Counting Down the Days

It’s amazing how much organizing there needs to be done before you are actually ready to leave on an overseas journey.   You can’t just book your tickets, pay and go.  I had to first contact friends to see what dates suited them, arrange the different contacts and dates, book tickets, find out what countries I might need vaccinations for and preventative medication for things like malaria.  Which travel insurance gives you the best deal and for how long will I need it.  Mine also comes with a free Global SIM which can be load up before leaving and will enables me to make local and international calls at the cost of a local mobile provider.  I think it will make it convenient to have one consistent phone number for people to call.  Unfortunately for those outside of the country I am in at the time it will be the same as calling the UK as it is a UK SIM card.  It looks like it will be emails or Voip calls for these friends.  With this convenience comes another slight hitch.  The local providers in Cambodia, Vietnam and India do not provide internet access!  Oh well I will just have to get a local SIM when I arrive.  Thank God I have two phones!

Visas were another thing on my list to organise.  I asked my travel agent which countries required visas and what the requirements were if I were to extend my stay.  Fortunately most countries I’m visiting don’t need visas if you have an outgoing ticket of some sort.  Josh, with whom I will be staying in Cambodia, suggested I ask for a multi entry visa so that we can also visit Vietnam.

I also needed to think about which credit cards and pay-cards to take as the global wallet I have, which you can load up with other currencies, doesn’t have all the countries I’m going to.  It’s safer to take two and at the most three cards; including a paycard that you can load up with a small amount of currency and a backup card just in case of emergency.

I knew what the weather would be like having previously lived in Asia.  The Thai’s once told me they had 3 seasons.  I said I know hot, hotter and hottest! They laughed.  It’s actually the dry season, wet season and the hot season.  But it’s all hot to me and humid!  Something I’m not really looking forward to but I am really looking forward to feasting in their cuisine! I do miss authentic Asian food!

Not having a winter to contend with I can travel light with only a few changes of clothes, 3 pairs of shoes including my heavy walking/jogging shoes which I will wear on the plane with a long sleeve shirt over the top of my short sleeve one.  This will help shield me from the overly cooled air conditioning and enable me to peel off the layers as I arrive ready to face the heat and humidity.   Even though I have an allowance for 20kg, I plan only to take carry-on luggage so there is no waiting around on arrival for luggage to be unloaded and cleared.  I figured that if I need any extra clothes I can buy them cheaply over there.  Most of my luggage at the moment are gifts for my hosts!

With all this preparations I’m glad I got started early so I could arrange things properly and yet I have this strange feeling that it’s still not all done.  The going on line to pay a bill I realised my visa card was going to expire while I was away!  Opps!  Praise the Lord I was able to order another just in time.

This brings me to another area that needed to be organised before I left.  All the bills that usually come in for various ongoing expenses needed to be either paid in advance, linked to direct debit or made a note of in my diary to check on line while I’m away.

This past two weeks has really flown by and I have begun to count down the days!

The beginning of the week started with a visit to the optometrist to get a prescription for new glasses.  I was quoted over $700.00 for a single pair!  Wow in Sydney my optometrist gave me two pairs at the price of my health cover!   Hmmm I think I will wait till I’m in Asia and get a cheaper pair or maybe two!  Wednesday I caught up with my good friend Louise for a chat and a coffee.  Then on Friday I took mum to the Baptist church which had just resumed their craft day.  I’m hoping to get her interested in one of the activities so that she will meet some of the wonderful people from the Baptist church and will also have something to do on a Friday.  I was amazed at how many people where there and how many different activities were available for the community to get involved in.  Mum has always enjoyed crafts including sewing, embroidery, knitting, crochet, drawing and painting. In the past she even taught pottery converting the garage into a studio.  She has just finished knitting me a mascot doll to take with me which I have called Dorothy.  I’m hoping to include her in photos during my travels so please keep your eye out for her.

We looked at all the tables displaying their crafts, so many to choose from including a class on basic iPad operations.  I thought this might come in handy especially if she learns how to use it to keep in touch with her daughters scattered around the country, and with me overseas.  I could even leave her my iPad to learn on as I would not be needing it.  Unfortunately she was a little overtired, so after a half hour of wandering around the different tables I dropped her off at home before visiting my friends Corinne, David and daughter Montana.  That evening after dinner we were sharing with each other how we had come to receive Jesus and the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  Montana had only recently been water baptised in their neighbour’s swimming pool and had asked her parents if she could also receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  So after dinner we sat together and prayed with her, asking the Lord for fill her with the Holy Spirit.  It was a really moving evening and Montana was obviously touched and filled with His peace. She later relayed to her parents how God had filled her with so much Holy Spirit that she felt “full” and felt an incredible peace come over her. She said she was blessed to feel so much of God’s love in a very real way.

