You will not believe what Cade had to go through to get to Zimbabwe! He was originally supposed to leave San Francisco, where he was currently serving, on January 7th. But because of covid his travel plans kept getting cancelled and bumped back. He finally got word that he could leave February 18th. After getting an emergency covid test the night before because someone forgot to process his original one, he got up the next morning and boarded a plane and flew to Los Angeles. Everything went smoothly and he boarded his next flight to Amsterdam Netherlands. He landed in Amsterdam at 10:30 am and was scheduled to board his next flight at around 11:30 am. He had been flying solo up to this point but was to meet up with three other missionaries in Amsterdam. He finally met up with the three other missionaries and all was well. Luckily he had his phone from his mission in the states and his mission president in San Francisco gave Cade a SIM card he could used for a few days in case he needed to call anyone. As the four missionaries were getting ready to board the plane to fly to Johannesburg South Africa, they stopped them and told them they did not have the required questionnaire filled out on their phones through an app required by the airline. Cade explained to the airlines that he was the only one with a phone and it was a restricted phone and he could not download any app. They refused to let them fill out the questionnaire any other way and they shut the doors to the plane and the four missionaries missed their flight. Meanwhile Cade is calling me through facebook messenger which is the only way he could communicate because his sim card was not international. He could not call the church office and let them know what was going on because he could only call through facebook. So at three in the morning I called the church travel hotline and they ended up adding him as a friend on facebook and calling him through messenger. The plan was to book a hotel in the Amsterdam airport and catch a flight the next morning to Johannesburg. The airline agreed to send the questionnaire to the church travel office through email and have them fill out the questionnaire for the missionaries and send it back through email. Since Cade had a phone they send his questionnaire back to Cades email and all he had to do the next morning was show them the questionnaire on his phone. The tricky part is if they did not board the plane in the morning their covid tests they took before they got to the Netherlands would expire and they would have to take a test in the airport and wait for four days before they could get results. So Cade booked all the missionaries hotel rooms which he said were more like the size of a bathroom with a small bed in it and they called it a night.
The next morning because of the time difference Cade woke up late. He hurried down to the gate and went to pull up his questionnaire on his phone and realized his phone was dead. He did not have the right plug for a European outlet so his phone never charged. So he took off running from shop to shop to find an adapter for his phone. He finally found an adapter and charged his phone. But by the time his phone charged he ran down to the gate and the plane had boarded and he missed the flight. The other missionaries were on the plane but there sat Cade all alone in the Amsterdam airport. This was now Saturday morning and he left San Fransisco on Thursday. Very discouraged he got ahold of the church travel office and they arranged for him to get a new covid test because his was now expired. The soonest they could get his results were Monday night and he could fly out to South Africa Tuesday morning pending a negative covid result. So he went back to the airport hotel and tried to book a room for three more nights. They turned him away because his boarding pass was expired. He once again contacted me and I called the church travel and they created him a boarding pass so he could book a hotel. He took his covid test in the airport at the small price of 399.00! And there he sat all alone in a foreign country stuck inside the airport. He was not allowed to leave because of covid and he had no luggage because of the covid travel ban and they would not allow him to access his luggage. Finally Saturday afternoon Cade went to customs and told them that he was stuck there for 5 days and not allowing him to get a change of clothes or even a toothbrush was inhumane. So they finally escorted him back the baggage and he was able to retrieve some of his personal items.
Monday night his covid test came back negative and he said Tuesday morning could not come soon enough. He said he scarcely slept and kept waking up every half hour. He got to his gate two hours early and made sure they had everything they needed. I was literally on pins and needles hoping he would catch his flight. He finally sent me picture through facebook messenger and it was of the plane window looking out!! He finally was leaving Amsterdam airport after being there 6 days.
He finally made it to Johannesburg airport at 11:00 pm. He mentioned that there were only 30 people on his plane and it looked like they were the only people in the airport. He went down to baggage claim and picked up his luggage and everyone on his flight left and he was the only one in the airport and there was no one there to pick him up. He said he had a number of a guy who was supposed to pick him up but again he couldn’t call out because his phone would not allow international calling. So I called the number for him and no one answered. The man called me right back and I told him Elder Lange was waiting at the airport and he said oh he was supposed to be here last Friday and they didn’t know he was coming. He explained that there is a curfew of 11:00 pm in Johannesburg and if they went out they could be arrested. So once again Cade booked a hotel at the airport. The next morning Cade went down and took another covid test so that he could get the rapid result before his flight to Zimbabwe the next day. Meanwhile they put a freeze on his debit card because it looked like fraud. I tried to a call the bank and explain but they needed to talk to Cade and because he couldn’t call out on his phone his debit card was useless. He hadn’t eaten all day and I told him he would just have to fast for a day and half. He dug through his bag and found some European coins and went to the exchange and begged and pleaded for them to please exchange the coins which they never do because they don’t like messing with coins and only deal in paper money. He finally got them to exchange them and he had 25.00! He sent me a picture of some mac and cheese, salad, bread and a can of sprite. So I felt better that he was eating.
I told him to please call me the next morning as he was getting ready to board his plane and I was going to stay on the line the whole time until he got on that plane to Zimbabwe! So he called and he was trying to get a refund on his hotel so he was working that out with them and I finally said Cade you have got to go or you are going to miss your flight. They are going to close the doors to the plane in 30 minutes! So I listened on the phone as he went up to the counter to check his bags and they said oh we need your covid results. I heard Cade get back on the phone with me and he said mom I have to run across the airport and outside to the covid tent to get my results. By now I was in panic and I could hear him out of breath and running. He finally got the covid test and ran back to the counter to check his bags with about 15 minutes to get to his gate. I hear him walk up to the counter and I hear the lady say, “oh your visa is expired, your not going anywhere” and then his phone died! It was 1:30 in the morning and I’m just staring at my phone wondering what to do. Bret finally said just go to bed, he will figure it out, have faith.
Two hours later I get a phone call through facebook messenger and he said “well mom I am standing on Zimbabwean soil!” Oh the joy my heart felt!!! Apparently the lady at the ticket counter mis-read his visa and it was just fine. His mission president drove him two and half hours out of the main city into a poor village. No hot water, tin roof, muddy road and not much food and he LOVES it. He said he is the only white person in the village and they all shout white man at him. He said they don’t have much and they are some of the happiest people he has ever met! It took him an entire week of travel but he made it, now lets hope when the time comes he can make it back home!
