Visa update

Well, last night Paul and I got back from a whirlwind trip to Miami. We went to file for our visas and thought that we would come home and wait for them to be sent to us. God had different plans and we came home with visas in hand. Instead of a 4 - 6 week wait, we had a 24 hour wait.

We asked God to go before us and that we would find favor with the person accepting our paperwork. He answered those prayers and in a way that we never dreamed of. We arrived Tuesday morning 45 minutes early and were the first ones in line. We had heard horror stories of people waiting all day just to be able to turn in paperwork, so we didn't know what to expect but were planning on the worst. When we finally were allowed in the office at 9:00, we stepped up to the window and they had to get someone to handle the missionary visa. Antoneata stepped to the window with her checklist of items that we must have. She said several times that most people think they have the correct paperwork, but don't have all of it or have the wrong things. I told her that we had checked off everything that the internet said we would need and she said, "Well, we'll see." By the time she got to number 4 on the list and we had been able to hand everything she asked for to her, she said, "I'm impressed, but we will see." She couldn't believe that we had everything authenticated and legalized and everything seemed in order. We thought we would have to have Paul's diploma and transcripts legalized, but she didn't make us do that. As we went down the list, her face began to soften and she said many more times how impressed she was. It was apparent that we had found favor with her - no mistaking this answer to prayer! God is so good! So, we get to the end of her checklist and we had it all. She even took a couple of documents that we had but she didn't ask for. She seemed amazed, but we were still nervous, we weren't finished yet. When she got to the fees, she began to write out exactly what we owed her and it looked like she was trying to shock us. She wrote visa $130, processing fee $70 for a total of $200. When I said we have that, she then went on and said that is times 6 for everyone in the family. We said, yes, we have 6 postal money orders for $200 each. At this, she smiled and said once again that she was impressed.

This is when our mouths fell open. She asked how long we would be in Miami and we told her we were leaving that night. She said, "You mean you aren't coming back tomorrow to pick up your visas?" We stuttered and fumbled over our words and said, "Huh?" We didn't think this was an option for our kind of visa, but she said they would be ready the next day between 12:00 & 1:00. So, we made arrangements and stayed one more night. We again arrived 45 minutes early and were the first ones in line. We received all 6 visas in a matter of 10 minutes. We are just blown away and amazed at how good the Lord is. It really has nothing to do with what He does for us, but it is all about who He is and when He has a calling for you he will provide the WAY all in His timing not ours. We are so thankful that His ways are not our ways.

God is so good!