{"id":396,"date":"2014-04-18T13:49:32","date_gmt":"2014-04-18T20:49:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/crystal-pierce\/?p=396"},"modified":"2014-04-18T23:16:26","modified_gmt":"2014-04-19T06:16:26","slug":"my-visa-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/crystal-pierce\/2014\/04\/18\/my-visa-process\/","title":{"rendered":"My Visa Process"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year I want to show you how many people helped me out\u00a0with my visa process. \u00a0It\u2019s not just a process that I do by myself.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the people in this process is Linda. \u00a0She works at our Home Office in Florida, and she wrote a letter for me that I turned in to\u00a0receive my visa. \u00a0She\u2019s actually one of my\u00a0favorite\u00a0people because she is Amy\u2019s mom and I\u2019ve known her for forever. \u00a0Her job is actually a lot more than just writing letters, for me she\u2019s sent me sympathy cards\u00a0when my grandparents died, she\u2019s helped me prepare my will, etc. \u00a0She also helps missionaries who need to renew their driver\u2019s license but they are still out of country, she helps with letters for people that get summoned for\u00a0jury duty but they are living in a remote tribe and don\u2019t have plans to head back just for that one duty. \u00a0She also does paperwork for new missionaries, and so much more. \u00a0She\u2019s kind of like our own personal secretary in the US and I totally appreciate her!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The second group of people that helped me out were Torre & Narah. \u00a0They run our guest house in Texas. \u00a0It\u2019s a ministry specifically for our\u00a0missionaries in Mexico and a place for us to go if we have to do visa or other paperwork, for missionaries that need to do supply buying, for meetings, for a place to rest before traveling either to Mexico or from Mexico, etc. \u00a0It\u2019s a super important ministry. \u00a0I am so thankful for them and their ministry & also because they are close friends, I love having a reason to go to El Paso to visit them. \u00a0Specifically for the visa, I spent five days at the guest house.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The third person that helped me during this process is Melody. \u00a0Melody is the lady that is always in the know about anything that has to do with our visas. \u00a0She is always working so\u00a0hard to keep our information up to date, and she has everything so well\u00a0organized. \u00a0Because she has an awesome ability in Spanish she is able to write the letters that we take down to immigration. \u00a0She is always coordinating &\u00a0scheduling for our missionaries when to start their paperwork. \u00a0Which is incredible because we are over 80 missionaries.<\/p>\n

There is another person Ruben that is basically the face of our mission to immigration. \u00a0Once a week he heads down to immigration and takes our\u00a0paperwork in to begin the process. \u00a0Depending upon the type of visa depends on how long the process takes. \u00a0The employees at immigration have great respect for Ruben and always know when we are a part of Mision Pro-Indigena\u00a0because of his testimony.<\/p>\n

My visa process this year went like this:<\/p>\n

1. Cancel previous year\u2019s visa at the immigration office at the Mexico\/USA line. \u00a0Travel 3.5 hours to get there.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0Apply for new visa at the Mexican Consulate in Texas. This is a visa that is only good for 30 days.<\/p>\n

3. \u00a0Return for the visa 3 times\u00a0before it is finally available\u00a0three days later due to a broken printer & “technical problems”. :S<\/p>\n

4. Cross the Mexico\/USA line and receive car papers from Customs. \u00a0Then drive back home (3.5 hrs.)<\/p>\n

5. Turn in the next visa application for a year long visa. Melody helps me out, including a letter from Linda, and Ruben takes it down to immigration.<\/p>\n

6. \u00a0Head down to immigration (30 minutes) myself the next day because they changed the form & I need this done quickly & hopefully will receive it before my sister & friend need to be picked up in El Paso.<\/p>\n

7. Visa paperwork was not finished in\u00a0time before\u00a0picking them up in EP. \u00a0Head down to immigration and get a Visa Exit Permission. \u00a0Thankfully, I\u2019m able to sign the paperwork & get fingerprinted, then it was sent off the next day to be printed in Mexico City. \u00a0Then it will be shipped\u00a0back to Chihuahua.<\/p>\n

8.\u00a0After driving to Texas & picking up my sister & friend, I got my Visa Exit Permission, stamped leaving & entering Mexico.<\/p>\n

9. Drive down to immigration and turn in the permission. \u00a0The visa isn\u2019t there. \u00a0Plan to return to immigration\u00a0another day.<\/p>\n

10. The visa arrives, and two days later I head back down to pick it up! Now I can stay in Mexico for another year.<\/p>\n

11. Visit the\u00a0Transportation Department twice so I can receive papers to drive my car in Mexico too.<\/p>\n

I seriously\u00a0have no idea how many miles, hours, or visits I made to Immigration or the Transportation\u00a0department but it was a lot. \u00a0The people that work in Immigration knew me by my first name because of all my visits to see them. \ud83d\ude42 \u00a0I am super thankful to have the visa & car\u00a0paperwork so I can live and\u00a0traveling around Mexico for another year. \u00a0And I am also so thankful for the people that helped me out in\u00a0this process: Linda, Torre, Narah, Melody, & Ruben. \u00a0It takes a huge network of missionaries to keep other missionaries in their full time ministries. \u00a0We are all on the same team.<\/p>\n

1 Corinthians 12.14-16 :: For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, \u201cBecause I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,\u201d that would not make it any less a part of the body. \u00a0And if the ear should say, \u201cBecause I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,\u201d that would not make it any less a part of the body.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This year I want to show you how many people helped me out\u00a0with my visa process. \u00a0It\u2019s not just a process that I do by myself. One of the people in this process is Linda. \u00a0She works at our Home Office in Florida, and she wrote a letter for me that I turned in to\u00a0receive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":383,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3810],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-396","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-ministry","7":"category-news-article","8":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/crystal-pierce\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/crystal-pierce\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/crystal-pierce\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/crystal-pierce\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/383"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/crystal-pierce\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/crystal-pierce\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/crystal-pierce\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/crystal-pierce\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/crystal-pierce\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}