Jorge's Oath Ceremony

On August 29, 2014 Jorge attended his oath ceremony to become a U.S. Citizen.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to be there because I was in the hospital but I am so grateful and blessed by sweet friends who made the day extra special for him!!  I know he never expected anyone else to go so he was surprised and blessed by the love and support shown!!  He spent the whole night before this at the hospital with me.  He slept all night in a chair and the next day went to the ceremony straight from the hospital!   Receiving his citizenship was a huge answer to prayer and will make our lives easier as we will no longer need special permits to travel outside of the country.  Now Jorge can come and go as he pleases!  And don't worry, Jorge is still passionately proud of his Mexican heritage... fortunately Mexico recognizes dual-citizenship so now he will be able to enjoy the benefits of both! 

Help from our Congressman

Yesterday we had an appointment at our Congressman's office in Yuma, AZ (about 5 hours from Ensenada). We are grateful that they took an interest in our case and have agreed to try to help us by intervening in Jorge's immigration situation. This all takes time and for now we just have to wait but we pray that all goes well and that we can get some good news soon.

Citizenship...next step

Yesterday Jorge and I had an appointment with our immigration consultant in San Diego. We all believe that we can rightfully argue our case because there is a law called Act 319 that covers our circumstances and supports our petition. Our next step is going to be to contact our local congressman and/or senator's office in AZ to request assistance in our case. The ideal situation would be able to get some type of intervention underway BEFORE the INS decision report comes in the mail. That could possibly do away with the need to appeal. If that doesn't happen then we will have to officially file an appeal which, believe it or not, will cost us $250 ! I can't believe it...just because the INS official was too impatient to listen to Jorge's story and consider Act 319, now we have to pay an additional $250 (the initial application costs $400!) to have our case re-tried by someone with more patience (hopefully!) Well, we believe that there is some reason and purpose that the Lord allowed this to happen so we trust that He will work out whatever He has in mind through all of this. We are planning to be in Yuma in a week and a half so we will try to get an appointment at the congressman's office to present our problem. In the meantime I think I'll email them to give them a "head's up" about the situation. Please pray that they will be eager to help us!

Detour Ahead - Citizenship Denied

Our trip to Phoenix for Jorge's citizenship exam didn't go quite like we had hoped.

The day started out with a big curve when just as we were about to leave for Phoenix, which is a 3 hour drive from Yuma, we realized that we didn't have several documents that we were supposed to take with us. We had left Jorge's passport, our marriage license and some other things in Ensenada. Yikes. As a result we were an hour behind schedule getting on the road. In the end we were able to get some copies of those documents faxed to us before we left. We weren't sure if they would accept the faxes but it was the best we could do at the time so we just had to go for it and leave that in the Lord's hands.

On the drive up Jorge continued to study for his exam...he knew all the history and civics facts and felt prepared for the exam. In spite of leaving late we arrived to check in for our appointment right on time. It took over an hour for them to call Jorge's name and finally it was his turn. I wasn't allowed in with him so I was praying out in the waiting room.

Jorge came out about 30 minutes later and he was white as a sheet! Evidently things didn't go well but it wasn't until we got downstairs that he told me what had happened. To make a long story short, the lady was very tough and only wanted yes and no answers...no explanations allowed. Our case is different from the norm because we don't "live" in Arizona and we don't "live" in California...we actually live in Mexico, but our "residence" is established in Arizona. So when Jorge tried to explain our situation she wouldn't allow him to go on. Jorge says it was a very intense meeting and he felt like he was being questioned like some sort of accussed terrorist trying to prove his innocence.

There is a clause in the immigration laws that says that if a resident alien is married to a US citizen and the citizen works for a mission organization and the couple lives in a foreign country then the time abroad counts towards the time requirement for eligibility to apply for citizenship. Unfortunately however, Jorge was not allowed to give any explanations of our special circumstances.

I decided to go back upstairs and try to talk to someone to see if they could explain to me what happened. One of the problems with dealing with INS is that it is so difficult to get an answer when you have a question. I was afraid that if we left that office without understanding why Jorge's application had been denied then I would never be able to get a straight answer later by phone. It wasn't easy but finally I was able to talk to a supervisor. She didn't help me much but the one thing she did say is that in a few weeks we will get a report sent by mail which gives an explanation of the decision that was made and it tells us what course of action to take if we want to make an appeal.

So, the long and short of it is that Jorge citizenship request was denied but we will have the opportunity to appeal.

We have no idea what this will mean for us in regards to time, how long this whole process might take and when we might be able to get a solution to this whole ordeal. Our hope is that we can get this all resolved before returning to Colombia.

Initially we were discouraged and frustrated but now that we've had time to process everything we are at peace and all we can do is take it one step at a time and trust that the Lord has some purpose in this and we trust him for the outcome.

One thing that encourages us is that perhaps the Lord will use our difficulties to help other people in the same circumstances. We know there are many other people (fellow YWAMers, for example) who have the same circumstances and this whole issue of immigration can be like a dark cloud that hangs overhead. No one that I talked to at the INS office, not even the supervisor, knew about this special clause but I know it exists because I researched the INS website and I found where it is explained. So maybe our case will help draw attention to this and make it easier for others who come behind us.

So, the saga continues!

Givin' it a try!

I've been considering starting a blog for some time now and up until now have just been putting it off. We have a website but I haven't been very diligent at keeping it updated. I thought it would probably be easier to update a blog than a whole website so I thought I'd give it a try. If this works better I'll probably just discontinue the website...but I'm not sure yet. We'll see how it goes.

This photo was taken a few months ago at a staff meeting in Tijuana, Mexico at the new property that was acquired by YWAM San Diego/Baja. Dean Sherman was the speaker that day. It was really cool to meet him after hearing about him for so many years. Really nice guy, down-to-earth, easy to get along with. I was kind of nervous about his arrival because our base in Ensenada was responsible for his hospitality and for some reason I figured that since he lives on the road, traveling and teaching all over the world, that he might have very high expectations of our hospitality department. But he was so easy going, I soon found out my fretting was all in vain! For those of you who don't know, Dean is a well-known author and teacher in the YWAM circle...especially known for his teachings on Spiritual Warfare. I would venture to say that he is considered one of YWAM's great pioneers.

Just to bring everybody up to speed with us, we had to leave Colombia almost 2 years ago to take care of some immigration issues for Jorge. We were invited to serve with YWAM San Diego/Baja, assigned to the Ensenada base in Mexico, about 2 hours south of San Diego, CA (depending on how long the line of traffic is at the Tijuana border). We are coming up to the end of our 2 year commitment very soon now and in a few weeks we will be moving on. We are excited to return to Colombia...back to Bocachica to continue what was started there. Before we go back though we are planning to take some time to visit family, friends and supporters north, south, east and west, while we are on this continent, before heading back to South America. We have an awesome team in Bocachica who have been holding down the fort for us and we are anxious to get back to them.

Jorge's mom has been really sick the last year, in and out of the hospital with some terminal heart and lung problems. So, our first priority is to head south to spend some quality time with her. It looks like it might be one of our last opportunities so we want to make the most of it! She lives in Queretaro, farther south, near Mexico City.

By the way, pray for Jorge, he has to take his citizenship exam/interview in Phoenix the day after tomorrow. He's been studying a lot and knows his stuff better than I do! I think he's going to do great! If this goes through then he'll have dual citizenship (Mexico and USA) and will be able to travel with less hassles. So tomorrow we are driving east 5 hours to my mom's house in Yuma and from there we'll continue on to Phoenix the following day. We'll keep you posted!