On the way out…

This post comes compliments of the free Wifi in Miami International Airport.  That’s right, I’m leaving the country for Brazil, again, but it’s different this time.  I’m actually going on a missionary visa!  Praise the Lord!

 

I’ve been continually amazed at how the Lord has chosen to reveal His absolute perfect action plan for this process that has been totally out of my control!  There have been a couple incidents in this visa process that raise eyebrows.  Coincidence?  Good luck?  Karma?  Nope.  It’s God.

First off was the mere fact that upon initial review of the documents at the Chicago consulate, they did not require any additional documents or information.  Secondly, the visa was processed and never got lost!  (Ask fellow PAZ missionary Katie A. about that experience!)  Now I say that tongue in cheek because the initial timeline for the visa process from submission was said to be 6-8 weeks.  Well, it wound up being more like11 weeks, but better late than never!

When I booked my trip down for this fall in September, I had randomly picked a return flight home on November 23 because that seemed like a good date.  I totally anticipated having to move the ticket forward to go back to pick up my visa, but in the Lord’s timing, and not mine, the visa was approved one week before my scheduled flight home.  No changes necessary.  PTL!

So I headed on back to the States under the assumption that the consulate would take 5-7 business days to issue the visa.  So I booked a flight back to Brazil for today, which gave me some buffer time in case they took a day or two longer than anticipated.  I mean, how hard could it be to print out a sticker and slap it in the passport?  Well, they had other plans.  As soon as they got my passport the consulate said that they didn’t have any passport photos of me so I had to send in more photos.  Well that added two days to the process, plus then they said that they were now taking 7-10 business days to process visas approvals.  Hmmmm.

So we kept on praying and submitted the passport, trusting that the Lord would pull this one through.  We needed the visa to be approved by Friday afternoon so that it could be delivered to me by Saturday morning so I could leave today….and that’s exactly what happened!  My expeditor went to the consulate every day last week asking for my visa and finally on Friday afternoon he told them he had to have it since I was leaving today so they took the 15 minutes to process it and issue it.  Amazing.  All that and they did it while he waited in 15 minutes.  Phenomenal!

So the expediter shipped it back to me Friday afternoon and due to the FedEx tracking system being extremely lagging, I experienced definite stress in my life that Friday night and Saturday morning.  However, what I also experienced was the Lord in His perfectness.

So in all of that I praise God.  I praise God for may family and their support and the chance to have Christmas with all of them.  I had a great trip back, but at the same time, I’m ready for the life the God has in store for me in Brazil.

JJ8091 is now boarding for Sao Paulo.  Tchau!

JAE