REVERSE THE CHARGES!

Did you guys read about the guy in Malaysia who got nicked for a $218 trillion phone bill? Yes, TRILLION. How does that measure up to the national debt? Anyway, it seems the phone belonged to his father. His father died and the man dutifully took care of disconnecting the phone and settling the outstanding bill of $23. These are the kinds of things we all will have to do someday for our parents. You may want to start making a list so you don’t forget something and get hit with a massive bill. (My dad has very thoughtfully put together a list of things I have to do just in case something happens to both him and my mom as they jetset around the world.) Anyway, back to Kuala Lumpur. A few months go by after his dad has passed and this incredible phone bill arrives. No one seems to know whether there was a mistake in the billing process or if someone was using the number illegally.

I have a confession to make. I once rang up a phone bill that would probably make your jaw drop.

Mia and I were engaged just before I had to leave for Romania. This ministry trip had been scheduled for a number of months. It was an eight week trip. When it was planned I had no idea I would be newly engaged when it arrived. Let me just say, I had no interest in leaving my new fiancé behind for eight weeks!

I did everything I could think of to ensure that we would be able to stay in regular communication while I was away. I had just bought a brand new laptop. I took my older version over to her house and made sure she was all set up with a chat program so we could at least sit and type at one another. The eight hour time difference would prove a little difficult but at least we could write loving little notes to each other and work on our plans together.

When I arrived in Romania I immediately went and secured my own personal internet account. At that time, in Romania you had to pay for internet time by the minute so I couldn’t use anyone else’s service. It would just be too expensive for them and that would be rude. So I was all set to sit and chat with Mia and help pass the lonely hours. (I was living all by myself in an apartment.)

It turned out to be a disaster! It was almost impossible to maintain the connection for any period of time. The phone lines kept cutting out and I was always being dropped from the internet service. This was more than inconvenient. My beloved fiancé was also under a great deal of stress and she thought I kept signing off on her. She was becoming more than frustrated. She was getting angry! And it’s also very difficult to communicate one’s emotions over the internet. Joking and teasing are often misunderstood, especially when you get cut off right after the joke and you don’t get the chance to explain it.

Finally I had had enough. I could see that if something wasn’t done I wouldn’t be engaged anymore by the time I got home! I had to TALK to her and make sure everything was ok. I picked up the phone and got the international operator to connect me right to the phone in my dearest’s bedroom. We had a wonderful talk! Everything was all better. We made a phone date for the next morning and she called me back.

Well, this plan worked like magic. We fell even more deeply in love, if that were possible. We talked about everything and made all the plans we needed to make. We both felt better about things even though the distance between us made our hearts ache.

When I finally got home we just talked and talked and finished making all our plans. At some point she mentioned that the phone company had called to ask her if she was actually making all the phone calls to Romania. Mia told them yes, her fiancé was in Romania and she was indeed making the calls. Why did they want to know? They simply informed her that her bill was over the limit and she needed to send them $1,000 right away or they would have to cut off her long distance. I was shocked! A thousand dollars! I didn’t know it could be that expensive! Mia told me to sit down for a minute. Then she showed me the total bill. It was over $10,000!

We have often talked about that bill over the last few years. Sometimes I have wished I had the $10,000. But at the end of the day, we both believe it was money well-spent! The moral of the story is, don’t ever travel that far away from your girl for that long again!

You guys are great! Thanks for stopping by!