We found out Tuesday morning that we needed to go to Mazatlan right away and get something in writing from immigration regarding our grace period as our FMTs had expired. Durrrrrr. That's why we were at immigration on July 6, we knew our FMTs were expiring and wanted to have something official in hand!! We had the document from them showing they'd received our documents and thought that would be enough, but NO! RA was adamant! They needed a letter from the immigration office. Okey-dokey, how tough could this be? Immigration had our money, they had a complete set of paperwork, they had granted us a grace period to get the letter from Religious Affairs. We go, we get the letters, we fax the letters, we mail the letters, we go home. So the six of us jumped in the truck and off we went.
Our new home: the immigration office in Mazatlan!
We had called in advance to make sure the guy we needed to see would be in the office, and found that he was due back about the time we'd arrive. Perfect! Even though he wasn't there when we got there we were able to talk with others. They talked about it, they thought about it. They couldn't write the letter, it would be illegal for them to do so. We needed to get a new FMT. Can you issue them here we asked? Certainly, but not if yours is already expired. Have to go to the border and get a new one there. Arrrrggggghhhhh! The woman who had been so helpful to us on the 6th and 7th tipped us off to hang around 'til three, as the guy we need would be there then and maybe we could appeal to him.
So we hung out and ambushed the poor guy in the parking lot. He understood what we needed but he was late for a meeting and promised to review our file and see what he could do. He wanted us back first thing in the morning. Hope springs eternal. The alternative was completely unappealing: run to the border, killing a week and a grand, running right up against the end of our grace period and a myriad of questions about the new FMT being dated after all our other paperwork in both agencies/cities. Would we have to forfeit everything so far and start again?? Didn't even want to think about that.
After praying and talking about whether to spend the night or not we decided to head home and start out early the next day for our hopeful review, just me, Lidia and Ralph. Tom and the girls would hold down the home front. We sent out an e-mail asking for prayer!!!
We had a huge thunderstorm that night, a few power failures and we spent the night in prayer and turmoil. What was God saying? If we didn't get the letter we'd have to leave the country for sure, the question in our minds was: Should we come back? Basically didn't sleep all. Up at 6, collected Lidia and we were off again.
Our guy was in the office when we arrived and had reviewed the file. There was nothing that he could do. Again it was repeated that it would be illegal for him to write the letter. Why then was another arm of the very same government requiring it? Sorry, can't help. Ralph threw up his hands and headed to the truck. To say that we were discouraged is an understatement!! By this time both Lidia and I are crying. We decide to call RA AGAIN (Telcel really loves us this month) and see if they have any ideas how to get this done.
The guy in RA says that perhaps this man does not have the authority to do this, but his boss does. Perhaps he doesn't know that because he is new. Could he talk with him? Lidia runs the cell phone upstairs and hunts down our guy, who is busy looking for our files to prepare our exit documents. The two government guys talk, there is a lot of yes, but, yes, but, yes, but, then a lot of yes, yes, uh huh, yes. The immigration guy hangs up and says he'll have to check some things out and make some calls, can we wait? Let me see...yes we can wait.
He comes back downstairs...yes the letters can be written, HOWEVER, if we do this when the paperwork goes to immigration in Mexico City there is a chance that we can lose everything and get a letter asking us to leave the country. The reason: the expired FMT. We tell him we need to think and pray. We do that, and call our guy in RA again. Totally not true. When immigration received our documents on the 6th, they effectively stopped the expiration of our visas. If immigration in Mazatlan had sent our documents to their office in Mexico City they would have likely arrived before the expiration of the FMTs, and even if they did not they would have just issued a letter exactly like we were asking for now. Giving us time to get the letter from RA. So, we decide to go for it.
Miracles abounded. The guy's heart and mind were changed, the letters are written! We are now crying for joy! We sign for the letters and head downtown to a public fax. Ooops. The letter doesn't have the grace dates in it. Back to immigration, Praise the Lord, the guy is still there, they fix the letters and give us a closer location to fax. We call to confirm RA got them and they are okay...yippee and Praise the Lord! We are good to go.
Now we just need to throw the letters in the Mexpost fast mail and include a prepaid Mexpost fast mail return envelope!! Back downtown to the post office, get a great parking space and rush into the post office. Sadly, can't do return pre-paid postage on fast mail. So we are off to the only other place that can do it, DHL in the Golden Zone, but Praise the Lord, we get a parking space right at the front door. They are closed for comida, but will return at three...we wait in air conditioned comfort at the VIPs across the street and have a snack.
DHL opens, but they don't deliver to La Cruz, so we go to plan "B" and have them deliver back to the office in Mazatlan. We can just pick them up when they arrive and run them over to immigration.
All day the enemy kept throwing stuff in our path, all day God just swept them away. We felt joy, we felt relief, we are so thankful that we serve such a powerful and awesome God!!! He acted in such a personal way for us, clearly showing that he is OUR God, clearly showing that he has us here for a purpose. The enemy will likely continue to try to discourage us and get us to leave, but we just need to remember this day when the Lord acted so mightily, so personally, so wonderfully!
We put the Gaither's Atlanta Homecoming in the CD player and all three of us sang all the way home...and one of the songs particularly struck us: Somebody Touched God. That somebody was you guys! We are so thankful.
No comments:
Post a Comment