Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Today was a really tough day, both emotionally & spiritually, as I spent several hours at immigration. If it wasn’t for the Lord’s grace, the help of a Mexican national, a “chance” meeting with another missionary, and the availability of Julie, I don’t think I would have managed to submit my visa application.
Today was the day that I was going to the immigration office, to hand in my tourist visa and apply for a visa that would allow me to teach here. I had asked so many people to pray! By the time we left the house, just before 9am, I was feeling pretty confident. Little did I know that things would not go at all as planned!
Before I left the house, Roy had printed out the scanned pages of my passport for me (all 15 of them). Days earlier, he had given me a printout of the scanned pages of my tourist visa, & I made sure I had that in my folder of papers. So, in going through my mental checklist, making sure I had everything for the day, I made sure I had those copies, made sure I had my 3 months worth of original bank statements, made sure I had my original teaching certificate and original letter of apostille attached. I knew it would be about 450 pesos, so I made sure I had plenty of cash in my wallet. The plan was that after immigration, I would hang out in the city a bit with April, a single missionary who had been here since January. So, in anticipation of spending the afternoon outside, I had applied sunblock to my face & sunscreen to my arms, etc… My water bottle was full. I had a granola bar and an apple. I knew I would be coming home on the bus or by taxi, so I made sure I had change and the house keys. I had the phone numbers of the house & Julie in my journal & my journal was packed. I FELT ready!
So, just before 9, Julie drove me to the immigration building, where I was to meet Rosa at 9. (Rosa is the secretary at the SIL office who had helped me with filling out the visa application paperwork on Monday.) She was to be my Spanish-speaking “advocate”. Julie dropped me off at 9:15. I walked in & looked around. I didn’t see Rosa anywhere. There were 2 uniformed officials there who told me to sign in. In Spanish, they helped me know what to write in each column, since the only words I could figure out myself were name, date, and time. They could tell that I didn’t know where I was going, so I told them that I needed the office of immigration (necessito la officina de imigracion). He pointed for me to walk through the courtyard & go up the steps. I looked around again for Rosa & April, but didn’t see Rosa or any girls with red hair (which is all that I knew about April).
At the top of the steps was another sign in book, but I didn’t know if I needed to sign it or not, since I had just signed downstairs? So, I just stood there, looking at all the office doors around me, looking at the courtyard below me, looking at the main entrance ~ looking for Rosa & April. As I stood there & minute after minute passed, I was fighting the feeling of fear from entering…
After 15 minutes…I was on the verge of crying. I thought maybe Rosa had been there & had already left, since we didn’t get there until 9:15? Or, maybe she was in one of the office surrounding me, waiting for me, but how could I know? So, finally, I got up the guts to ask the uniformed lady at the sign in book behind me if she spoke English. She said no. I tried formulating a sentence that would say I was looking for my 2 friends & needed to apply for my visa, but I didn’t know where to go. All I was able to get out was that I was looking for my 2 friends. (Soy buscando mi dos amigas). I think that she then asked me what their names were. Of course, I only knew their first names & I wasn’t even sure if that was what she had asked me.
She told me to hold on & a minute later another uniformed lady came out. She spoke English really pretty well. I explained that I needed to apply for my visa, but that I was waiting for my 2 friends because one had my paperwork, & I didn’t know if my friends might already be here. I didn’t know what to do. She spoke to the other lady & she walked me back through a couple hallways to an office.
There were only 2 officials in that office, no Rosa, no April. One of the uniformed officials in that office asked me a question in Spanish. I didn’t understand her. I asked her if she spoke English, but she didn’t. She asked me for my tourist card. I didn’t want to get anything started without Rosa, since she had my official paperwork. So, I tried to explain that I was waiting for my 2 friends & that my friend has my paperwork. But, I couldn’t remember the verb for wait…She just told me then to sit down.
