Plan B

We have prayed about our situation and have looked at all our options and have made a decision. After talking with LST, we have decided to apply for a tourist visa to go to Brazil. A tourist visa is for only 3 months, but can be extended with some effort while we're in Brazil. If Brazil accepts us for a tourist visa, then our chances are good to get the extension.

We don't know why we were not accepted for our volunteer visa, we can only trust that God is in control and we will accept whatever happens. LST is working with us very closely to iron out all of the details.

We feel confident that God is in control of everything that has happened. It is wonderful to realize that our lives are in God's hands and that He will take care of us, no matter what. We have been so blessed by the hospitality and spiritual support from friends and family. If we hadn't sold our house, we wouldn't have experienced God's provision through His servants in such an obvious way. And I cannot express how much it means to us that there are so many of you praying for us. It is very humbling.

Visa Denied

We received word that our visa to Brazil has been denied. So we are exploring our options right now. We are staying with friends in Dallas now so that we can talk about these options with LST. We are spending the next couple days in fervent prayer that God will reveal His will to us so that we can act accordingly. Please pray with us so that God will open doors to His will and shut doors that are contrary to His will.

Right now, I feel like Paul when he was kept from preaching in the province of Asia in Acts 16. He saw a vision to lead him to where God wanted. A vision would be nice, but all I need to do is trust God and have faith that He will lead us to where He wants us. God's timing is perfect and mine is almost always ...off.

I will keep you posted on this blog when we know anything a little more concrete. Thank you for praying for us. It means more than you know.

One month later…

It has now been one month since we planned to fly to Brazil. Since then we have slept in about 5 different places. We still don't have our visas, and there is nothing we can do about it. I think that's a good thing though. Whenever a plan doesn't work out, I often try to fix it. In this case, I can't fix it and I think that God may have wanted it that way. Let me explain.

When we decided to see if God wanted us to go to Brazil, we prayed that we would do whatever God wanted us to do, not what we wanted. Doors opened and long story short — we were set to go to Brazil. We tried to be completely open to his will, even by selling our house and one of our cars and two yard sales later, most of our possessions. We set the plan to go to Natal on July 7th. We were ready to leave the country on that date, but no visa. Should we have made it work out by trying to call the Brazilian government and pressure them to give us a visa? What if God didn't want us to go on July 7th? What if He doesn't want us there at all? Could He have something else planned for us? We don't know. Should we pray fervently that He send us there now? I don't know. I'm not God. And I think that I shouldn't try to be. I believe that in search of God's will, we should always question our own plans and ask God to bless our plans that fit into His will and block our plans that don't fit His will.

So since we are waiting on God, we are finding blessings in waiting. We were able to go to Cyndi's family reunion in Oklahoma last weekend. She has never missed a single reunion since her birth and she was willing to sacrifice that to go to Brazil. But we were able to attend and it was such a blessing to us both.

I am still working full-time from wherever we are and we live out of a suitcase. Please pray for us as we seek patience. Our mission doesn't start when we arrive in Brazil, it started months ago when we decided to seek God's will. So please pray for our mission as it is right now. We can always use encouragement.