May 5, 2016

Happy Anniversay Karen & Duane!

Alie was sent to the Kenya Airline ticket office to purchase the reserved tickets. He had to go to one clerk to get the receipt, which he received, and was for the quoted amount. He then had to take it over to the cashier to pay for it. The cashier re-worked the figures and came up with a higher price. The cashier told him he did not have enough money that he was $300 USD short . Alie tried having a conversation about the discrepancy between the clerk's figures and the cashiers figures but the cashier was "holier than thou" and refused to help discern the problem. Being highly frustrated and under a time limit, Alie left without the tickets. Today was zone conference and we had a General Authority, President LeGrand R. Curtis Jr., here to tour the mission and speak at zone conference. Alie was very much involved with this activity and did not have time to disagree with a cashier. At noon Sister Doe received a phone call from Kenya Airline telling her that the tickets had not been paid for because Alie was $300 USD short and they had to be paid for by 2:00 p.m our time because Nairobi closes at 5:00 and you cannot buy tickets after 5:00 Nairobi time and there is a 3 hour time-zone difference. Don had $300 USD in his pocket so he and two other men took off to Kenya Airline to assure them they had the money. On the way, Don Called Alie and learned what had happened. When Don got to the airline office the clerk was threatening to release the tickets for sale to others because they had not paid for them yet. To get her to not do that, Don called Alie and put the phone up to her ear so Alie could tell her he had the money. When Alie arrived, they went to the clerk and got another receipt showing how much was owed. It was the same as the quoted price and the amount Alie was going to pay earlier in the day. Alie was so frustrated and angry with this whole process. Don and Alie went over to a bench and physically counted the money to make sure it was the same as the quoted amount. They had the exact amount. Don took the money and the receipt over to the cashier and this time as she totaled it up she came up with the exact amount that they were quoted all along. Don made her count every $100 bill and every smaller denomination down to the last dollar. But before they received the tickets, Alie yelled from outside her cubical something about that is what he told her this morning and she refused to listen to him. That started a verbal fight between the cashier and the clerk. They got the tickets and left. Good Grief! Nothing has been simple. From here Don had to arrange for the ambulance shuttle. Mustapha met Don at the hospital and together they went to the logistic office and handed the man 6 uncirculated one-hundred dollar bills. He counted them 3 times in front of Don and drooled over them (he is from India). Don asked him to make sure the a/c would work and that the ambulance driver would be ready to leave the compound at 6:00 a.m. The airport is across the bay and you either have to take the ferry or take a 3-hour ride by vehicle around. The trip around the bay would have been extremely hard on Brother Doe. They elected to take the ferry. Mustapha informed Don that the President of the country had reserved the entire ferry for his entourage for the next morning. . Mustapha assured Don that he knew the head of security for the President and he thought they could get on the ferry. They were going to try it. Brother Doe's flight was at 5:20 p.m but he had to check in at 1:30.