So it has been a little bit since I have updated. It has been a crazy couple of months! I applied to a missions organization and was accepted last Tuesday! And things have just been picking up speed from there!
I was offered a job in a foreign country and if everything works out I will be going there this summer probably around the beginning of July (it really depends on the price of airfare). I am going to be working at an international school in Asia! I am super excited. God has been doing some awesome things in my life and has opened this door and I can't wait to see what the future hold.
There will be 5 foreign teachers and the rest are locals. It will be an awesome way to minister to the locals through actions and conversations. I am still learning a lot about the school and the life in the country. I think it will be a great experience and I can't wait to share it will everyone reading my blog. :)
Hopefully I will have more information to share soon. I am trying to get all the information together. I want to keep everyone informed. Please pray for me as I embark on this journey. I am so excited to follow Jesus to the other side of the world again.
State-side
Well I have been back in the states for a little over a month. I have been trying to figure things out and it's been a crazy month.
The first two weeks I was home were holidays. So Christmas with the stepfamily, Christmas with my mom's family, and then the New Year. I couldn't really get anything done these two weeks because everything related to government and teaching are closed for these two weeks.
The third week I was home I went to Washington, D.C. with my friend. The trip was so I could go talk to the Chinese visa office and try to figure everything out. I knew it would take 3-5 days so I planned for 4. Well as my past visa trip to Hong Kong proved I should have only planned for one day.
We went to the visa office the first day we were there. It wasn't as busy as Hong Kong so I didn't have to wait long to talk to someone. When I got to the window to talk to the agent the same thing happened. She asked why I had a diplomatic visa in an ordinary passport. I told her they made a mistake and she leaves me to go talk to someone. When she comes back she tells me that I can get the work visa for $160. (Ummm. She totally avoided answering why I had a diplomatic visa). I didn't want to pay $160 to get the visa when they couldn't answer me about the diplomatic visa (I didn't want the same thing to happen). When I told her that I needed to know why I got a diplomatic visa she said that she couldn't answer that and her supervisor was out of town until the end of the month. She said I could wait until then. (SERIOUSLY?!?!?) I was not going to stay in DC til the end of January to talk to the supervisor and I wasn't going to pay $160 to get a new visa when they couldn't answer my questions. So technically we could have gone home that day. It was looking like a wasted trip. But to make the best of your time in a new city (or country) go sightseeing. So we walked around Georgetown and went to Georgetown Cupcake. Then the next day we went to the Holocaust Museum and sightseeing. Sounds just like Hong Kong! LOL.
On our way home from DC I got a call from my Aunt saying that my grandma on my dad's side wasn't doing well. :(. Good thing I was heading home. My uncle was going to be flying in the next day because they didn't think she would be with us much longer. My Uncle got in town that Friday and she passed away 40 minutes after he got to the nursing home. So my family traveled to Western KY to be with family and attend the funeral. (Can we say whirlwind?) So I spent the week in Western KY with family. It was great to be with family.
When I came home I knew I needed to begin to figure out what I was going to do. The Chinese visa office didn't really help me but I just felt like God was closing the door right now to China. So where and what does God want me to do? So I am praying about where God is leading me. I have some applications to apply for schools abroad that I need to fill out. I am also looking into some missionary organizations. Just seeing what doors God is opening. I was going to apply for substitute teaching but the deadline for my local county was in December so I missed that. I did apply for surrounding counties but I haven't heard anything back. So right now I am just babysitting and praying. Praying about where to go next and what I need to do. God is providing and leading. Just have to trust in him :).
Until next time!
What's Next?
Well I guess I should just come right out and say it... I am coming home today! It's had been a crazy 4 days that have led to this. It was definitely not planned or expected for me to be headed home so early. Here's the story...
On Wednesday (Dec. 10th) I headed to Hong Kong to get my work visa. I had all the required documents (work permit and invitation letter) all I had to do was go to Hong Kong and get the visa in my passport. Or so I thought. So I arrived in HK at 2pm and headed straight to the visa office. I had to fill out the application for the visa again and wait 2 hours to have my number called to give them all the paperwork. Once my umber was called I was relieved because I was about to submit my visa application and have nothing else to worry about, I could enjoy HK. But no.....
On Wednesday (Dec. 10th) I headed to Hong Kong to get my work visa. I had all the required documents (work permit and invitation letter) all I had to do was go to Hong Kong and get the visa in my passport. Or so I thought. So I arrived in HK at 2pm and headed straight to the visa office. I had to fill out the application for the visa again and wait 2 hours to have my number called to give them all the paperwork. Once my umber was called I was relieved because I was about to submit my visa application and have nothing else to worry about, I could enjoy HK. But no.....
I gave my paperwork to the agent and she checked all the documents. After she marked up all my Deby documents saying that my name matched and passport number, all that stuff, she then looked at my visa. She was taken by surprise. She started asking the other agents questions, still not saying anything to me. Then she looks at me and asks,"why do you have a diplomatic visa?" I was like what? And she showed me the visa page and said ,"this is a w visa, it's a diplomats visa. How did you get it?" I was shocked! I applied for a tourist visa in June I had no idea I had a diplomat visa. So I tried explaining this to her but she just kept. Asking, "is anyone in your family a diplomat?" Why would I lie about being a diplomat? That's a big deal! But my answers weren't enough for her. She went back and talked to her supervisor. when she returned she told me that if I couldn't explain how I got this visa then they can't do anything except think I'm lying. Great. I have no idea how I received a diplomatic visa and she didn't like my explanation of how I got the visa. So she gave me back my passport and said I would have to return to the states to get the visa.
