Visa Challenges

The picture above was taken from our airplane window on our way home from a trip to Naha on the island of Okinawa. It was not a pleasure trip. It was a trip Azusa and I took for Azusa to obtain a visa in order to, at least in our minds at the time, begin our journey into pre-field with ABWE.

We had not anticipated Azusa having any problems getting her visa. We had spent weeks preparing: writing emails, gathering information, making phone calls to our immigration attorney. Azusa was ready. Our papers were lined up. It was a no-brainer. We would be on a plane as a family heading out to Oregon within two weeks.

As I waited in the rental car in the parking lot at the U.S. Consulate in Okinawa, I was pretty sure things were going well. I had gone to the coffee shop just on the other side of the wall from the Consulate but had gotten tired of waiting and praying there. I returned to the car and took a little nap.

Azusa woke me up. She looked fine. She had a gentle smile on her calm face. She did not look particularly excited or upset. Then she told me. It had not gone well. She had been denied the visa. I was shocked, angry: How could they deny my wife of seventeen years, the wife of an U.S. citizen, a visa? Who had messed up?

We flew out of Okinawa that evening, feeling pretty disappointed. As we gained elevation we went through a thick layer of clouds. Below and amidst the clouds it was gray and miserable. But then there came a change in the light. The gray turned to white. The white became distinct from the deep blue of the sky above and from the golden-red sunset. The sun was still shining! The Lord comforted us through that sunset above the clouds. Our situation with the visa was no accident. The Lord was orchestrating this. He was in control.

That interview, Azusa’s first, was on May 8th. After her denial our attorney volunteered to help us try again. We spent four frantic weeks gathering more information, letters, PROOF. We had to prove that Azusa was coming back to Japan, that she would not overstay her visa and try to remain in the U.S. No problem. Wasn’t it obvious? She and I were becoming missionaries to the country in which she was born, in which our children were born and raised, and in which I had spent nearly twenty years. Even my former supervisor at the city office wrote a letter, one endorsed by the superintendent of education!

On June 11th, Azusa had her second interview, this time in the big city of Osaka. I walked her the few blocks to the Consulate and waited outside with her until they allowed her to begin the security check. Then I returned to the hotel to pray and pace (prace?).

I had not been praying too long when there was a knock on our room’s door. We still had a couple of hours until check-out time, so I wondered if the cleaning crew was just checking to see if they could get an early start. No. It was Azusa. She was in tears.

This time I was not angry or distraught. God was still in control. He wanted to show us something beautiful. It was not a beautiful sunset from thirty-thousand feet. It was the peace and comfort that only He can give; and He began giving it through the kind words of a sister in Christ that we had planned to meet in Osaka later that day. He continues to give us that peace and comfort during this season of unmet expectations.

Through these disappointments Azusa and I are learning not to hang on tightly to our expectations. Expectations can easily become our idols; and we must continue to pray that God destroys all idolatry in our lives. We praise Him for his kindness towards us, teaching us too rely wholly on Him and not on our own abilities to maneuver and manipulate our circumstances.

Please Pray:

• for us to have the ability to trust God even when we meet disappointment
• for our children to do the same
• for us to have the wisdom we need to make God-pleasing choices

We thank you for your prayer support!