The Crazy, Multi-national, Miraculous Visa.

I made a comment to Kim just now that this is the forth night in a row where we’re sleeping at a different place. For the last four days we’ve been nomads. Starting from Singapore we’re slowly making our way back to little ole’ BK where hopefully our house and cat await us. It’s been quite the adventure let me just tell you- another huge exercise in trust. But like always whenever we step out on faith, relying 100% totally on God (usually because we have to), He always provides for us. This has been no different. So the last couple weeks, although brief, have been an exercise in faith with just a wee bit of craziness.

So, why are we bouncing around so much?? Why not just come straight back home to BK?? Well, the reason for our departure from BK in the first place was to get our new visa. You can only be in country as long as your visa says. And for us it said ‘times up!’ So we made our exit and spent about a week with my relatives in Singapore waiting for our approval to come through. It came (a few days later than expected) and we were able to come back to Jakarta. Now here’s where it got really interesting. . .

We have to check in at immigration in Jakarta. This involves signing a bunch of papers, getting our finger prints and photos taken, and paying fees and other things we really don’t know what are for. And of course we’re not sure where to go for this, what we’re supposed to say to the officials, and how long all of this is going to take. We’re thinking maybe five days. If we’re lucky we’ll be done and can get a plane back to BK. Okay, Lord. . . here we go!

But fortunately Friday morning our visa sponsor comes to the rescue. He hooks us up with a closer place to stay for the night, and all we have to do is drop off our passports. But later that day he says we can go and get it all done that day! Just pay a little extra and we can get the ‘speedy’ service. Doing some mental calculations in my head, it’s cheaper to pay for the ‘speedy’ option, getting it done in one day, and not shelling out all the money for hotel nights.

Long story short, we were able to get all our paperwork and reporting done in just one day. We also were able to visit my new Jakarta office! Ha ha. Well, technically I am an employee now. =) Yesterday we met up with Hendra, our Indonesian sponsor, and he shared about some of the work he’s involved with. I can’t go into all the details, but let me just say that I’m more and more impressed with this man. He has his heart and his priorities in the right place. He’s a solid Believer, a business man, extends visas to people like me, and is doing everything he can in his own way to reach people for the Lord. What a guy. We’re so fortunate to know him, and really really blessed that he gave us a visa.

That’s the story. Kinda crazy. Kinda wild. But ultimately God had it all under control and we just kept trusting that the whole time. Will I remember days like this?- where Kim and I are wandering around Asia, bouncing between government offices in two different countries, getting flights the day of, and checking into hotels with nothing but our carry-on luggage? It’s a pretty crazy lifestyle sometimes. Gotta love it, right?