Bureaucratic mess - Please pray!

One of the realities of missionary service in foreign countries is dealing with immigration issues. For years, most missionaries to Mexico simply traveled back and forth across the border every 6 months to renew their tourist visas and to get the car permits renewed. The conventional wisdom had been to resist the temptation to apply for temporary work permits (FM-3) because of all the bureaucratic red tape, but we had been advised by our partners in ministry here to apply anyway. We did both. We started the process of getting FM-3 status in 2/06 but continued with the 6-month plan for tourist visas to keep us legal until/if the FM-3 came through. Until we hit a bump in the road in January, 2007.

When we crossed the Texas/Mexico border on our last entry to Mexico, the border official asked what we were doing in Mexico for 6 months. John honestly and innocently answered that he was working with his church. This apparently raised red flags for the official who cited requirements for religious workers to have FM-3 status. He informed John that it would be the last time he would be eligible to enter the country on a tourist visa, that he needed to get the FM-3, and marked his passport to that effect so that the next border official would know of this ruling. Ugh...

So we quickly stepped up efforts to get the FM-3 approved, even though there had been no progress in 11 months! Well...here we are, days before our visas and car permits expire and still no FM-3. We've jumped through all the right hoops, thanks to the help of our pastor, Steve Lindsley, my dad, the NC Secr of State's office, Pablo, our attorney here, Francisco, and a friend in Mexico City. We even agreed to the biggest of all leaps of faith since we arrived....sending our ORIGINAL passports and tourist visas to Mexico City! Through the MAIL! (We have notarized copies, but....) As of today, we still have no FM-3. John and Francisco went Saturday to try to get the car permit renewed before it expires since we are sometimes asked to show it when we cross military checkpoints in Chiapas. They said they couldn't renew it without an original passport and visa. So we wait.

Please pray for all the cogs in all the wheels to fall into place this week so that we are able to get all our documentation approved and in hand. God has been truly perfect in providing for all our absolute needs at just the right time, so our experience leads us to trust God in this matter as well, but as is often the case, sometimes that's really hard. I find myself thinking, "...but God hasn't met the bureaucracy of the Mexican government!!!" But I suppose I'm like the father of the boy in Mark 9: 23-24...

"..."Everything is possible for him who believes." Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"