Today was a long day and we have some next steps and some good concrete information. In that regard, today was a success! Earlier this morning we were able to get into the office we had hoped to get into and we were able to speak with someone that was really helpful and nice. However, they would not/could not (who knows the difference in these offices) process our application. They basically told us what we thought they would: we would have to go the normal route of sending in a fax and being called back in a number of weeks with an appointment scheduled for a couple of months later. Yes, that is the ‘normal’ route.
We left the office and our Kelly called a Christian law group in Spain called Ferede that helps Evangelicals establish residency in Spain. He spent some time on the phone with the lawyer and after he hung up he told us that we had an appointment at noon to explain our situation further.
On the way to the appointment Kelly told me that the lawyer from Ferede didn’t sound too optimistic about our process. When we got there and talked more about our situation, the lady saw some valuable information about our visa: it doesn’t expire for another month. Therefore, if we sent in a fax noting that this is the case we may be able to still get an appointment scheduled for later down the road. The fax in and of itself is a piece of us establishing a timeline here in Spain, so getting this done was a good thing. Another blessing was that the lawyer offered to be our direct contact with the government. This is also really good news.
So our best case scenario right now is that they would accept our request for an appointment and that the appointment would either be really soon, or after the baby is born. Our worst case scenario is not great at all, but at this point it still doesn’t require us leaving Spain and the life/work we’ve begun. That would obviously be a very disappointing thing.
The good news about our trip is this:
-We had a great time with our friends here and Maisie got some time to play with her friend Alleke! We were all encouraged by our time with each other and it was great to get some time to process life, ministry, and living in Spain with people who have been through all of this before!
-We did what we had to do on this trip and sought out all avenues of getting our situation immediately resolved. Now we have to wait to hear back from the office of immigration to see what our next step is.
-We have been able to process our situation with the help of professional lawyers who see that there is hope that all will work out. This is comforting to know!
Please continue to pray for our residency. The ‘full on’ mode of the past week has been really intense and we have already had our trust challenged and built up, resolve tested, and had to rely on our God for His peace. It reminds me of the book of James chapter 1. I resonate all the more with enduring and finding hope in trials. But all this to say, the process is still just beginning. With the help of Ferede, it will hopefully be less unpredictable and we’ll get clear information on the steps that we will need to take next. These people are truly a blessing and I am so grateful for their work.
I also wanted to take a second to say ‘publicly’ how grateful we are for our friends in Madrid who have empathized with us, gone to meetings with us, translated for us, cooked for us, housed us, got us paperwork….We are so grateful that we have a community of people here who understand and are so quick to serve our needs! You are a great model of what ‘loving one another’ should look like. Thank you!
We’re going to be heading home soon…our next steps are: wait to hear about our appointment, continue to prepare for the baby and enjoy being excited about him (!), and keep engaging with the world around us to shine the light of God’s kingdom! Thanks for your prayers! Don’t stop praying about this…this process has only just begun. We just get to enjoy this time of waiting and focus on ‘the important’ things of our lives!
Talk to you all soon!
