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| One of the signs of stress. |
The part of our June plan that I was most worried about was our visa situation. We needed new visas soon. Through May and the beginning of June we gathered the necessary documents and made “plans”. We had never gone to Moldova to get visas before, but understood that we could get them in two days. I talked to the embassy and they said that they work on Mondays, Wednesday s and Thursday. If we apply for a visa on one of those days, we can get it the next working day. OK, so here was the plan.
Weekend: Travel to Kiev, pick up Anya from camp, leave
Joseph and Micah at camp.
Monday: Julie, Alfie and Anya
travel back to Odessa.Tuesday: Leave Anya with Brittany and Julie and Alfie travel to Chisinau to apply for visas.
Wednesday: Arrive early at embassy and apply for visas.
Thursday: Pick up visas and take bus back to Odessa.
Friday: Travel to Kiev to get Joseph and Micah from camp.
We knew that because of the
status of our current visas that we may have problems at the border crossing
into Moldova. We also knew that if we
had problems in Moldova, that we could not come back to Ukraine without a new
visa for 90 days. We decided to pray and
take the risk. Our attitude was something
like, “Here is our plan Lord, please make it work.” Everything went fine until Wednesday. The border crossings were no problems. We thanked God for giving us favor in the
eyes of the border guards. We got a room
near the embassy on Tuesday evening. We
found the embassy so we could easily get there the next morning. We had documents and copies of documents.
Wednesday morning comes and we arrive at the
embassy a half hour before it opens.
There is already a large group waiting.
We add our names to the waiting list, we are 49 and 51. OK, a little stress. We should have come earlier, but we have all
day to apply. I pray, “Lord please let
the line go quickly and efficiently.” I
walk around to relieve the stress and notice a paper taped to the embassy
door. It is in Ukrainian so it is a
little hard to read. I read it and
understand it, but spend about five minutes trying to convince myself that I
don’t understand the Ukrainian and everything will be alright. The sign says that the embassy will be closed
on Thursday…that’s tomorrow! That means
that we won’t be able to pick up our visas until Monday! OK…stress level increases and I start making
plans in my head. I can beg the embassy
to issue the visa today…but…but we are number 49 and 50… “Why didn’t we come
earlier?” Stress level increases
more. I’m angry at myself for not coming
earlier. What if we don’t get in before
the break at 12:30? OK…start to
pray. “Lord, please, please, please make
all these people go away!” That was a
panic prayer. “OK Lord, sorry for panicking. I have two prayers. Please let us apply in time to get our visas
today and help me not to stress and say anything stupid to my wife. Help me to trust you Lord.” I think and plan some more. It is time to put plan B, C and D on standby and
began formulating plan E. I talk to
Julie. “So, what is the backup
plan? Who will pick up the kids if we
are stuck?” There is a plan, but I don’t
want to be stuck! “Lord, I don’t want to
be stuck.” Plan some more…John can pick
up the kids and they can stay in Kiev, or maybe he can send them to Brittany or
Leah on a bus, maybe Igor is in Kiev and he can drive them down to Odessa. We will need some more money for the hotel…”Why
or why didn’t I come earlier? How did I
miss that tomorrow is a holiday? Why do
these people celebrate so many holidays?!
Don’t they know that there is work to be done?! Why are there so many stupid holidays? They only work three days a week and they are
taking one day off? What is the matter
with these people!?” (OK, not very fair...calm
down, breath…..breath again). Stress
level increases…I’m on the edge….”Lord help me not to snap and say or do anything
rash. Help me to trust you”…more
thoughts running through my head, more prayers….
I look at Julie. She looks calm. She turns to me and says, “Do you think we
will have clothes in heaven?” In my mind
my head explodes. My vision blurs. Time stops as I try to absorb her question and
the calm look on her face while our hopes of getting a visa this week slip into
the abyss. Praise God, I hold my
tongue. However, I guess in that
instant, my face communicated much to Julie.
She simply says, “Oh, you’re worried about the visa? The Lord will work it out, but I’ll let you
be.” She is not worried! This makes me mad and embarrassed at the same
time. “Why isn’t she worried?” OK…pray…think….plan. How about walk a little. …walking… “Lord, this is not the worst thing
in the world. We have friends, we have
help. Help me to accept whatever plan
you have for us.” I walk around a little
more. It is a little after 10:00am and
the guard comes out yells, “Who is here for visas?” What!
That’s us. I raise my hand and
head for the gate. Julie didn’t hear
him. She is calmly sitting on a bench
and reading. I call her and say her we
can go in. She looks surprised and heads
over to me. As we go in, I notice that
we are going in out of order.
When we get in, we fill out the
necessary forms and stand in line. I
have all the arguments ready. “Please sir;
if you could issue the visas today we would be very grateful. You see our daughter is in Odessa and our
other kids are in Kiev. We can’t wait
until Monday. I know you are not working
tomorrow. Perhaps we could just pick up
the visa in the morning….pause…perhaps there is an extra fee to expedite visa
service. We are ready to pay extra.” We get to the window and the man says, “You
want these today…right?” Time stops...again
the vision blurs….sound stops…those words were like manna from heaven. There is a flash of blue light and I’m back
at the window. “Uhhh….yes, yes of course
that would be great.” “No problem” he
says. “Pay for the visa at the bank and
come back after three.” “Yes, yes, thank
you so much.” We leave for the bank, but
the Lord is not done with us.
As we leave the gate, a young man
says, “You guys buying visas?” “Yep”, we
say as we pass him to go to the bank. We
pay for the visas and return to the embassy to drop of the receipt. When we return we start talking to the young
man. He is an American named Ethan who
is also trying to get a visa to return to Odessa. He is an independent missionary who works
mainly with orphans. He has his
documents but is number 72 on the list.
We talk. He asks what the sign on
the door means. I tell him that the
embassy is closed tomorrow and will not be open again until Monday. I watch as he takes the news very well. He doesn’t seem stressed. (I’m a little embarrassed at remembering my
earlier reaction.) We ask the guard if Ethan can get in to do his visa. The guard says that he doesn’t know. There are a lot of people applying for
visas. About 12:45 we are waiting with
Ethan and a man comes out and says that is all for today, everyone else will
have to come back on Monday. Ethan is
disappointed, but takes the news well…again.
A discussion at the gate starts and intensifies and the guard agrees to
take 10 more people and the rest will be first on Monday. He takes 10 more and that takes him to number
71. Ethan is disappointed but takes the
news well…again. He has to stay until
Monday. As he is getting ready to leave
and another man says, “Come on…Take the American kid.” The guard asks, “Do you need a religious
visa?” Ethan says yes and the guard
motions him in. We ran into Ethan again
later and were able to help him get some extra documents. We all got our visas and traveled back to
Odessa the next day together on the train.
The Lord not only changed our
plans, He improved them. We got our
visas faster than we planned and the embassy still got their holiday. More importantly, through the examples of my
wife and this young man, the Lord showed me how little I trust Him. My instinct is still to fix it myself. Yes, I pray but my blood pressure still
increases, my mind goes to plan B, I try to fix it myself and take over. I don’t mean that we don’t need to plan, but
what I need to do better is “rest in Him when the plan changes.” Really, I need to rest in Him all the
time. We (I) should still plan our way,
but on the road, it is always best to let Him direct our steps. I am honestly a little embarrassed but
thankful for His lesson.
