Red Tape

Yesterday we had to get our finger prints done for the Costa Rican government.  We've been putting this off for a while now (for a whole slew of reason), but our residency (visa in other parts of the world) was granted and we finally needed to take care of it.

It worked out well today because my Mom is still here, which meant the bigger boys didn't have to endure a day of what could have been endless lines.  I say could have been.  My goodness, we hit the jackpot!  We took the baby with us because here in Costa Rica babies do a great job of getting you to the front of the line.  Today we were escorted ahead of everyone!  And we were done in an hour!  An HOUR folks!!  Back in Novemeber we were told we would have to wait in line starting at 3:30 or 4:00 AM to get an appointment.  Not today!  ¡Gracias a Dios!

Someone shared this video with me a couple of weeks ago and it cracked me up.  While it's in Spanish, there are English subtitles and while it takes place in Spain, I am going out on a limb here to say that it applies to pretty much everywhere in the world, hehehe.  Watch and laugh along with me.

 

So, here's to all of you, in your daily grind against the machine.  May we all one day get one step ahead of the system!

Come on, you gotta great bureaucracy story...let's here it!

Obtaining Passports

We're preparing to go on home assignment this spring. In the midst of setting up meetings already and contacting people (to let them know we'll be in the US), we have other things that need to be attended to before we leave.

Image Credit

One of those things is making certain all our passports are up to date. We just recently sent off for my husband's and son's British passports. I've learned that it is incredibly difficult challenging to get a passport photo of a very active 10 month-old boy. After several days, we finally got one. If he wasn't wiggling or looking away, there were shadows. Or he had a look on his face like he was filling in his nappy. At last we finally got a good photo because I got the brilliant idea to use the flash on my camera!

This of course got me thinking on all the passport and visa stories that I'm certain many of you have. It's good to remember them and give God the glory for providing in each of those situations. Here are some of our passport stories.

• My husband obtained his visa for India the day before he was supposed to leave.
• Just 2 or 3 months after I moved to England with my husband, I was granted permanent residence, something that takes most people 5-6 years to get. My husband now has British citizenship!
• Because of our visa status when our son was born, he has dual citizenship. We don't have to worry about a visa for him!
• I was issued the wrong visa and got it corrected hours before leaving for the UK.

What are some of your passport stories? We're missionaries... I know we have them! Please share in the comments!

Building Memorial Altars

I'm certain that visas are the bane of every missionary's existence. It was for me until I got permanent residency. Getting the visa is a story that shows God's provision and sovereignty in our lives. Oh, was God faithful.

In the Bible, Joshua built a memorial altar to remember how God helped Israel cross the Jordan River. Throughout our lives, we should build little memorial altars to remember what God has done in our lives. Remembering how He provided my visa, and later our permanent residence visas, is one of our memorial altars.

Each of you heft a stone to your shoulder, a stone for each of the tribes of the People of Israel, so you'll have something later to mark the occasion. When your children ask you, 'What are these stones to you?' you'll say, 'The flow of the Jordan was stopped in front of the Chest of the Covenant of God as it crossed the Jordan—stopped in its tracks. These stones are a permanent memorial for the People of Israel.' Joshua 4:5-7 (The Message)

It was quite an adventure to get my visa. We applied for it after we got married, and we were thrilled to get an email a few weeks later saying that it had been issued and it was going to be posted to... my previous address? This was not address we had asked them to send it to. OK, so it wasn't a big deal because we still had to go back to my previous residence before leaving for the UK. When we got the visa 2 days before we were to fly to the UK, we quickly discovered that the UK Consulate General had issued the wrong visa!

My husband rang the London visa office early in the morning on the day that we were to leave for the UK. It was decided that, while it's a valid visa, we still needed to get it fixed.

We were quickly off to Chicago after rushing around to finish our last-minute packing. We hired a car to drive to Chicago and get to the British Consulate General. Once we arrived, the security guard informed us that the office had just closed, that they don't take visa appointments directly, and they only help British citizens. By this time we were praying for a miracle! I cried... we stepped aside and prayed. The security guard decided he could contact someone he knew in the office who could pull a few strings. Before we knew it, we were in the elevator to 'lucky' floor 13, we got to speak with our entry clearance officer, and explained to him why the visa they had given me wouldn't work. After checking on some policies, the entry clearance officer decided that, yes it was the wrong visa and issued me a new one. Praise the Lord!!

Once we got back downstairs, we became more aware of God's hand in our situation. The security guard explained to us that if any of the other guards had been on duty, they wouldn’t have called up to pull strings under any circumstances. This particular security guard only worked on Wednesdays (when we were there), and after that week, he switched to nights. Wow! God definitely knew how this would all work out. Even the security guard commented on how God must have been looking out for us.

One of our prayers has been that others would be able to see God working in our lives… even those who don’t believe… and that prayer got answered this time. In a big way!

This is one of my memorial altars. What memorial altars are you building in your life?