What Happened in London

First, if you're new to my journey, welcome! It's a crazy, beautiful, God-led (when I get out of His way) ride.

But, let's be honest, if you clicked on this link it's because you want to understand what happened when I was stranded in London for a week while attempted to fly to South Africa. And, while I know most people prefer to learn visually these days (aka videos), I'm not great at communicating that way. So, unfortunately, you're stuck reading about what happened here. Let's get into it!

On the 21st of January I was scheduled to fly from Nashville to London. Then from London to Johannesburg. And from Jo'berg to Port Elizabeth where a friend was going to collect me and drive me to our new farm in Loerie. My aunt drove me to the airport that day because my mom was still in a cast following her ankle replacement surgery. While at the airport, there was some back and forth regarding my bags (which I'm used to). But once that was done, the ticket agent told me that she was struggling to get my passport to be accepted by the system. She called a phone number (a team that's part of the airline in question that deals with international papers). They told her that I just needed to present my passport in person to the people in London and all would be sorted there.

I boarded the flight and had a decent flight to London. I knew I was going to have a long layover in London, as I normally do. But since my last attempt to fly to SA, a very close friend of mine had moved from South Africa to London for work. When she found out I was going to be in London for my layover, she volunteered to take the day off of work and hang out at the airport with me. A few days before I arrived, we discovered that I was allowed to leave the airport with her and explore London. So she met me at the airport and took me on an 8 hour tourist-run with her instead of staying in the airport. It was actually a lot of fun!

My friend, Inecke, went back with me to the airport to check in for my flight to Jo'berg. That's when the trouble started. The pre-check lady told me that there was a problem with my passport. After they made several phone calls, it was decided that I could not board my next flight. This initial issue was my fault. I had booked my return flights for October, knowing that I was going to renew my US passport at the embassy in South Africa as soon as I landed. Well, my current passport expires in September. That's a big no-no. I misunderstood the rules and thought I would have time to change the return flight information after I landed. But I was not allowed to even board the flight because my passport would expire before my return flight took off. I attempted to change my return flight while at the airport and was told you can't do that while you're "in transit." So I was stuck!

The airline "experts" told me the only option I had was to go to the US Embassy the following day and ask for an emergency passport that would give me an additional 12 months on my current passport. Thankfully, Inecke was still with me and my mom was on the phone with me. They helped me so much during all of this roller coaster experience!! Inecke's roommate happened to be out of town (visiting family in South Africa, actually). So she took me home with her and let me stay in her roommates room (with her roommates permission). Then she took off work the next day and helped me navigate The Tube system to find the US Embassy. She even hung out at a coffee shop nearby for hours while I was dealing with the paperwork process inside the Embassy. (Side note, the US Embassy in London is VERY nice, especially for US citizens. And they're so friendly!). I was the last person they served that day because, quite honestly, they were confused on why I was there. When I explained what happened they told me there was no need for a new passport since my current one still had 9 months left on it. The cut off is 6 months. But they issued me an emergency passport anyways because they said they knew how difficult it was working with the airlines.

The next day I called the airline to try and confirm that they had held my flights as they told me they would, and that my luggage was also held in the security office like they said. The luggage was where they said it would be and could stay there a few more days if needed. But they could not give me new flights for the same price I had already paid. The price difference from Tuesday night to Wednesday had gone up an additional $3,000 US. I didn't have that! So after some back and forth with them and seeking help from an amazing family member who maxed out their credit to help me, we got a new flight booked to Jo'burg for that Friday, the 24th.

Inceke took me back to the airport on Friday to do check in early and to make sure my bags could be moved to the new flight. At check in, they discovered that the flight had not been purchased. The card used was held by the bank for fraud alert. They were able to process it again and try to check me in and move my bags. However, when they tried to check me in again, I was told I was "denied entry" into South Africa. And noone could tell me why. The employees at the airport were so kind and compassionate, even though I completely broke down on them. And other passengers even tried to come to my rescue to help me sort it all out. But there was nothing they could do. The only suggestion they had was for me to go to the South African embassy and ask what the problem was. The theory at this time was that because I had a new emergency passport, and my SA visa was in my old passport, maybe the system just couldn't figure out how to combine both of those. However, because it was Friday night, the SA Embassy was closed until Monday morning.

Inecke took me back home with her. She spoiled me as much as she could to keep me uplifted and helped me talk through my fears and my wailings to the Lord. She was, and still is, amazing! And she was exactly where she needed to be that week! Thank you, Inecke. I also spoke with my mom many times during all of this and we agreed between the two of us that I'd go to the SA Embassy just to make sure I had tried everything I could try (I wanted to give up at that point. Thankfully, Mom knew I would regret not trying.) But we agreed that if they couldn't figure it out, I would come back to Nashville and try to sort it out there. I had run out of money and Inecke's roommate was due back very shortly. So the options were running thin. On Saturday, Inecke and I spent a wonderful day just enjoying each other's company. On Sunday, I was BLESSED to attend her new church in London and meet her pastor and small group members who had been praying for me since I first landed. As a small bonus, I was also blessed to run into a girl I knew from working at a church back in Jeffrey's Bay several years ago. She had moved to London for work as well and we were both surprised to see each other in London. LOL! On Monday, Inecke had to work. So she helped me download an app to help me navigate the buses/underground/walking paths to get me to the SA Embassy as soon as they opened. I was there before they opened, but was greeted with a sign saying they would not answer any inquiries regarding visas. I had to go to a different building on the opposite side of London to ask for help. About 2 hours later, I found the new building and saw a long line of people waiting to get in. After I made it to the front of the line, I was told they don't take walk-ins. You could only come in if you had an appointment. I explained my situation to the security officer (whom I think God placed in my path at just the right moment because they just switched shifts when I walked up to him). He went inside on my behalf three times to ask them to help me. He wore them down and they let me in. The visa office was shared by about 6 different countries. So I had to be led to the South African section. I waited there for hours. Finally a lady came to ask me about my situation. She phoned the SA Embassy and explained the situation. They told me they also didn't know why the airline sent me to speak to them. All I needed to do was to show my old passport (with the SA visa) and my new passport to be accepted. They also suggested that I contact my visa agent in South Africa to send me an email proving that all of my documentation was acceptable (she's a notorized immigration officer). I did and she quickly emailed me back with an email to show the airlines to prove I was valid to enter the country.

