We are going to China! This statement is not said lightly.
After debrief ended, we were supposed to go to China next, traveling on September 6th and 7th to arrive in the Beijing area on the 8th. However, we still needed to apply for our Chinese visas before we could leave. Another one of our teams had the opportunity to apply for their visas earlier in the month and told us of the difficulty level. First off, you have to stand outside the embassy in a line on Tuesday mornings when they will accept only a certain amount of people from 9:30am-12:30pm. This is just to get an appointment to have your paperwork reviewed. This process is only done on Tuesdays, so if you are not one of the approximately 30 foreigners to be picked that day then you have to wait till next Tuesday to try again. After you get an appointment, you will be asked to come back either Wednesday, Friday, or Monday for you appointment. This actually means you will again stand in a line outside the embassy and come in two at a time between the hours of 9:30am-12:30pm to have your paperwork reviewed. They will hold your passport and give you a receipt for the price of the visa which will depend on when you want to pick it up (4 day processing for American visa costs 140 USD and same day costs 177 USD). You will take your receipt to a specified bank to pay for the visa. You will then come back with your receipt on your specific day around 4pm-5pm. However this does not ensure that you have been accepted, when you show up with the receipt they will let you know if you have been accepted or not. If you are accepted, you receive your passport back with the Chinese visa stamped nicely inside. If you were rejected, you receive your passport back and a refund for the cost of the visa. This process is a bit tricky and can take easily up to 1 1/2 weeks or longer if you fail to get the appointment your first try. My team was eager to get to China, so we decided to show up and wait outside the Chinese embassy at 2am to ensure we were as close to the front of the line as possible. We prayed fervently for the quickest visas possible as well. My team was only behind this nice German couple who had the same idea as us. We passed the time away chatting intermittently with trips to the nearby circle k to warm up some. We were all able to get an appointment that Tuesday and it was for the following day! We went back the next day at 7:30am to again ensure to be in an out quickly. We all made it in with acceptable paperwork. Half of us were questioned on why we wanted to go to China and what we hoped to do while there. My team decided to use a little of our personal money to be able to do a same day pick up for our visas (our team budget covered the cost for the 4 day processed visas), so later that day two of my teammates went to pick up our visas at 5pm. I made some Mac and cheese for us, while I nervously waited, praying we all received our visas. Ashton and Lubbock returned with all seven of our Chinese visas!!! Praise God! A process that could have easily took a week and a half took only two days! This is definitely a battle won by the Lord. I can’t help but mention too that half my team was struggling with not feeling well for those two days but pushed through it. I don’t believe I’m too far off to say the devil did his best to try and kill our spirits and slow us down, but failed miserably.
This brings me to my main reason for this blog: now that we are gearing up to leave for China, I will be required to put a password protection on my blog. China is very strict on what they will and will not allow. I will not be able to get onto any social media or google accounts while I am there. They monitor internet usage as well. If you want to be able to get onto my blog site for the rest of the month of September you will need a password the password will be: recklesslove77
I will wait till Friday evening to lock it down to hopefully give you some time to get the message.
Thanks to all of your prayers and support! It’s thanks to your prayers back home that the process went so well! Also I wanted to let you know the monetary support you have given we were able to pass on a bit of that blessing to the church back in Erdenent, Mongolia before we left.
God works in powerful and mysterious ways even when all we do is faithfully show up with hope in our hearts. I encourage you to pray today, “God what are you doing today and how can I be a part of it?” Or “God who is on your heart today?” Wait and see how he answers. Sometimes it’s as simple as reaching out to an old friend who needs some encouragement or asking your waiter if you can pray for them. Life is too short don’t miss out on the blessings God has planned for you today. I say this not only to you but to myself. I hope to learn to be a bit more bold this month and say hello to some strangers, for they are not strangers to God.
Till next time, go in peace and comfort by “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction.” (2 Corinthians 1: 3-4a)