Well that was a setback! Here I am in a foreign country trying to get my visa and I am denied because I have a diplomatic visa. Are you serious! So then I had to figure out if there was something else I could do. The only option I had was to call the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. Well that posed a problem because D.C. is 13 hours behind HK. So that means when I am awake D.C. Is asleep and vice versa. Well now what? Thankfully I have some awesome friends back home who offered to help. My friend Nina called the embassy for me and tried to figure out what happened and if there was anything they could do. After she emailed them all my paperwork they admitted their mistake and said they would fix it I just needed to send my passport to them in D.C. I'm sorry but I was not comfortable sending my passport to America while I stayed in Asia, that is just asking for something to go wrong.
So there I was in HK with no way to get a new visa. And D.C. wanted me to send them my passport. Ugghhh. What was I supposed to do? So I decided to go back to Beijing and use my return flight to go home on the 30th. I could send my passport to D.C. And they even said they would do my work visa too. Sounds like a great plan, right? Well I had this feeling to check my visa again and I noticed that the enter by date was the 9th of December. Crap! That was two days ago. So now I am really freaking out! I am in HK with a possibly expired visa. An expired visa means I can't return to Beijing and I didn't have enough money to purchase a plane ticket home. Immense crying freak out. What do I do? I had reached the point where I just wanted to go home. I prayed God would just send me home. I'd had enough.
My friend Nina contacted the embassy for me again to find out what they would say and if there was something they could do. While waited to hear back from her I prayed to God asking what I was supposed to do. I felt like I was going to be coming home. There must be a reason I am supposed to be home. When Nina got back to me she told me that D.C. had contacted her and said I was ok to enter China on my current visa. They said once I was back in Beijing I could send my passport to them and they would fix everything and give me the visa.
Now I was wondering what God wanted me to do. I still wasn't comfortable sending my visa overseas without me but did this mean I was supposed to return to Beijing after I got my passport and visa fixed in the States? I had just decided before I got the news that I would go home and start looking into something else (maybe international school or whatever God has planned for me). So I just needed to get back to Beijing and make a decision about what to do, and continue to ask God because He is the one that knows. But at least I knew my visa wasn't expired according to the embassy.
So since I couldn't get a new visa until I went back to the states and my flight back to Beijing wasn't until Saturday, I decided to go to Hong Kong Disneyland Resort! Yes that is right I went to Disneyland!!! I had never been to any Disney park before. How cool is it that my first ever Disney experience was in Hong Kong?!? It was so much fun! I love Disney!!!!
On Saturday I was to fly home. So I headed to the airport at 10:30am to catch my flight that was at 2:50pm. I wanted to get there extra early to make sure everything would work and I could go back home (to Beijing). It's a good thing I went early. As I was checking into my flight the lady at the counter started flipping through my passport. I knew then that she was looking for a visa. When she asked me if I had a new visa I told her no because the embassy in D.C. said that it was still valid. She went to ask her boss a d guess what? She came back and said no they are wrong the visa is expired. ARE YOU SERIOUS!?!? Now what do I do? This has been one stressful day after another.
I had to go talk to the visa counter in the airport and see what they say. Ugghh! So I went to talk to them and they said I could apply for a visa but it wouldn't be ready until Monday at 7pm. I knew this would work because the visa office already said the couldn't give me a new visa. So my other option was to get a transit visa. You can enter China on a 72-hour visa free transit entry. But the catch, you have to have a plane ticket saying you are leaving Beijing within 72-hours of arriving. Well it's a good thing I had a return ticket from Beijing to Kentucky on the 30th. I just had to go the United desk and have them change the flight to the 15th. Thankfully they could, I just had to pay a $300 change fee. (This HK trip has cost me a lot of money!)
After I got the new plane ticket I had to go back and check into my flight to Beijing from HK. I encounter the same question. Do you have a new visa? No, I have a plane ticket leaving Beijing in less than 72-hours. She looked confused and had to go talk to her boss. UGHH is there no communication about visas and everything in Asia? But she came back and said everything was ok. She gave me my plane ticket a d I headed for the gate.
Was this really happening? Was I really going to leave Beijing and headed back home within 48-hours? This was not in my plans. I thought I would be staying in China longer. But God's plans are better than our own. I didn't (and still don't) understand why all this happened, but I believe God has something great for me I just can't see it at the moment. But just because we can see or understand doesn't mean God isn't at work! I can't wait to see what God has for me next.
So I returned to Beijing. Said "see ya later" to as many people as I could and I headed home to pack all my stuff. Tanith joined me to help me and keep me company. We also cooked one of our infamous meals. I am going to miss that girl. She better get her butt to KY ASAP!!!
So now I am coming home just in time for Christmas. I will have to go to D.C. to get them to fix my passport and give me a work visa. And I will continue to pray about what God wants me to do next? Will I return to Beijing? Will I return to IVY? Will I go somewhere else? I don't know what's next but I know it's exciting :). I had a vision of Jesus running through the airport holding my hand pulling me to my next adventure and we were both excited. I can't wait to see where we go!!!!
