Adventures In Trusting God (PART I) by Mbula and Jessica

If you had asked either one of us what we had planned for the weekend of Febuary 17th to the 19th, we probably would've said :  " I donno, church?" OR "Uhmm going shopping?"

But...

the good Lord had something else up His sleeves.

Jessica says:

I pretty much woke up with a feeling and a need to be at Winterfest 2012. Mind you, I had offers to attend Winterfest all paid for, but declined because the interest wasn't there...Until of course, the day of the event...*Sigh*

SIDENOTE: For those of you who do not know what this is, it is a Christian Youth Convention held annually in Rochester, NY.

I then updated my bbm to see who was up for the last minute trip.

Mbula says:

After battling dramatically with whether or not I should go to work, I decided to call in sick and sleep it off.

Upon awaking, I noticed Ms.SimplyGorjess's bbm status and inquired as to what Winterfest was about.

and I quote...........

Jessica: Lets go to Rochester for Winterfest...

Mbula: Who would I be to say no? Running away once again (I have a tendancy to run to her house in Toronto when ottawack is toooo maacchhh)

After describing to me what Winterfest was about, I was hooked and immediately set about to search for rideshares from Ottawa to Rochester.

TRUESTORY: I'm typing in the kijiji search bar rideshare from Ottawa to Rochester and Rochester NEWYORK...pops up

UHMMMM BUT WAAAAAIIIIIIIIITTT!!!! This whoooolle time I thought Rochester was somewhere in the Glebe of Ottawa or even T.DOT OH!!

Too late I've already said I'm down...Jess is already hyping up....

and I quote

Mbula: As in Rochester NY?

Jessica: Yes hun... *DRAMATIC PAUSE* also I just realized my passport has expired...

LAWWWWWD

She mentioned she had previously traveled with her expired passport already so we thought, why not leave this in the hands of God.

If this is His will (as was Jessica's bbm status) then He would make a way.

In the meantime, we were just gonna keep truckin' along like nothing was a problem.

We immediately jumped into action ...
(12:52pm) we got to praisin, prayin and fasting. LITERALLY DID NOT EAT
(12:57pm) Calling Tennesse to do a last minute registration with the ticket office
(1:15pm) (Jessica) frantically searching for my passport
(1:30pm) Booking a beautifully affordable hotel room
(AN EXTENSIVE AMOUNT OF TIME) Securing a rideshare in the quickest time frame (3pm) from Ottawa to Toronto to make it to the 8pm greyhound Rochester bus, we can say the HAND AND FACE of God was truly guiding and working on behalf of us each and every single step of the way.

Did I mention that the driver of the rideshare was even able to make a connection with Jessica's mom so that she could send a copy of Jessica's birth certificate back to Toronto with me ? We figured she would need all the documents possible to plead her case with the customs officer.... She even tried to leave her name with the customs agent so they would know she had already tried to resolve the problem.

PS: I live on the opposite end of where Jessica's mother lives and the rideshare was able to make the connection with her mom in South Keys(which was not out of his way) and come back and get me in Barrhaven (which was also not out of his way)

The ETA of the rideshare was 8:15pm.... and actually I got there at 7:30pm and jumped into a cab that was already waiting for me *(PRINCESS MOMENT)* and cabbed to Jess's (who already had her suitcase packed and ready...(Jess) Mbula doesn't know this, but I was actually JUST getting out of the shower...Barely packed and ready..shhh!)

Our cabbie offered us a flatrate to the greyhound station and on the highway on our way there...we noticed a Church bus from a Church we recognize (we will not mention flop out names here) and we flurried about on our bbms questioning and demanding why the raaaaaaaaassssssss no one told us there was a bus going the same direction as us.

To our dismay, it was a false alarm and we stuck to our original plan.

Upon arriving at greyhound, 

Jess and I separated : her to get the tickets, me to get in line.                                                             

the line: ------------------------------------------------_________________-----------------------l

Sigh, if you're good at math and are able to transfigurate the length of this line on the screen into real-life measurements, you would cringe at the length of the line, FOR NEW YORK ALONE.

IT LITERALLY SNAKED AROUND THE BUILDING

#no sweat

Pray and praise

As we neared to boarding the bus, darling Jessica QUIVERED at the idea of the conductor who was verifying travel documents; PASSPORTS BEING ONE.

Interestingly enough, when two spots were open for boarding on the last bus, we were chosen because the people who were supposed to board next, were a group of four.

AND EVEN MORE INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH: The conductor NEVER checked our travel documents.

Coincidence? I don't think so.

THANK YOU JESUS

Poor girl...I think she may have panicked, had an anxiety, maybe peed a little but by the grace of God she was thankful above all to have crossed that ordain.

NOW:

THE CUSTOMS AGENT:

If you would like to compare nerve-wracking experiences, please direct your comments to me Jessica.

I was literally in shambles as we pulled over and just SAT and WAITED for the bus ahead of us to finish being processed.

Mbula wishes she had taken a picture.... I WENT FROM BEING ASLEEP TO BEING WIDE AWAKE AND WORRIED ....BAHAHAHA (dying of laughter as we write this)

Mbula says:

STOP!! STOP IT!! STOP IT NOW!! (in the most loving way) 

The Lord did NOT bring us this far just for us to be turned back arong (jamaican accent)

*prays*

ENTER OFFICER M. (name has been shortened for confidential purposes)

Okay, I won't lie...white boy was foiiiiiiiine!

...Blue eyes, wiry but FIRM frame, and just an absolutely exhuberant and witty character about him.

We thought we could charm him into overlooking the passport "discrepancy".....

...

READ PART II to find out what happens next.