Visa Shmisa

filthy brazilians...at least the ones at the Brazilian embassy in Miami. OK, so in part i jest, but not really. here's the scoop:

At approximately 3:45 yesterday I receive word that our visas to go to Brazil must say on them "valid for 1825 days (5 years)." SO, since I had gotten mine last year, I figured, GOOD! I'm safe. But in the pit of my stomach something screamed at me to go check it out. LO AND BEHOLD, there it is....NOTHING?!?!?!??!! OK, starting to have that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I now have entered the frantic email mode, sending my coach a ton of emails with lots of questions. He tells me not to worry and just to swing by in the morning and he'll check it out.. Let's pause the story for one second..

you know that feeling you get when someone you trust starts freaking out?

SO, coach starts freaking out..."well, check your email a lot because I know you'll be hearing from me." is the last thing he says as I walk out the door. It's OK I tell myself...NOTHING IS RANDOM!! so...i go on about my business. At 12:50 I check again, the email reads "you need to go get two money orders, one for 100 and one for 10. OUCH! also, you need to go get your picture taken for your visa. OUCH! and then bring it to me and we'll see what we can do. These are not promising words considering I just paid 120$ last semester for the same thing! After class, I start speeding around this town trying to get everything accomplished. Well, I get it done, get back to my coach, fill out a visa application, fill out the money orders, tape my picture to the application, and ask 1000000 questions. My main concern was why in a two year period do I have to pay 240$ for something that should have lasted me 5 years?? Here's the brilliant brazilian answer: "sometimes it just turns out that way, one guys could get approved for 5 years, some for 90 days." Guess what mine was...90 days. Well, coach found a man to overnight my passport too and he's going to go stand in line, get it approved and overnight it back. So in the end, I believe it will all work out.

My first response was to call them filthy brazilians...oh wait...i did, and that was probably the wrong choice. But as I was moping around, feeling sorry for myself, wondering if i'd ever see my visa, i saw someone who will not be named that brightened my day with a scripture passage I needed SOOOO much!

Romans 15:13
Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!

I have a hope that the God of green is going to work all things for my betterment and for His glory.