News......

We sent an email today letting everyone know that we have set a date to depart for Jamaica. This doesn't mean our work permit has been approved. I received and email from Nicholas this afternoon asking that we talk on the phone about some developments with our work permit. I called him and he told me of his conversation with the Ministry of Labour today. The gentleman that he spoke with told him they couldn't find our paperwork(again). After much conversation and being very upset Nicholas was put on hold for over 15 minutes while the man looked again for the paperwork. He returned to the phone to tell him that he had found it and it had not been in the process(as they had told us) it had just been sitting on someones desk since July 29th. The man apologized and said he would personally take it where it needed to go and asked Nicholas to call back this Friday. Nicholas told him that we would be coming down in October and need it before we come down.
Some of the situations we are dealing with at this point is, we are looking at going to Jamaica in October only to return in November to wrap up the final details of the Visas here in the US and load/ship container. Then we will return to Jamaica in December. We can't travel on a one way ticket without the work permit/visas, we would need to have round trip tickets. We can't schedule and load a container without the work permit/visas. We are praying through this and stepping out in faith that God will provide for all of these situations.

TIME TO GO!!!

The news we received last Tuesday and Friday from our contact in Jamaica was the same news as previous weeks(still being processed, call back). We have been praying and seeking council on what we are to be doing. The ups and downs of this process are taking a toll on our family. It seems that our children's excitement to move(from 5 months ago of when we started the application process) is diminishing. Jodi and I were struggling not knowing when we will be moving and how do we work our lives. Alot of worries that we have to turn over to God. So last Tuesday Jodi called me to let me know that after praying that morning, she now knows what we need to do! I was excited and she proceeded to tell me that we need to set our move date and that God would provide the work permit. As when we decided(God told us to) to sale our business and he provided a means for that to happen and while we were raising our support team, many did not join until we made the effort to share our vision.
For me this was great news but I was thoroughly confused because this doesn't seem logical in my mind. How do we plan anything without our work permit??? We can't ship our container, sale our house or cars, get visas for the rest of the family, etc. I told her I would pray about it. After much prayer and counseling, the next day I told Jodi we needed to sit down and set a date. We now have tickets to fly to Jamaica on October 3rd. PRAISE GOD!!! At this time, there are many questions we have and I'm sure you have but only God knows the answers and as we trust God for answers we know he will provide.

Waiting....

As we now have another week of what seems like disappointing news from Jamaica, we know that our lives are in His hands. We received an email last week from our contact in Jamaica and they told him that the paperwork was still being processed but the gentleman seemed to think it would be ready next week. This week his email said that when he called it was still in the process and need to call back on Friday. He called and couldn't get through to anyone there at the Ministry of Labour. As we try to update everyone it is getting harder to give the same news every week.
As we wait on the approval of our work permit we are encouraged by seeing the work that God is doing at Beautiful Feet here in Ft.Worth. Our family is serving there on a regular basis. The girls are helping out in the kitchen cooking, cleaning and serving the food. Jodi and I are also helping in the kitchen and I have been able to lead devotions a few mornings. We have also been able to be a part of the orientation and prayer for the teams that are coming to serve at The Feet. We have met some great friends there that we love serving and serving with and will sure miss them all when we do move to Jamaica.

Waiting!!

As we are waiting on our God for the work permit from the Jamaican govt. I received an email from Nicholas with CCCD in Jamaica that said he has been calling all week to get the status on our paper work. On Thursday they said "we can't find it!". Now he will have to personally go to Kingston and present them with copies of our paperwork that we sent to them in April(almost 3 months ago).
After receiving this news there was a sense of disappointment, just the thought that it will take that much longer to get approval before we can move. Then we remembered who was in charge and the fact that God's timing is perfect and not always ours. He has greater plans than we do so at this time we are happily waiting on God but praying for a quick resolution to this situation. We are thankful for a great support team that quickly and continually lifts us up in prayer.
Also, Jeffrey Jr. aka "Pickle" continues to ask almost daily if we are going to Jamaica (I love those conversations)! This always reminds me of how we should be anticipating God's timing, with faith like a child!!!

How much more??

While in my office, Erin comes in and says "Dad, How much more do we need?" I told her that we were now at 89% and only needed 11% more. We are close! She said "when we get it all can we stay here just a little bit longer, maybe another week?". With us getting close to 100% she thought we would be leaving quickly after the funding was there. So I turned to her to focus my attention and to explain to her how this will work. Once our support team is together and our funds are committed we have to wait for the Jamaican government to grant us our work permit(could take 6-8 weeks or more). After we receive the paper work for the work permit then we will make a trip to the Jamaican embassy in Houston and get the rest of our families visa. We will make the 4 hour trip to acquire the visas instead of mailing them and it taking 2-3 weeks. Then she says "we need to pack everything up too!" I said yes we have to pack everything to move too. She says "can we start packing now??"
What a blessing it is to have children that are excited about our move, as parents we know it is hard for them to think about leaving but are excited about the change in our lives.