Ed and Ligia visit Day 1 - Safe in Toronto!

Oct 8th, 2008 by Jon Posted in Ed and Ligia's Visit 2008, Nicaragua News | No Comments

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It was like disappearing behind the dark side of the moon — we had no idea if Pastor Ed and Ligia Jaentschke had made it onto the plane from Nicaragua, nor did we know if they even left Bluefields!

“Wouldn’t it be funny if they thought it was next week?” Rob joked as we pulled onto the highway heading to the airport. “Do we even know which terminal they’ll be at?”

Just as Devika and Rob began discussing their options, his cell phone rang. It was Customs Canada and they were confirming Ed and Ligia’s stay in Toronto! They had arrived early and already making their way through the checkpoints.

So just like that our questions were answered! 1) Yes they made it on the plane (obviously!) and 2) They were at Terminal 3.

Soon enough we got to the airport. It was now 6:40pm and their plane landed at 5:55pm - surely they would have exited by now? It’s not easy to miss Pastor Ed - he’s about 6′ 2″ with a radiant smile… but somehow they weren’t there. We split up searching the sparse crowd for a tall Nicaraguan.

“He’s here!” exclaimed Devika.

Pastor Ed appeared from nowhere and was standing there looking a little dazed and holding a coffee cup in his hand. Devika and Ed exchanged a kiss and a big hug (spilling some of his coffee in the process) as Rob and I waited our turn to greet this humble yet extraordinary man.

We walked a few paces to the nearby coffee shop and found Ligia and Shirley (Ed’s aunt) chatting over coffee and some oversized Canadian muffins.

More hugs, kisses, and handshakes go around. We all pulled up seats and chatted a little before making our way back to the car. Warm coats were given to our guests… 14C in Toronto is a far cry from the 32C currently in Bluefields!

After nearly 2 years of wishful thinking, 2 months of preparations, and 2 feverish weeks of planning … it was finally starting to sink in - Pastor Ed and Ligia have made it to Canada!

In talking to them last night, it became clear how close we were to having this all unravel.

Third time’s a charm

Ed and Ligia have attempted to travel to Canada to visit on two other occasions and both times failed. On both occasions they would fill out all the forms and send precious money to the Canadian embassy in Guatemala, only to find out a long month later that they have been declined a visa.

When Cornerstone approached them to visit Canada, the Jaentschke’s were ready for another round of waiting and disappointment — despite this they were not discouraged and agreed to give it a shot.

Two months ago in August, they were in Guatemala City on vacation as part of a 25th anniversary gift from a friend in the UK. The day before Ed and Ligia were to board a plane back to Bluefields, they decided on a whim to visit the Canadian embassy.

Armed with their passports and an endorsement letter from Andrew Lau, our head pastor at Cornerstone Church, they went in to apply for a visa. One hour later they were told they have been accepted and cleared to visit Canada!

The above anecdote is just one of the many stories of how things just seemed to come together as if by divine plan. It’s amazing how quickly everything came together and how smoothly all the organizing went considering the complexities of hosting, driving, organizing and scheduling people, and raising funds to pay for their travel and stay.

In just a few short weeks a dedicated team of people at Cornerstone was able to put things together so that two fantastic people from Bluefields can come and visit our church. We hope that their stay is relaxing and productive, and we pray that they will touch and inspire our community to act locally and globally.