Followers

Thursday, June 27, 2013

The Long Visa Wait

Disclaimer: I am not a very patient person.

That being said, I was under the impression that obtaining a Visa to a foreign country would be a piece of cake. I was dead wrong. When I received my call to serve in the Brazil Sao Paulo Interlagos mission, I had no idea that being able to do so would involve so much paperwork.
The most beautiful sight in the world.
Here are some tips to avoid problems with Visa applications:

1. Have a passport before submitting your missionary application. Unless you submit that you have no interest in serving in a foreign country, then don't. But, save yourself four weeks of waiting to start your Visa by obtaining a current passport.

2. Read over the application process very carefully. Then read it again. Then have your mom (or another parental figure) read it. Anecdote: to be a missionary in Brazil you have to be an ordained minister of sorts. This means that you have to provide details and records about your religious training and certificates of everything from your baptism to seminary graduation. Yeah. It's kind of a bear.

3. Make sure to look over everything after you have completed it. When I was getting my police clearance from City Hall, I assumed that they had filled out the form correctly. WRONG. They marked that I was male. Which I am not. If my mom hadn't made me check over all the documents for errors, I may not have gotten my Visa.

4. Have faith and pray. This is probably the most important part of the process. For the past two weeks I have been obsessively checking the status of my Visa. It was only about a week ago that I started praying that it would come in. What?! Silly me; pray early and often and miracles will be wrought.


I've been ready for this since February.
 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true. I know it. I can't wait to serve the Lord and help my brothers and sisters in Brazil to "come unto Christ."

Job 23:10

Sister Abbie Hills



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