Stolen Passport?!!

Just the other day, we had a customer in Uganda who called us because on their way to the airport, their passport and immunization card were stolen right from their car!!  On their way to the airport, they stopped for coffee with their driver, and when getting back into their car, they realized that while they were inside, their bags in the car were stolen, leaving them without the necessary documents needed to travel back home!!  YIKES!!  Talk about anyone's worst travel nightmare!!  SO, they called me to help them cancel flights and direct them on what to do.  SO, if you ever are in this predicament, here is what you do.

1.  Do not panic.  If you "lose it," you can easily become a vulnerable target, especially in a 3rd world country.  Remain calm and make your way to a police station to make a police report.  You will need a police report to show the airlines the reason you are not flying and also to show the embassy to get a new passport.

2.  Make sure you contact your travel agent to arrange the cancellation of your flights so that you don't lose all value of your tickets by being a "NO-SHOW" for your flights.  This is another nightmare you don't want.

3.  You will need a copy of your passport printed out to take with you to the Embassy in the country you are in.  So, if you are a US citizen, you will need to locate the US Embassy in the country you are in to make sure you report your stolen passport there.  The Embassy can usually get you a new passport within a day or two if you have the proper paperwork to give them.

4.  Make sure you explain to the airlines that you have lost your passport.  Often times, this will help you to be able to get a break on some of the re-booking fees if you need to cancel a flight.

5.  If you are reading this beforehand, make sure when preparing for your trip that you remember to keep a copy of your passport in your checked baggage.  This will help you in the event that you would ever lose a passport.

6.  There are some handy passport pouches that you can wear on your person.  Wearing your passport in a pouch close to your body under your clothes when traveling, is the best way to keep it with you and not in another area where it could be stolen or misplaced.

Keep in mind that passports are sold on the black market for 10,000's of dollars.  This is motivation for a thief to be stealing these things and even more motivation for you to be protecting your passport as if it were worth that much money to you, because in the event you would lose it, you would wish that you could pay as much money as you had in order to alleviate such hassles as there can be with the loss of a passport.

My customers actually were very glad that they filed the police report because the police told them that their passport had been returned!!  Truly this is a miracle of God and many of us were praying for them.  I am so glad they were able to travel home the very next day with minimal cost to change their flights.  They were very thankful to be home after such an ordeal!!

I hope this information is helpful and pray that this never happens to you!!!

Thanks so much!
Safe travels,
Tabitha :)
www.CheapMissionsTrips.com
www.AdoptionAirfare.com

Pray for a Desperate Dad

Please pray for a man named Royce Sigler, who has just gotten word that his two daughters who have been missing since 2008, are now alive and living in Russia.  We just helped him with his flights to go to Russia to pick them up.  They were kidnapped by their birth mother in 2008 when their father (Royce) had custody of them.  Their mother was from Russia, and after their divorce, she took the girls away (even without custody of them), to live in Russia and Royce never heard from them again.  He knew she kidnapped them and moved to Russia, but he had no way of knowing where they were or how he could ever find them again.  SO sad!!  He has been heartbroken for many years ever since.  He had not heard from them until about a month ago when he got a call that the birth mother died of cancer, and now he can come and get his girls.  You can imagine the emotions flooding through his heart!  He was so happy to hear this, and rushed over to Russia on the quickest flight we could book for him!!!  When he got there, he was planning to meet them and the grandmother, but on the appointment that they had with the grandmother and the attorney, she never showed up with them!!  Now, she is hiding the girls, and is not giving them up to Royce!  

Royce is now re-married and has a beautiful little girl.  He loves his daughters so much and wants to be able to get them back from Russia to bring them home to his new wife and baby and share the love with them that he has waited to bless them with for so long.  You know, there are many miracles in this story.  One of these is the miracle that since 2008, Royce never changed his number.  He was holding out hope that one day he would get news like this that his daughters were still alive.  These girls are now around 11 and 12.  Let's pray that they will make it home safe and SOON and will embrace the love of their father who is one of the sweetest people you could ever meet.  

This is a really hard situation and we need to pray for this man.  He has asked us to get the word out to everyone we can, so we are writing this blog to help as much as possible.  A really sweet adoption agency called Little Miracles, who we help with their travel, were the ones who asked me to step in and work on flights to help bring these babies home.  I was so happy to help any way we could.  And they have been on the top of our prayer list through their journey.

Please help us pray these little girls safely home!!!  I can not tell you the JOY that I will have to put their names on some tickets and get these precious girls home forever.  The Lord has a heart for the orphan, the abused, the forsaken child.

If you would like to help Royce or read any more on this, please visit their website here:  http://www.gofundme.com/bringthegirlshome

Until they are home,

Tabitha 

www.AdoptionAirfare.com