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Religious family abandons US, gets lost at sea
Jakarta Post ^ | 08/11/2013 | Greg Moore

Posted on 08/12/2013 11:38:02 PM PDT by TexGrill

A northern Arizona family that was lost at sea for weeks in an ill-fated attempt to leave the U.S. over what they consider government interference in religion will fly back home Sunday.

Hannah Gastonguay, 26, said Saturday that she and her husband "decided to take a leap of faith and see where God led us" when they took their two small children and her father-in-law and set sail from San Diego for the tiny Pacific island nation of Kiribati in May.

But just weeks into their journey the Gastonguays hit a series of storms that damaged their small boat, leaving them adrift for weeks, unable to make progress. They were eventually picked up by a Venezuelan fishing vessel, transferred to a Japanese cargo ship and taken to Chile where they are resting in a hotel in the port city of San Antonio.

Their flights home were arranged by U.S. Embassy officials, Gastonguay said. The U.S. State Department was not immediately available for comment.

The months-long journey has been "pretty exciting" and "little scary at certain points," Gastonguay told The Associated Press by telephone.

She said they wanted to go to Kiribati because "we didn't want to go anywhere big." She said they understood the island to be "one of the least developed countries in the world."

Kiribati is a group of islands just off the Equator and the international date line about halfway between Hawaii and Australia. The total population is just over 100,000 people of primarily Micronesian descent.

(Excerpt) Read more at thejakartapost.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Religion; Society; Travel
KEYWORDS: obamareligion
Global business tip
1 posted on 08/12/2013 11:38:02 PM PDT by TexGrill
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To: TexGrill

Associated Press and Jakarta? The article smells funny. Especially the lack of quotes from the family.


2 posted on 08/13/2013 12:12:42 AM PDT by This Just In
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To: This Just In

Looks like God wanted them to go to Chile. Why didn’t they obey?


3 posted on 08/13/2013 12:17:12 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: TexGrill

Yeah, something is fishy....no pun intended. Looks like a setup to make Obama/government the savior.

Another “balloon boy” hoax.


4 posted on 08/13/2013 3:32:04 AM PDT by SoFloFreeper
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To: SoFloFreeper

Come to think about it the story does sound strange. Religious family flees US, but agrees to return to US on airplane tickets paid for by the US State Department. I went ahead and posted it since it was supposedly written by an AP reporter and it looked like the Jakarta Post picked up the wire.


5 posted on 08/13/2013 3:35:07 AM PDT by TexGrill (Don't mess with Texas)
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To: TexGrill
Where did they come up with a name like Rehab for their baby girl? I have a feeling we are going to hear about this family again. The mother plans on moving back to Arizona until they come up with a new plan. It sounds like a tragedy just waiting to happen.
6 posted on 08/13/2013 4:45:26 AM PDT by peeps36 (I'm Not A Racist, I Hate Douchebags f All Colors)
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To: peeps36

Rehab short for Rehaboem


7 posted on 08/13/2013 4:47:25 AM PDT by bert ((K.E. N.P. N.C. +12 ..... Travon... Felony assault and battery hate crime)
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