Visas

The visa laws have been changing here. Will is going to Zaporozhya on Tuesday to see what he can find out about how the changes will affect us and what we'll need to do to renew. Please be praying for us in this!

No more charges

Please pray that no one would come to file charges against me while we sit here, waiting for our court date. (In case you don't read our family blog, our court date is December 25.)

Going home

We need to vacate this apartment, so we'll be going home to Kovrov on Tuesday. Please pray for safe travel.

Also, pray for wisdom in what to do next. We feel like we're in a better legal position, now that we've tried to get exit visas and been denied. It doesn't seem like they would press charges against me for being in Russia, when I can't leave! But we'll see. If we need to, we can stay with friends.

The main prayer requests right now

First, please keep praying that we would be able to return to Russia after the court hearing that we're waiting for. The judge could decide to deport me, which would mean that I would not be allowed enter Russia for five years or more. Or the decision could be different, and we'd get exit visas to leave in around two weeks after that. Either way, we'll be leaving, for a short time (as we hope and pray), or. . . .

Also pray that God would provide the finances we need! To quote a prayer request from a Gospelink letter that came in recently: "We be in need of financial situation."

(And, no, we still don't have a court date.)

Will's travels

He let me know that he made it to Ivanovo and stopped there for the night. Now he's on his way to Vladimir, to talk to the regional head of Migration. Please pray that man will be kind, merciful and able to help! Pray for Will as he goes before this influential and intimidating man!

On the road

Please pray for Will as he's on the road today. He had a successful morning in Moscow, getting our passports translated. Now he's on a bus to Ivanovo, hoping to get there before late night, and then maybe on to Vladimir or home. This is a yucky day to travel: wet roads, slushy snow everywhere.

Update

Here is what I posted on our blog:

Will has been home. He left on Friday to go back for the regional meeting that was on Saturday. Soon after he left, I got an email from the Russian Consulate in Kiev, telling Will to bring back his new visa to be annulled. What!?!?! (Please pray!) Also, at home Will found a letter in our mailbox, saying that Kovrov Migration Control is appealing the court decision that was in my favor. What!?!?! (Please pray!) That's the bad news. The good news is that the Baptist Union was approved to invite foreigners with no problem, and they took the initiative on their own to try inviting us on work visas, which is a new and really good option. It sounds like we'll have those in February. (Please pray!)

So, where are we now? In the land of confusion! Will came back from Kovrov/Vladimir last night around midnight. Tomorrow he is going to call Kiev and see if he can clear up anything there. He'll also leave early in the morning to get all of our passports translated and notarized in Moscow and hopefully out to Ivanovo to be turned in right away for those new visas. Then, he'll get ready to be in line early to talk to the regional head of Migration in Vladimir on Tuesday--the only day he receives people--in hope that he can help. (Please pray!)

Now I've told you all I know. Hopefully you're not as confused about it as we are! Just a warning in advance: our answer to all questions is going to be, "We don't know yet."

God answers

Here's the story.

:-)

Tanya is coming to watch the children tomorrow morning, so that Will can go with me. Thank the Lord for that, and pray for them to do well with her. (Especially Asya! Pray that Asya won't have any sudden hunger pangs. )

Well. . .

I was going to say that all is quiet on the front here. Will and the Baptist Union lawyer turned in the papers on Tuesday to register them to invite me. There were a few more documents necessary, so Will is going to get them in Ivanovo tomorrow, and then turn them in as soon as possible in Vladimir. Pray for all of that to go quickly.

But. . . .
The local law enforcement officers came back again today to fill out charges against me. This is the second time since Will got back from Kiev. Now I'll be going in to talk to them on Friday morning at 10:00 and see what their boss has decided to do about me. (They know I have a nursing baby, so he's not going to take more than an hour.) Please pray for me! Up until now, Will has done all the talking. He's much better at explaining clearly than I am. Pray for mercy again, too.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Will is registered!

The drama continues

We've come up against another obstacle in getting Will registered. Please pray, especially today! Details will follow, when we understand what's going on ourselves.

Today and Tuesday

Well, one prayer answered: the unpleasant man wasn't even there today. Will spent the whole day running back and forth or just sitting and waiting, and he still isn't registered, though. So, keep praying. He's supposed to go back again on Wednesday.

Tomorrow he'll be leaving very early to get a place in line at the Vladimir Regional Migration Control. Hopefully he'll be able to get questions answered and start on invitations for the children and me.

Tomorrow

Will's going to try to register his new visa tomorrow. Please pray that they'll be willing to do that here. The local migration inspector that we've dealt with before was not very pleasant, so pray that he'll be nice. We're also praying that he'll register Will for at least six months; three months is more standard with a religious visa.

What's next?

For those of you who are already asking what's next: that's what we'd like to know! Just kidding. But the main prayer request right now is probably just for us to be able to keep track of all the details.

And there are some specific things to pray about:
1. Pray that Will would be able to register his new visa here in Kovrov on Monday.
2. Pray that we would figure out how to get an invitation for me. We're going to try to do that through the regional Baptist Union and Migration Service in Vladimir. We just found out today that the Baptist Union will have to register to invite foreigners. We tried to do that with a friend's business last year, and it was impossibly complicated. Will and the Union lawyer will probably be going to Vladimir on Tuesday to see what they can do.

Praise the Lord with us for Will's new visa and how smoothly his trip went!

Visa answer

We just found out the answer on my visa invitation, and that answer is no. My application for a visa invitation through the Russian Baptist Union has been turned down again. Will is going to Moscow tomorrow to talk to the visa consultant we have worked with before and figure out what our other options are. Please don't ask what's next, because we don't know ourselves. Please do pray! The final outcome is still up to God. We'll let you know as soon as we find out more.

Another snag

We should have had a yes or no answer on my letter of invitation for a visa yesterday. Instead, the only news was that it's being held for investigation. Please PRAY. I know you all have been, but please intensify those prayers, if that's possible. Thank you so much! We know the Lord is in control, and we're trusting Him.

Praise and prayer

Praise the Lord that our applications for visa invitations for the children and me are actually in the office where they need to be now. They might even be done much faster than usual! Pray that we'll get an answer soon, and that it will be a YES.

Please don't stop praying for me to be able to sleep at nights and to feel good during the days. This week has been better overall during the days (praise the Lord!), but nights are hard and maybe even getting worse. Time seems to be going so slowly for me.

Keep praying

There's nothing new to report on our document situation. Just keep praying.

Gospelink work continues, so please keep praying about that, too. You can read the last request I posted about Gospelink for details. There will be more meetings coming up soon. (The travel last week did go well. Praise the Lord for that.)

Pregnancy continues to go well overall, but it's hard day to day.

Visa invitation

We found out on Thursday that my application for a visa invitation couldn't be turned in without our marriage license. They've tried to turn it in several times now, and each time there's been something missing. Please pray that this would be the last thing, and that the application really would have gone in Friday! The woman at the Baptist Union was leaving on vacation then, but she was going to leave a note for someone else to handle it.