By this time, the tears were almost brimming, I was fighting them hard, but they started squeezing out. I felt that NOW, Rosa & April had even less of a chance of finding me! I was in some back office of the immigration building, with people who didn’t speak English & I didn’t speak Spanish… I waited as 5 minutes passed & then 10 minutes passed. By now, it was almost 9:45, 45 minutes AFTER I was supposed to meet Rosa. I was just praying and praying that someone who spoke English would find me. I was trying not to be fearful, but I was lost in a foreign country, where I didn’t know the language well enough, & INSIDE a small office in a government building!
Despite the prayers & my attempts at positive thinking, tears started rolling down my face. The lady in the office then asked me a question I didn’t understand. Then, I understood that she was asking me the telephone number of my friends. I DIDN’T have the phone number of either Rosa or April, but I DID have the house phone number & Julie’s cell phone number. I knew Julie had a busy day ahead, as she had planned to go grocery shopping after dropping me off. So, I pointed to the house number, explaining the best I could that I didn’t have the phone numbers of my 2 friends, but that this was the phone number of the house where I was staying. (Yo no se los numeros de mis amigas, tengo telephono de la casa.) By now, I was crying between words. She patted my shoulder, took the book, & left the office.
I sat down now, trying to control myself. I was so grateful that she had done that & was just prayerful that Roy would be there to answer the phone. Shortly after she left, a head popped in that, through my teary eyes, I recognized as Rosa. I jumped up and hugged her, crying. In Spanish, she told me sorry & said something about the bus. Then, the lady came back in with my book, & she & Rosa talked briefly. In Spanish, Rosa told me to stay there.
She left & returned a minute later with a number ticket for us. Soon, a different lady came to get us & took us into another office. Rosa was speaking with her & showing her documentation. Then, they asked for my “pasaporte original” ~ I didn’t think I had it with me, so I started shaking my head, but I looked anyway through my bag. I tried to explain to her that I thought I only needed the paperwork we had, the copies. (Yo no se necessito original, solo los copy.) So, we had to leave the office.
Rosa asked me for Julie’s number. I gave it to her & she went out in the hall to call. She came back in to get me, so I could tell Julie where my passport & tourist visa were. She found them immediately & told me she would be right over with them. So, we went downstairs to the front door to wait for Julie.
While we were waiting another missionary, named Debbie, came by. She translated between Rosa & me. When Debbie asked me about what had happened, I involuntarily started crying again…
When Julie showed up, we went back upstairs to that first office. On the way up, she told me that she had decided not to go to the store & that is why she was available to bring me my passport & tourist visa! What a blessing! When we got back upstairs, we had to take another number & wait a bit to get back into the second office. Once we got back into the other office, everything went very smoothly with completing the application process.
Then, we had to go wait in line at the bank, so I could pay 491 pesos for the application fee. Then, we went to the internet place across the street to pay for copies of the receipt saying that I had paid. Then, we walked back to the second office to hand in the receipt.
While we were in there, Debbie had come back to give us some churros she had bought. That was SO thoughtful of her! We ate them as we were walking out of the immigration building. I was super hungry, since I had eaten breakfast 5 hours earlier & they were SO yummy!
Julie took the bus home with me.
That evening, there was a weekly prayer meeting of the area’s SIL missionaries at our house. It was a true blessing to hear their HIGHS & lows, to pray together & get to know each a little bit! WOW ~ God is really working in & through the missionaries here!
I shared that my HIGH & low was the same thing ~ my day at immigration…it was an emotional day, but God worked through it. Now, I was just asking people to pray for favor, that the visa application will be accepted quickly, so I can begin teaching. SO MUCH time and effort and money has gone into this process…the reason I was brought here to Oaxaca is to teach! So, I am asking, “Dear Officials, Please, Accept My Application, Because I Really Want To Teach!”
Please, brothers & sisters in Christ, pray with me!
I’ll keep you updated!
No comments:
Post a Comment