Senja's Space: Croatia Missions Trip 2/9

Tuesday, June 8, 2021

Jason, Micah and I said our goodbyes in Lee around 8:30 and arrived at JFK around noon for our journey. We got, checked in with no problems, but our Lufthansa flight for 3:45 was said be delayed an hour and a half.

We had dinner: I had a burger that cost $20! Micah and Jason each split a personal pizza and a burger. Just as we were finishing up our dinner, Pastor Jeff and his son-in-law, Travis, were passing by on the way to their gate and stopped to chat. They were flying on United to Vienna. We visited until it was time to go to our respective gates.

When the time had arrived to board, the plane still had not arrived at the airport. To help appease the passengers, we were given a $14 food voucher to use at any of the restaurants. Since we had just eaten, Jason got a cheesecake, coffee and an apple. Micah got a meal and brought it to Pastor Jeff. I got a chicken fajita panini to share with Jason and Micah. About a half hour more passed before it was announced that the flight was canceled and the passengers would be shuttled to a hotel. Pastor Jeff and Travis came to our gate to say goodbye before boarding their plane.

We were shuttled to the Crown Plaza JFK. We received $40 each toward dinner and $14 each toward breakfast. Dinner at the hotel restaurant took especially long as a whole plane of travelers were staying there. Whenever taking our meal orders, the hotel asked if we were with the "distress flight", as our meals were covered by the airline.

Wednesday June 9, 2021

Our flight was rescheduled for 9:05pm via Swiss Air. At breakfast, a Muslim man came over to talk to Jason. He asked where we were heading and why. He talked about how Christian churches and mosques used to stand side by side all over Europe. He said if a family had two sons, one would be raised Christian and other Muslim but I didn't understand the reason. He said he's a teacher and tells his students this but they find it hard to believe.

Micah and I headed to a laundromat as the hotel had no washers. We met in the hotel lobby at 11:50 to shuttle back to the airport.

At the airport, we retook a Covid test. This time two swabs were done. The POC is at rapid test and a PDC is a test that takes 24 hours for the results. The lady who took our information said that hopefully our airline accepts the POC, but it is a fifty fifty chance.

We met a couple maybe in their late twenties headed on their honeymoon to Hungary. He was Hungarian. She was American. They were in the same situation we were in with canceled flight and on Swiss Air next. Jason commented how Hungarians are lovey dovey, but this couple was not. Jason thought that perhaps the man only wanted American citizenship as they had met on a dating website.

We finally boarded our flight. Thankfully, the POC test was acceptable. Dinner was beef in a tomato sauce with mushrooms and olives, salad with a vinegar dressing, bread with butter, cheese and cheesecake. Micah and I watched Aquaman before sleeping.

Thursday, June 10, 2021

We woke up on an airplane heading to Switzerland! Breakfast was a muffin and banana. After we landed and we were getting ready to leave the plane, I looked back at Jason to see his eyes were closed. We only had an hour until our flight to Zagreb left.

“Oh no," I thought" He's sleeping. What do I do; throw a pillow at him?”

I asked Micah to excuse himself through the people lined up to leave to wake his dad up. Jason got annoyed for bothering him because “his ears were wide awake”.

We flew out of Switzerland, even having time for coffee before leaving. It is a relatively small airport. Arrived in Zagreb at 1pm and picked up our tiny rental car in which we had to squeeze in three Home Depot boxes of food and other items for the Lowrie's, two suitcases, and our carry-on luggage. The car was quite packed.

Our AirBnB was lovely. We quickly showered and prepared to meet our group for dinner at Pub Mlinarica that had enough room to seat fifteen people: Pastor Jeff, and Travis had been out helping the group all day, so they were already there when we arrived. Brother Brad, the missionary we had come to help, was there with his wife, Connie, and son, Lucas. Sarah, a single missionary to Croatia on deputation, had brought two teenage girls with her: Faith and Hope. Mrs. Sarah, a pastors wife from Wichita, Kansas, and her daughter Grace, had come as a graduation trip for Grace. Brother Brad also had two interns helping him. Charissa, a single lady, had been in Croatia since February. Alex, also an intern, had been in country since the end of May. Micah stayed with Alex and Lucas in Alex's apartment.