We have our visas and we are leaving for Ukraine this evening! This is a very great news for us and I appreciate all of your prayers. There was actually a different official working at the window today and he let everything go through just fine. He even helped us improve what we were applying for (pointing out that we could ask for multi-entry visas that will allow us to leave the country during our 90 day stay without canceling the remaining part of our visa).
We will take a 9:00 PM train to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv and try to make a 30 minute connection for an express train to Kiev. Due to a very clumsy ticketing website and finally the discovery that the booking system will only accept Ukrainian credit cards, we were not able to get any of this process taken care of beforehand. But we'll do our best to quickly navigate the train station and the Ukrainian language and see if we can get back to Kiev around 1 PM. If not, we have a backup option that should get us there by evening.
Thanks again for hanging in there with us. It was nice to know we were not alone!
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
What's All The Commotion Been About?
Well, hopefully, just these little documents that are being held by a joyful Jenny. Each one is just half the size of an 8.5x11 sheet of paper. But for now they are our one chance of getting out of Poland and back home to Ukraine! Thanks to our special people back in Kiev who have made these documents a reality!
These are stamps of approval from the immigrations services office in Kiev, Ukraine. We will be taking them to the Ukrainian consulate here in Krakow, Poland tomorrow morning. For those of you in the US, this will happen during the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday. For those of you receiving this as an automated e-mail from Google/Blogger, the event has probably already happened.
So I am going to send a copy out right now to every e-mail address that I have connected with my mission in Ukraine. Here's the prayer request:
We have the documents we need to apply for visas but we still need the consulate to approve our visas. Our previous visas were religious. Because the government has made it temporarily impossible to get the supporting documents for new religious visas, we have had to find a loophole. We are applying now for 90 day private visas, and the documents we just received are government-approved letters of invitation from Jenny's fiance.
The problem: even these documents do not mean the consulate official has to approve our visas. It is his decision. If he doesn't like the fact that we were previously in on religious visas and now are applying for private visas, we will have an issue. In speaking to him last week, we realized that he is rather suspicious of our inability to provide documents for a religious visa. What he didn't know and doesn't particularly care about is the fact that the government has made this task literally impossible for the time being. So please, PLEASE pray that he either understands the situation tomorrow or doesn't care about the change of visa type.
Thank you!
These are stamps of approval from the immigrations services office in Kiev, Ukraine. We will be taking them to the Ukrainian consulate here in Krakow, Poland tomorrow morning. For those of you in the US, this will happen during the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday. For those of you receiving this as an automated e-mail from Google/Blogger, the event has probably already happened.
So I am going to send a copy out right now to every e-mail address that I have connected with my mission in Ukraine. Here's the prayer request:
We have the documents we need to apply for visas but we still need the consulate to approve our visas. Our previous visas were religious. Because the government has made it temporarily impossible to get the supporting documents for new religious visas, we have had to find a loophole. We are applying now for 90 day private visas, and the documents we just received are government-approved letters of invitation from Jenny's fiance.
The problem: even these documents do not mean the consulate official has to approve our visas. It is his decision. If he doesn't like the fact that we were previously in on religious visas and now are applying for private visas, we will have an issue. In speaking to him last week, we realized that he is rather suspicious of our inability to provide documents for a religious visa. What he didn't know and doesn't particularly care about is the fact that the government has made this task literally impossible for the time being. So please, PLEASE pray that he either understands the situation tomorrow or doesn't care about the change of visa type.
Thank you!
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Christmas "Letter"
A "Gift"
It would be virtually impossible for me to handle sending Christmas gifts to all of my supporters, so I have decided instead to give you all some fun at my expense. These links will take you to two videos that were recorded a few weeks ago. If you want a glimpse at what I've been doing in Ukraine, check them out. haha. But these really did happen... let's just say that not being fluent in Russian doesn't guarantee me exemption from audience participation.
Merry Christmas Part 1
Merry Christmas Part 2
I have prepared this "gift" from Krakow, Poland, where I am currently waiting for new visa documents. Changes occurring right now in the Ukrainian government have postponed the processing of my paperwork in Kiev and landed me here over the holidays, locked out of the country I am trying to serve. Fortunately for me, Ukrainians don't celebrate Christmas on the 25th but rather on Orthodox Christmas, January 7th. So I've got a second chance at celebrating with my Ukrainian friends and girlfriend!
Why I Am Thankful
Putting together a list of all of you who have supported me in one way or another (or in many and multi-faceted ways) has really put a bright spot in my day. I appreciate all of your help to make my ministry and life in Ukraine possible this year. I also appreciate this chance to look at each name in a substantial list of supporters and remember that you cared enough about me and about God's work in a place far away to give me the chance to be doing what I am doing.
