November 2024
The last week has been full of emotions! We discovered on Sunday night that we may have some issues with our visa application because two of our passports were expired and renewed. The Immigration attorney did not inform us that this made our visa applications expire as well. On Monday and Tuesday, we began contacting Immigration attorneys and specialists and discovered that to fix our visa issues we must return to the U.S. One added complication is when we leave, we might be declared undesirable and put on a ban for up to 5 years. If that does happen the attorneys say we can appeal the ban and we have a good case for the ban to be lifted. Although this is discouraging, we know God is in the details and we are trusting Him in this trial.
We booked a flight for Emma, Ethan and I (Tom) on Friday Nov 8th. Kelli and Grace will follow at the end of the year. They will be taking care of things here as I begin the process of paperwork in the U.S.
This is a shock to us and to many of our people here. We are asking you to pray for this process to be smooth and that God would comfort our friends and ministry partners in South Africa. I will also be using this time for a small furlough to visit some of our supporting churches. For those of you that would like to see if our schedules fit, please let me know and we will fit in as many as we can.
| Prayer Requests: – No ban is applied to our passports – Finding a vehicle to use while in the U.S. – Finding a missions house to use while in the U.S.The unexpected cost of flights and visa applications. – Timely visas at the SA Embassy in NY. – Our disciplees to stay encouraged by God’s grace. – Grace for our children through this process. | Praises: – God’s Grace and comfort during this time. – We found this issue before it became a bigger problem. – Knowing that God is working all things out for his perfect plan. |