On Saturday at 8:30am I attended a prayer breakfast at the house of Frances and Bill who have a burden for missions both here and abroad.  We started with an amazing breakfast with lots of fellowship and getting to know new people.  I was told later there were 40 people with several from other churches that came.  There was a focus on China with three guest speakers who shared their stories and were prayed for, OMF worker from Chengdu, a worker from LDi Leadership Development International who is looking for Christian school teachers to teach in international schools throughout China and a lady who has spent many years living in China with Global InterAction.  Frances also asked me to share briefly about my up and coming travels and asked also for prayer for my Mother.

Sunday 8^th February and only one week to go before my departure and of course I was back at the North Beach Baptist Church catching up with my new found family and friends.

Monday, six days and counting! I visited the dentist to make sure all is well before I leave.  I’m amazed at the cost of the dentist too!  Again my Sydney dentist just took the cost from my health care provider but here it was this PLUS! ….. AND there was less done for a check up!  hmmmm I will have to stop comparing LOL as my next comparison will be with the Asian prices and that will be a huge difference!

I also spent an hour waiting in the reception of the dermatologist before Mum had the growth on her face looked at.  The doctor checked it out and said yes it did need to be removed but he was going away this week but he could do it today, now, if she wanted.  Wow! Yes please!  I had become quite concerned about it as it was growing rapidly so was thrilled he could do it there and then.  We were quite shocked when given the bill as he had not discussed the cost with us and mum being a pensioner was not prepared for the amount they charged.

While Mum was getting her face sliced up I rushed off to the bank as I wanted to open a safety deposit box to put a few personal things in before I left.  I had previously started the process so was just hoping to do the last little bit of paperwork.  Well!  I was waiting over three quarters of an hour just to be told I needed to have money in the attached account before I could go ahead! I wasn’t impressed.  Actually when I came back on the Wednesday there was a heap of paper work to be done and the initial payment had to be paid in cash!  Not only that I had to wait over half an hour again and I had forgotten to bring something that needed to go in the safe!  Bother!!  So once the paperwork had been done and money paid I raced home, fortunately just down the road, raced back (no I was not speeding!) and …. I couldn’t believe it I had another 20 mins wait!!!!  Praise God it’s all done now.

Tuesday 10^th February. Only five more days!  I was the designated driver and companion for Mum and two of her Christmas Island friends who are like family to her.  We were meeting up with another of their group in Mandurah, Margaret whose husband had recently passed away.   We met for a Chinese lunch then went back to Margaret home for desert.  Wow! What a spread!  Mum and I didn’t need dinner that night.  We had left home at 10am and returned at 8:30pm.  It was a very full day full of reminiscing and stories of their days on Christmas Island.

Wed 11^th February, Only 3 more days before I fly out!  Down the beach for a swim with Mum this morning after my 5am jog.  Then off to the bank twice to get things sorted before shopping and home to finish this blog.

Oh yes, I promised in the last blog to tell you a little about Mum’s new boarder.  Jacqueline is a lovely Christian lady from Korea.  After studying English during her first year in Perth she chose to study cooking in Fremantle.  She was living in a shared house in Scarborough but when boys moved in she decided it was time to leave.  It was a friend who told her of Mum’s offer.  She has been here just over a week now and is fitting in well.  I’m relieved to that she will be living with Mum while I’m away.  I know the Lord is here watching over Mum but it still gives me peace of mind knowing someone is around if she needs a helping hand.

Pictures:  1. Bobtail in my garden   2. Dorothy   3.  Mum and Sam her geriatric dog.  4.  Mum and her old cronies. (just joking ladies)

 

Prayer & Praise Points: 

Please continue to pray for my Mum’s health to continue to improve and that the growth on her face is benign.  I praise the Lord for watching over her both now and when I will be away.

I’m also very grateful the Lord found us a lovely Christian student as our new border.

Please pray that all goes smoothly with my departure, flight with Air Asia and my trip to Malaysia.  That there is no problems with visas or customs as I enter Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Praise the Lord for my good health, that I will continue to walk in His health and that none of these disease will come upon me.

Thanks once again to all my mighty prayer warriors.  I would not be going out without your prayer covering.