, from Elton. Norman was online too but he disappeared before he could help me get Elton's info.

During the booking, i needed to be sure there would be sufficient seats for all of us and so i opened 3 windows of airasia website: 2 each for 9 names and 1 for 3 names (21 of us). 1 Dec flights no more seats for all of us and so 2 Dec was the way to go. Managed to open 3 windows with seats and so i proceeded to key in the first 9 confirmed names. Angela was not at home then and so i had to do this myself. I tried to bypass the system by keying in 5 names in the first window and then linger to the 2nd window of 9 seats to show that i was still active and not idling. But alas, after i finished the 1st 9 seats booking and made payment, the 2nd window was unsuccessful when i clicked payment. This happened after i keyed in the next 9 names and all the details... plus date of birth and where the passport was issued. SIGH..... i had to do all over again.

Trusting in God, i open a fresh window, clicked 9 seats and thank God it was still available! And so it was done. Throughout this whole process, 2 dropped out and 1 still pending. 18 of us now confirmed to travel on 2 Dec flight and time checked was 7.30pm. I was famished. Couldnt wait for that one last person to get permission or even a response. Told Eld Boon to help to call that parent and youth while i take my dinner. I also mentioned to him that if there is no seats for booking after my dinner, this person cannot go. I cannot help it. Given whole afternoon to respond and a time frame. There are more than 20 people and i need to move fast.

Thank God there was a seat for him..... that would be our chinyster...... he would probably tell his story in his own blog. Anyhow, 19 of us now. Made two reservations in 2 different coach companies and decided to finalise and make payment the next day for the coach ride.

What a Thursday! It was long and tiring but thank God i was able to work on other stuff while waiting for news. God is in control and these things are beyond us. No point worrying too much. Do what we can and be ready... this is the lesson that i learn and relearn and also waiting upon God. It was really peace within my heart during these few days coz i trust in God who knows the future. I am very prepared to cancel this trip if all doors are closed coz you cannot go against His will. And so i humbly submit and wait. Waiting gave me a fresh look at the situation and the real meaning of God and Lordship in my life. i pray the CtYFers also learn much and not grumble about the situation....did u?

Thank God for prayer group and session and the Jordan team who prayed for us too. Thank God too for parents who prayed and supported. May God fulfill His will and plan and greatly glorify Himself as we proceed.