I got a hold of my family member and they helped me book a new flight, still recovering from the cost of the Friday flights that I was not allowed to board. We booked new flights for me on Tuesday night. When Inecke got off of work, we traveled the 1.5 hours back to Heathrow airport to do a pre-check in in person to verify I could fly. The man at the counter entered my information and said I was good to fly the next day. I made the man repeat it three times before I would believe him. "You are allowed to fly tomorrow." Still not believing him, I decided to leave early the next day to check in.

Inecke's roommate was back early that morning and they both had to work. So I paid for an uber to help me get my carry-on bags through the morning traffic to the airport as soon as Inecke had to leave for work. I wanted to go early and verify that my check in was possible. The uber driver got me there several hours before my flight. I went to check in. They found my bags and transferred them to the new flight. Then.... they couldn't get my passport to scan. I explained what the visa office and SA Embassy had said. I showed them the email from the visa agent. So they called. And called. And called. Everyone they could think of contacting, they contacted. And still the answer was the same, "denied entry - no reason given." After hours of trying and more tears, I asked the man if I could make a flight that day back to Nashville. I was tired of trying. And I was out of resources. He promised me that the flights from that day and the flights from Friday would be canceled and refunded (they weren't). I contacted my family member who placed one last ticket order for me that was leaving for Nashville in less than 2 hours. They transferred my bags and I was quickly boarded onto the flight back home. Upon landing, I went to collect my bags and take them through Customs. But, not a single one of them arrived. The lady at the baggage area for internationals placed a request for information. The bags were loaded onto the flight the next day heading to Nashville. They would be delivered in a day or two. I went through Customs (the last US in the line) and headed to meet my family in the parking lot. Two days later, my bags arrived. Two of my bags were damaged, one straight-up broken. One of my bags had the lock cut off, several items removed and replaced with trash and some strange white powder. Needless to say, I washed everything in that bag. So, that's the whole story. That's the crazy "adventure" I was on recently. I am now back at home with my mom, oldest brother, and nephew. All of my belongings are either in boxes (mom's moving to a new house in about a month) or in suitcases. And I'm trying to find a rhythm to life again. I am still managing the baby house as I always have. I am still working my online job as I always have. And I'm still walking in faith every single day, believing that everything has a purpose and He will make a way for me to return to SA in His timing. There's not much I can do to help Victory4All from here, as I was supposed to meet with them when I landed to see how I could best serve them. But I will continue to pray for them and all my students at King's College while I'm away (especially my sponsored student Vhakoma who is in his last year of high school this year!) I can hear you already asking, "When are you going back?" And I have to tell you the sad truth, I have no idea. I have reached out to the South African government for information on why I was "denied entry." But, if you're not familiar with governments outside of America, let me just give you one word to describe them - SLOW. I can't fix the problem until they get back to me on what the problem is. And I can't book new tickets until I know how to fix the problem. So I'm back to waiting and carrying on the best that I can remotely. I still talk to my staff every single day of the week (usually starting at about 3am Nashville time). And I still do all the paperwork and other manager tasks needed to keep us going. I just can't be there in person right now. Thankfully, I have been blessed by so many people to help me through this insane situation. People have helped me with new luggage, with paying for food and transport, with helping me pay back my family member for all of the flights, and with so much encouragement and prayers that I know I can keep going and keep trying. (For those asking, the airline isn't likely to refund anything or compensate any damages because they're claiming it all started due to an error on my part - the return ticket date.) I will say this, though: through all of this, I have felt my God beside me. I have felt His embrace, His sweet kiss on my forehead, His gentle words of encouragement, and His unending love despite any failures on my part. I have not doubted Him. I may have doubted myself in all of this. But I have not doubted Him. And He has not let go of me once! In the days that followed my landing back in Nashville, God has spoken words of peace, resolute focus, and lessons of "intentionality" over me. He knows why all of this happened, and that's enough for me. I don't need to know. I just know that He knows and He's still in charge. And I know that He has confirmed my place at Abba's House through all of this, despite my shortcomings. And provided an amazing support through my online job at Lifeway through all of this. And he's blessed me with support from churches all over TN and individuals I had lost contact with now following to see what God is going to do next. So, because He knows, and because He's still at work, I will carry on. Well, that's the whole story as best as I can condense it. Please feel free to message me or comment on this post if you still have questions. I'll be happy to answer as best as I can. But if you ask me when I'm heading back to SA, just know that I will probably laugh at you first before I answer. Only God knows that answer right now. Feel free to ask Him and let me know if you get an answer. LOL!