“The Houston Passport Office”

Honduras Good Works: Day One

“The Houston Passport Office”

I was invited to go with wonderful friends from Beaumont, Texas on a mission trip to Honduras.  Having served as Rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Beaumont, I was excited to join Pat Ritchie, Kathy Doane and Elizabeth Miller and new friend, Tracy Donaie as we became part of a fifteen year old mission, Honduras Good Works.  HGW Mission is primarily a medical mission based out of the Kellogg Agricultural Center in Zamorano, Honduras and St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Texas.  Our team of five a different perspective to the larger group, as we were to help build a building for “La Iglesia Episcopal de la Epifania,” in Zarzal, a small community located about 40 Kilometers from Zamorano.

All went well as we met the team at the Houston International Airport at 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning.  We received our boarding passes, had our passports checked three times and all was well. . . .UNTIL WE TRIED TO BOARD THE PLANE.  Passports were checked one more time and two of us found that two months remaining on our passports was not sufficient for us to leave and re-enter the USA, even for a one week trip.

Thus began our adventure: “Spending the day at the Houston Passport Center in order to obtain an expedited passport.”  As inconvenient and time consuming and humbling as it was, I found the experience to be a “learning opportunity,” and a time to build friendships and “share our pain and our gain.”

The mother of my “partner in crime,” a 19 year old by the name of Reign,” was a Captain with Southwest Airlines, who, wearing her full dress uniform drove us to Houston and stayed with us through the entire ordeal (except when she had to leave to feed the parking meter).

Just about the time we began to feel “put upon and mistreated,” a mother from San Antonio arrived, having driven three hours with her four children who ranged in age from 7 years old to four months.  At the end of the day she would drive the three hours back to San Antonio.  Needless to say, we decided our lives were pretty good. 

After standing in two lines we finally received confirmation that our passports would be ready that day and were told to report back at 2:30 p.m. (As it turns out, 100 other people were told to report back at 2:30 p.m. as well.  The three of us in our party walked over to a small Thai Restaurant where I had, arguably, the best Thai food I have ever eaten.  We also got to know each other better as we shared our stories and our lives.

Returning at 2:30 p.m. we spent the next two, yes, two hours making more friends, sharing more stories and waiting patiently  for our names to be called out of the 100 of us who reported for our 2:30 appointment.

I learned and reflected on many things.  First that “what is, is” as my former associate, Susan Kennard used to say.  Secondly, don’t panic, take a deep breath, slow down, talk to the airline representatives, and develop a plan and stick with it.  I learned that if you are going to need a one day turn around passport, Houston is a really, really good place to need one.  I was also reminded that no time is wasted and that everything that happens to us helps to make us who we are, reminds us that none of us is perfect and that we all can and will make mistakes and that maybe, just maybe this will help us to be less judgmental and more understanding of others.

It reminds me of the maxim, “If you want to  hear God laugh, just tell God your plans.”

Unplanned, well spent time can truly be a gift from God.