Visas

Expectations. It's been proven to me yet again that my expectations are worth nothing here. Last week, all of the SALTers and the YAMENer, Louisa were called to the MCC office. We were told that our year long visas had been denied, and that we had until November 19th to leave. All of our trips to the immigration office, all of our time there had been for naught. So, where do we go from there??

The process of applying for the visa was complicated. First, we had 30 days. In those 30 days, we expected to apply and be issued our year long visa. The 30 days passed; no visa. Then we received word from the government that MCC had missed a step in the application. There is a brand new process for visas in Bolivia with the new government, and MCC didn't know about this step. So we wrote the letter we needed to and waited. Meanwhile, we applied (paid 650 B's) for another 30 day extension. At the end of our second 30 days, we were told that our visas had been denied. So after that, we went to the immigration office to apply for another 30 day extension, so we could have time to get our things together, figure out our plans, etc. The problem we have now is not with the immigration office. MCC applied for our specific purpose visas, but since they are a specific type of visa that includes education, when the Minister of Education went to look for clearance for MCC in the education department of Bolivia, and there was no document, he denied our visas. MCC doesn't have permission to practice education in Bolivia. MCC was still working on the old process where it didn't matter. Now it does.

So what does that mean for me? I will be returning to the States on November 19th. I'm not extremely excited about that, but for me, it is the best option. These past two weeks have been confusing and painful. I've had to make decisions that I didn't expect to make. Please pray for all of the volunteers with MCC here because we are all facing a lot of uncertainty. Some of us are returning home and some are trying to continue their term in another country.

I'm sad to leave Bolivia. I feel like I'm ending too soon, but perhaps God has shown me what He needed to in the three months I lived here. I have grown exponentially, and am happy for every experience I've had.