Visas and Pies

Whoa! Well, it has been quite a while since I last posted in here. My days lately have been filled with my work at the school, taking care of the girls, and enjoying the company of others around me. I've been getting a little bit homesick lately, and I am surely ready to see everyone very soon. I'll be leaving to come back to the States for a visit in just over two weeks, and what a Christmas present that will be!

I did have a little adventure lately with trying to get my Ecuadorian visa to be able to stay in the country. Because of the time crunch when I decided to come down here, we decided that it would be best for me to come immediately down and enter the country with an automatic 90-day tourist visa, which I would be able to extend until I could return to the States for Christmas and travel to Houston to apply for my long-term missionary/volunteer visa. Well, Ecuador being Ecuador, the laws have changed in the past few months, and now extending my visa was no longer an option. When Justin took me to the Immigration office a few days before my tourist visa expired, we discovered that pretty much the only thing that I could do was to get a 6-month tourist visa for the low low price of $230. The good news that came out of this was that I no longer have to travel to Houston during my precious two weeks at home, but can convert my visa to the long-term one right here in Quito. It also ends up being about the same cost due to travel expenses. Well, Senor Fausto, the very kind man to whom we talked that day, gave me a list of all the paperwork and other materials that I needed, and said that it was fine to return after my visa expired since we couldn't make it back before then, without a penalty.

To make a long story slightly less long, I returned by myself that following Monday, and (since I now knew the type of visa I needed), after waiting for three hours, was directed to a different man with whom I had already spoken and had also said that it was fine that I was past the expiration date. When I went to this man and presented my case to him (and remember, this is all  in legal jargon in Spanish, what good practice, haha), he told me that he had no memory of me and could do nothing to help me, that I was illegal and refused to grant me the visa. I talked with him and tried to convince him, reminding him of what he had told me the week before, and telling him how important it was for me to get this visa. He quickly tired of me talking and abruptly stood up and walked away. I was quite upset and stressed, and asked the guard on the way out if I could speak with Senor Fausto, the man with whom I originally spoke, and he said I could, but I had to get another number. At this point (it was about 11:15 am, and I had been at the office since 7:45 am) I was going to miss almost the whole day of school anyway, so I decided it was worth it to stay and do everything I could to get the visa.

So I took another number. After an hour and a half of praying for God to allow this to happen if it was His will that I stay in the country, I was finally called.

As I sat down to talk with Mr. Fausto, I explained to him my case and showed him the piece of paper on which he had written the list of things I needed as well as his name. I reminded him that he said it was no problem to return late, and he immediately answered,

"Oh yes, I remember you. That's not a problem. Do you have all of your paperwork? Okay, great. Let's get this done."

What a blessing! I was holding back tears of joy and relief as we filled in my information and I went to go pay for the visa. God really gave me the person that I needed to accomplish what needed to be done. He always provides. I picked up my passport (yes, you have to leave your passport there for several days, a little nerve-wracking) with my pretty new visa in it on Friday afternoon, and oh, what a relief it was! I think I just started at it in the car with Jerry for about 10 minutes. I am just thanking and praising God.

As you all know, Thanksgiving was last week. As I live in Ecuador, I didn't get to have Thanksgiving off. It was a normal day just like any other, except Laura and I wanted to do a little something to celebrate, so we along with Laura's friend Karen who was visiting for the week, made pies for all of the teachers for our afternoon meetings. I made pumpkin pie (using Amanda's fabulous recipe!) and Laura made chocolate pie. They all loved them, and I've already had to translate the pumpkin pie recipe to Spanish at the request of several people. Family in Huntsville and Nashville, you may look forward to some over Christmas, because I am surely making it again :)

We did finally get to have a Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday. Sunday was a national census all around Ecuador, and no one was allowed to leave their house until 5 p.m. while the government sent around representatives to count everyone. (Yep, I'm in a different country.) Since church services were postponed because of this, Jerry invited myself and Laura to spend the night at his house and we had a big Thanksgiving dinner and devotional there for Sunday lunch with Justin and Amanda, their four children, Ulf (the original director of Camp Bellevue, who is currently crashing with Jerry for a while), and Kyle, the American intern at the camp. It was a wonderful dinner with tons of delicious food and fabulous company.

Making the pies in the kitchen. It was late. 

On the way to school, showing off our creations! (Notice that there's a big chunk missing from the one that Laura is holding. Someone found it in the middle of the night :) ) 

Another fun thing that has happened recently is decorating the house for Christmas! We have many Christmas lights up, and our little living room is looking quite cheerful. Enjoying Christmas decorations is one of my favorite things about the Christmas season, and it was so much fun to decorate everything with the girls.

Also, while Karen was here, Maritza made us arepas (Carlos' specialty), a very traditional Venezuelan food that is yummy yummy yummy! (And oh, so filling). It was a fun and special night, even without Carlos there. Carlos' 28-year-old brother passed away in Venezuela at the beginning of November, so he went and spent 2 1/2 weeks there with his family. He has returned, and we are all glad to have him back, especially Maritza. He used the opportunity to try to talk to his family about Christ, and God is working in their hearts. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for Carlos in this time. It's been difficult for him and his family. Carlos also brought back many different Venezuelan treats that Maritza is giving myself and Laura a little bit of every day so we can try some different things. She spoils us :)

Arepas with Maritza, Laura, and Karen! Yum :)

Well, I think that's all for now. We're just wrapping up the school trimester, trying to help all the students get their work done before Christmas break. We have a few more intense weeks, then it's off to Sweet Home Alabama for me for a while! 

Also, thank you to Karen Hill for the photos. These are all hers that I stole off of Facebook :)