For good reason, we've been hearing the same question a lot lately.
What are you going to do?
We are ------ on second thought, let's revisit that question later.
Hustle & Bustle
Thursday, September 14th, was a normal day filled with the hustle and bustle of daily family and work activity -- surrounded by weeks of hustle and bustle.
We'd been busy in the weeks before celebrating and planning birthdays. (Jara's on the 1st and Laila's on the 16th. Both in September.)
Laila was in her first week of school which started a new daily routine we had implemented several weeks prior. Jara was preparing to start her first year at the local public high school on the following Monday. The new school year brought with it the activities of purchasing school books, gathering up school supplies, and preparing schedules.
I had begun preparations for an opportunity to teach English as a second language at the English academy located within Parque Victoria Community Center and already had interest from several private tutoring clients. Jared and I had been working on the new work and fitness class schedules for the Fitness Center along with other ideas for improving the gym and center.
Thursday was one of those days where everything was jam packed. I was teaching my weekly fitness classes. Jared was working in the gym at the opening and the mid-day shift. Jared and I were busy in the time outside of the gym putting the final touches on those new schedules and ideas to present at a church elder and center board meeting that evening. Laila was being walked to and from school. Meals prepared. Errands run. Hustling and bustling normal daily family activity. As we walked towards our 7:00 pm Church and Center Board meeting, we were just beginning the flurry of evening events that would keep us hustling until 11:00 pm -- things to do, places to be, and people to see.
Two Envelopes
Making our way through the center to the meeting, we were handed two envelopes that had been picked up and signed for us that morning at the post office. We were excited to see the postage address of the sender. These were the letters we were waiting on- our one year missionary visa renewals. [Here' the logistics... Visas are issued for one year at a time for the first two years. Renewing the same type of visa under the same guidelines can be done in country, a process that we had started in June.]
Upon reading the letters we each received, our excitement dissipated. Still rusty at times on our translations (especially with wordy legal documents), we asked our bi-lingual friend to read the letters. After his read of them and his discussion with one of the elders, our excitement gave way to confusion, frustration and anxiety. What we had translated for ourselves was exactly what our friends confirmed and what our fears began to feed. The Spanish government was giving us 15 days to leave the country!
As we sat shell-shocked and silent (truthfully, I was silently praying and trying to keep myself from falling apart doing), the Church and Center board meeting we were about to enter continued but with a change of agenda. The church elders and center board members began rapid and animated discussions on if any of the requirements put forth within the letter could be fulfilled by the church and if we felt that those requirements would fulfill our calling to Spain, their church, and the center. Phone calls were delegated to each member of the collective boards to contact attorneys and various government and religious organizations within Spain to find any alternatives to our 15 day departure edict. We were instructed to cease all activity within the community center per stipulations set forth in the letters we'd received and to start making an exit plan.
Who knew two thin ordinary white letter envelopes could be so extraordinarily BIG!
A Call To Prayer
We returned to our apartment cancelling all of our scheduled activities, took some really deep breathes, and prayed. Then we made some emergency Skype calls to Diana (our mission coordinator), Bill (our home and sending church pastor), and Greg and Katina (our re-entry point family). We put everyone on standby, let them know of the situation, and asked for prayers. We put out a general but urgent prayer request online. We continued our prayers that we would have some final direction and answers the following day. We were certain that the Lord was in the midst of these events. We felt His peace that surpasses all understanding. We would wait upon Him. We slept restfully that night anticipating what the next day would bring.
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