Visas for Dominicans

No, that's not credit cards for monks and friars, it's permission for students from the Dominican Republic to come and stay in Costa Rica for a while. We've had some immigration bugaboos here of late, and I've mentioned that via some various avenues as an item that might come up in conversation with God. I wanted to let anyone who's interested know that we've not made any real progress yet, but we haven't been eliminated from the playoff picture just yet. Apparently, according to our legal sources here, the immigration track has been closed to us, since visas were applied for and then denied. But the political track is still open to us, and that is what is being pursued. There is good reason to believe that one of the congressmen here is favorable toward religious causes, and is in fact a believer in Christ. They tell us that he can make a couple of calls and get permission for our students to come, because both of the mainstream parties here need his vote to get anything done. So it comes down to a political favor, I guess. The apostle Paul wasn't above playing his Roman citizenship card when necessary to avoid a beating, so I guess we can ask a public servant for help in an immigration matter.

At the same time, I need to say how great it is to have here with us the students who have already arrived from Mexico and Honduras. We're still hoping for Costa Ricans and some Panamanians after the CIY Youth Conference. The students that are here up to this point are really excited, busy preparing drama and music for the conference, and an incredible encouragement to us all. So we're going to be grateful and enjoy to the full the opportunities we have, and not fret for what we can't control. Thanks for reading!