Today, Tomorrow, Next week or Next month....
Hey there,
So I didn't write last week, but here is a quick recap of what happened last week: Sleep. Yeah, that sounds about right. I was visiting Dion and Montse in Barcelona, and it was lovely, really warm and relaxing, but I found myself docking up more sleep hours than Hamish the cat. I don't know why I was so inclined to sleep, it could have been the heat, or work exhaustion, or a number of other things but it was nice. What wasn't nice was sleeping on the floor at Gatwick North Terminal waiting for the flight back to Helsinki, which is where I picked up whatever this bug is that I have right now (Not swine flu. I promise), but even then I did manage to sleep. Dion was very jealous at this new found ability of mine (well he thinks it new found, my mother was quite aware of it from a very early age).
In any case, I thought I would update everyone on the newest on the visa, it's a bit of an epic really, but here goes nothing: Apparently the invitation letter that I received from the Salvation Army in Receife, accidentally replaced the words: Voluntary Worker, with the word MISSIONARY, which might not have mattered in other circumstances, but with my visa process being something that could have been written by Homer (the greek poet, not the Simpson) it was of course a big deal. The embassy required proof of higher education that proved that I had qualifications to be a religious educator (or something similar), and as it turned out they weren't quite convinced by by high school diploma, or cognitive psychology courses. So we thought that we would try by sending them a document on the 10 day orientation course we had at ALL NATIONs.. a long shot I know. Well as these things go they didn't consider it to quite correspond to Higher Education Qualifications (even though the team did work very hard to teach us everything they could within those 10 days) so now they have requested a new invitation letter from the Salvation Army in Receife. So hopefully they will be able to comply a little quicker than they did with the previous letters (hmm... ), but the good news is that all the other papers are now ready, so if we could just tipex out the word Missionary from that document, we would, but somehow I don't think the embassy would go for that. So it's a new waiting game. Patience seems to be a virtue that God wants me to learn at any costs, so i'm giving into it, and trying to learn.
In Recifi at the moment they are preparing for the national Latin Link conference, which this year happens to be in Recifi. Both Georgina and Laura (Keith from Aberdeen - Any one know her?) left for Brazil yesterday so should be arriving there very soon.
I am just sat at home for now. Can't go to work because of my fever (again, not the pig flu). But am begining to feel better, and hoping to get some more paper work done and some funding letters sent out in the next day and a half, get back on top of things. And according to my mother I'm not allowed to leave the city any more if every time I go I come back sick (my mother has a flare for the dramatic, I go away about 6 times a year, and I one time come back with a cold...). Finland is slowly giving up its strive to remain in summer and the rains are setteling in, autumn is on it's way. I havn't been able to make it to church here in weeks, so have taken to listening t different podcasts recommended to me by friends. So if you know of any good podcasts let me know!
hugs
God Bless.
Ems
So I didn't write last week, but here is a quick recap of what happened last week: Sleep. Yeah, that sounds about right. I was visiting Dion and Montse in Barcelona, and it was lovely, really warm and relaxing, but I found myself docking up more sleep hours than Hamish the cat. I don't know why I was so inclined to sleep, it could have been the heat, or work exhaustion, or a number of other things but it was nice. What wasn't nice was sleeping on the floor at Gatwick North Terminal waiting for the flight back to Helsinki, which is where I picked up whatever this bug is that I have right now (Not swine flu. I promise), but even then I did manage to sleep. Dion was very jealous at this new found ability of mine (well he thinks it new found, my mother was quite aware of it from a very early age).
In any case, I thought I would update everyone on the newest on the visa, it's a bit of an epic really, but here goes nothing: Apparently the invitation letter that I received from the Salvation Army in Receife, accidentally replaced the words: Voluntary Worker, with the word MISSIONARY, which might not have mattered in other circumstances, but with my visa process being something that could have been written by Homer (the greek poet, not the Simpson) it was of course a big deal. The embassy required proof of higher education that proved that I had qualifications to be a religious educator (or something similar), and as it turned out they weren't quite convinced by by high school diploma, or cognitive psychology courses. So we thought that we would try by sending them a document on the 10 day orientation course we had at ALL NATIONs.. a long shot I know. Well as these things go they didn't consider it to quite correspond to Higher Education Qualifications (even though the team did work very hard to teach us everything they could within those 10 days) so now they have requested a new invitation letter from the Salvation Army in Receife. So hopefully they will be able to comply a little quicker than they did with the previous letters (hmm... ), but the good news is that all the other papers are now ready, so if we could just tipex out the word Missionary from that document, we would, but somehow I don't think the embassy would go for that. So it's a new waiting game. Patience seems to be a virtue that God wants me to learn at any costs, so i'm giving into it, and trying to learn.
In Recifi at the moment they are preparing for the national Latin Link conference, which this year happens to be in Recifi. Both Georgina and Laura (Keith from Aberdeen - Any one know her?) left for Brazil yesterday so should be arriving there very soon.
I am just sat at home for now. Can't go to work because of my fever (again, not the pig flu). But am begining to feel better, and hoping to get some more paper work done and some funding letters sent out in the next day and a half, get back on top of things. And according to my mother I'm not allowed to leave the city any more if every time I go I come back sick (my mother has a flare for the dramatic, I go away about 6 times a year, and I one time come back with a cold...). Finland is slowly giving up its strive to remain in summer and the rains are setteling in, autumn is on it's way. I havn't been able to make it to church here in weeks, so have taken to listening t different podcasts recommended to me by friends. So if you know of any good podcasts let me know!
hugs
God Bless.
Ems
Comments
Post a Comment