Well, believe it or not this post is coming stateside.  In my last post, I asked for prayer as our visas were still being processed.  On Friday, September 13th, we drove to the Dominican Consulate in Chicago, only to receive word that our visas were still being processed and would not be complete for our departure from O’Hare on Saturday, September 14th.  We stayed in Chicago for the night and cancelled our flights.

For the last week we have been staying in Fort Wayne, Indiana at my parent’s house.  We have made daily calls to the Chicago Consulate to figure out the status of our visas.  The problem that was creating the holdup was the fact that we were going as missionaries.  As of recently the DR has tightened their requirements for Residency Visas which has lengthened our application process.  The other problem was that the internet was down at the office in the Dominican which interfered with the communication from Chicago to the DR. So…day by day for the past week we have been waiting to hear whether we were going to be approved or denied.  At 4:03 this afternoon, Jeff received a call from the Chicago Consulate to tell him that she had good news.  We have been APPROVED.  The documents are being overnighted and hopefully arriving soon.  We anticipate flying later this week.

The scripture that I have been focusing on this week is James 1:2-8, “² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. ⁶ But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷ That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸ Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.”  I could have bolded this whole passage, but verses 6 and 7 have been a great reminder in the last week.

You may continue praying for our travels and safe arrival in to San Juan de la Maguana.  We are anxious to see everyone and get settled in our new home.  We know that God’s timing is the perfect timing.

~You revive me, You revive me Lord, And all my deserts are rivers of joy, You are the treasure I could not afford, So I’ll spend myself till, I’m empty and poor, All for You, You revive me Lord~ Passion

…I’m also pretty hopeful that the next post will come from an island in the Caribbean!