Vice Visa
Trip Start
Feb 07, 2009
1
5
12
Trip End
Feb 21, 2009
Covington,
Georgia,
United States
Sunday, December 28, 2008
or so. However, it has been a long and disappointing road that
led me to still be here in the States today. Lindsey and I
applied for our visas over a month ago, hearing that the processing and
shipping time should only take 5 days total. So we fill out our
applications and mail them in, assuming all is well. Two weeks
later, still no word. Then Lindsey hears that her app has been
tagged, since she mentioned the word "mission trip" as her purpose of
visit. They needed more information. A week later, I get a
call. My app has also been tagged. I used that magical
"mission" word as well. We contacted Dr. Anil Henry at the
Mungeli Hospital, and he wrote a letter about her, Tadd, and me (since
we all mailed in our apps together). We assume that letter will
be enough information, making our visit sound as far from an actual
mission trip as possible. We assume we'll hear something any day
after that. A few more weeks go by. The trip is
getting closer and closer. 11 days before we leave, I call the Travisa
place in Texas, where we mailed our passports (that's right, I stuck my
passport in the mail to Texas into some stranger's hands...because that
is what I was told to do), and they said that once you have been tagged
as a missionary, it could take 6 months or more to
get approved, if at all. 6 months. That we did not have.
Lindsey and I start to panic, just a little. We get on the phone with our
state senators and friends who have friends in high places, we check
out other possibilities that will give us any kind of option, but
mostly all we can do is hope, and pray. Silly us for telling the
truth about what we were going to do. Somehow the other 5 in our
group instinctively knew to put "tourist" or "visiting" as their
purpose of trip. How we were left out of the loop, I'll never
know. It also did not help that we also mailed our applications
in the same day all the terrorist tragedy hit the news. Bad
timing. It probably also did not help that my occupation is
listed as pastor. Again, I have this bad habit of telling the
truth. It's not like I planned on wearing any Christian t-shirts
or trying to baptize everyone I met in the Ganges River. Even I
know better than that. But alas, once we were tagged as
missionaries, there was really nothing we could do except wait. And
wait we did.At one point we got hopeful. I was starting to call the Texas representatives
every day to ask them to check on my passport status. The Tuesday before
Christmas they said the Indian Consulate was trying to get as many visas
finished as possible before the holiday, and there was a chance mine could
arrive at 5:30 that night. I got hopeful. A little. Then I realized that 5:30 Texas
time was actually about 7:30 or so my time. So I distracted myself with a good
friend and a funny movie that night (Bolt--hilarious. Love the hamster!) and
checked online around 9:00 that night. No such luck. That left the next day,
Wednesday, Christmas Eve, as our last possible chance at getting
approved in time for it to be mailed back to us before our flight
left. After the 5:00 Christmas Eve service, everyone wished me a safe trip
and lots of luck. I had begun letting some people know that it
might not happen. Just before the 9:00 service, I checked
online. No visa. Our deadline had ended.
Christmas day was a little depressing, as the full reality of this much
anticipated and much hoped for trip had been put to an end. It
was at least a blessing to have a few days off to spend with family and
friends, and not have to face work for a little while, trying to
explain. Friday morning Lindsey and I canceled our flights. We
would both be losing money. Lindsey unfortunately could not get
her ticket refunded. We're still fighting that. Mine was
refundable except for a $300 fine. While it sounds like a lot, I
was grateful it was such a small percentage of the total.
So it is incredibly frustrating and disappointing. There is another
group going in February. There is an option to join that crew and
try to make it all work out. However, after being tagged as a
missionary, there is no teling if I reapply as a tourist, if I would
get approved right away, or if my name has been red flagged as a
missionary forever. It would cost another $95 just to reapply,
with the possibility that I'll just get turned down again. Is it
worth it? It's a gamble. I guess time will tell.
