After having a rough day recently, having heard some very encouraging testimonies at church, and how God has continued to care for, provide, and show His miraculous hand in the lives of several elderly couples at church; it really hit my heart how I was not fully relying on God for all of Trophi's Visa and it's outcome. I was trying in my own strength to be strong, and trust God, but there was a part missing. I hadn't left it entirely to God, allowing Him to do His work through it all. I had been trying to be patient, but since it wasn't given completely over to God, I wasn't doing very well in the patience sector.
After breaking down and committing it to God, entirely, the unknowns we've been working through through the months behind us God has smoothed out, given us peace about and everything has worked out; not as we'd have chosen, but as God has seen best for us.
As we continue waiting on this Visa, and we are hoping to hear back from the High Commission within the next week and a half, we have left it all in God's most capable hands, and will Praise Him regardless of the outcome.
How does it all work, you might be thinking, our apologies for not sharing that sooner;
here is how each visa application works:
1. You fill out the Visa Application Forms, choosing what kind of visa you are applying for
(ex: visitor, working, student...) (Form specific for each person/situation)
2. There are a list of required documents, and getting them all together takes
often a minimum of a week, since many need to come from Canada.
3. Once all documents have been collected, you go to a specific bank,
get a cheque paying for the Visa Application Fee.
4. There is a list of certain couriers that will transport your legal documents
(original copies included) to the High Commission in Nairobi.
5. After sending your documents through the courier, they'll reach roughly the next day.
6. From the arrival of your documents at the Canadian High Commission
in Nairobi, the process takes 15 business days from the time your documents sit in a pile,
until they have been looked at by the Immigration Officers in charge.
7. Once your documents have been processed, they High Commission will
contact you (the individual applying) by email, telling you your application
has been processed and is ready for pickup.
8. From there, you send your courier to pick up the documents and bring them
back to Uganda, where you'll get them from their office in town.
9. After picking up your documents, you open up the envelope and there will either be
a denial letter, explaining why the visa was denied or you will have been
approved for a visit to Canada and your passport will have the visa inside.
10. If your visa was denied...you simply can move forward and apply for another visa,
or...scrap all travel plans to Canada and carry on with life.
It's not an easy process, but after our 2nd Visa was denied, we prayed through the whole situation and God showed us through many ways how we can be preparing for this next visa, along with blessing us with meetings with MP's here in the Fraser Valley. We have been very blessed to have worked with Mark Strahl & Nina Grewal's offices and were very thankful for their involvement in the process, helping us by looking into things as well as writing letters on our behalf.
We don't always understand why things happen, and certainly not in the Visa area of things. From the very first time we applied for a Visa for Trophimus, we were told straight out, most visa's to Canada are denied. Encouraging, eh?! Well, we persevered and through it chose to commit each Visa to God, praying through them and than knowing, understanding and Praising God through each one.
God has continued to grow us close and closer to Him through these situations, and they haven't been a waste of time, so to speak. It's been a rich and meaningful time of fellowship with God through prayer and supplication.
As we hear back from the High Commission (refer to point #7), we know God will give us the grace to persevere should the visa be denied, and we will Praise and thank Him regardless, for we know that His plan is most perfect.
Yes, I would absolutely love for Trophimus to be here with me (already 2 months ago!), but he's not, and only God can make it possible for him to come. So, until God see's fit for him to join me here, I'll be here alone (with our baby of course!), and we'll join him as a family when we return to Uganda in March. This is but for a season and in years to come, we can look back and see Gods' hand in our lives, ever so clearly. We can already now!
Trust in God with us, Praise Him with us and Thank Him with us, regardless of the outcome.
Surely we'll let you all know when we get our documents back.
Thank you for continuing to stand with us financially, prayerfully and in various other ways, we have been deeply blessed by you all.
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