You are having an impact on the young generation of Ukraine. Just as in any country, this is the generation that has the chance to displace rampant corruption, cheating, and fear with grace, service to others, and hearts that long for Christ above all other gain. I get the chance to share the most precious thing in your hearts with young adults on a weekly basis through worship, music and Bible study. I have also recently made a start at preaching, and there will probably be more occasions to follow. To the older generations, you serve with me in worship to heal brokenness of all kinds, to express joy to our Maker, and to assist God's followers in remembering the strength of the One they follow.
God Bless
So Merry Christmas to you all, my wonderful friends, family and family-by-choice (for all of you supporters who are connected in other ways)! I appreciate every one of you and I hope you experience some of God's goodness in a special flavor this Christmas. The family of God in Ukraine is growing and benefiting from your help.
Josh
It would be virtually impossible for me to handle sending Christmas gifts to all of my supporters, so I have decided instead to give you all some fun at my expense. These links will take you to two videos that were recorded a few weeks ago. If you want a glimpse at what I've been doing in Ukraine, check them out. haha. But these really did happen... let's just say that not being fluent in Russian doesn't guarantee me exemption from audience participation.
Merry Christmas Part 1
Merry Christmas Part 2
I have prepared this "gift" from Krakow, Poland, where I am currently waiting for new visa documents. Changes occurring right now in the Ukrainian government have postponed the processing of my paperwork in Kiev and landed me here over the holidays, locked out of the country I am trying to serve. Fortunately for me, Ukrainians don't celebrate Christmas on the 25th but rather on Orthodox Christmas, January 7th. So I've got a second chance at celebrating with my Ukrainian friends and girlfriend!
Why I Am Thankful
Putting together a list of all of you who have supported me in one way or another (or in many and multi-faceted ways) has really put a bright spot in my day. I appreciate all of your help to make my ministry and life in Ukraine possible this year. I also appreciate this chance to look at each name in a substantial list of supporters and remember that you cared enough about me and about God's work in a place far away to give me the chance to be doing what I am doing.
You are having an impact on the young generation of Ukraine. Just as in any country, this is the generation that has the chance to displace rampant corruption, cheating, and fear with grace, service to others, and hearts that long for Christ above all other gain. I get the chance to share the most precious thing in your hearts with young adults on a weekly basis through worship, music and Bible study. I have also recently made a start at preaching, and there will probably be more occasions to follow. To the older generations, you serve with me in worship to heal brokenness of all kinds, to express joy to our Maker, and to assist God's followers in remembering the strength of the One they follow.
God Bless
So Merry Christmas to you all, my wonderful friends, family and family-by-choice (for all of you supporters who are connected in other ways)! I appreciate every one of you and I hope you experience some of God's goodness in a special flavor this Christmas. The family of God in Ukraine is growing and benefiting from your help.
Josh
Friday, December 23, 2011
Another update
I am definitely having to learn the arts of patience and helplessness. DHL International does not deliver on Saturdays and Monday is a Polish holiday. That means our documents will arrive Tuesday and we can apply for our visas Wednesday. We MIGHT make it home Thursday but that would involve some more complications to transportation, so it may very well end up being Friday.
The first couple days were fun. It was a little scary to have things very open-ended regarding the time frame for being able to return, but we made the most of it. It's a nice city. But after staying in hostels over a week the initial desire to return to Kiev grows stronger and more overpowering. But there is nothing I can do to follow through on that desire at this very moment.
Thanks for praying for this situation. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and sincerely hope you find enjoyment in God's goodness this weekend, however that looks for you.
The first couple days were fun. It was a little scary to have things very open-ended regarding the time frame for being able to return, but we made the most of it. It's a nice city. But after staying in hostels over a week the initial desire to return to Kiev grows stronger and more overpowering. But there is nothing I can do to follow through on that desire at this very moment.
Thanks for praying for this situation. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and sincerely hope you find enjoyment in God's goodness this weekend, however that looks for you.
Still In Poland
That's the bad news. We're still here. The good news is we have a backup plan in the works.
Visa laws in Ukraine changed about three months ago. On December 25th (of all days) they will change again. Earlier this week, the Ukrainian government decided to inform us that they will not do anything for our visas until the new law passes. We had done everything they asked. My girlfriend and two of our church pastors had spent two weeks running around collecting the documents they had requested and then the government decided to disregard it all. They will not even give new information about how we will need to change the documents that we will submit under the new law.
So basically, there has been a three or four week window in which it has been impossible to apply for a religious visa. We submitted documents at the beginning of the month and nothing has come of it. At this point, we are back to square one, just waiting to find out what documents they will want us to submit once they're willing to start processing stuff again. And it is really difficult to say how long it will take them to sort things out with the new law and decide how to deal with things. When the law changed a few months ago, the first month or so was very rough for applicants. Also, there are a lot of other people in the same situation as us (sitting and waiting) so the work load is going to be pretty heavy at first. On top of that, the government has a couple holidays coming up over the first week of January.
The backup plan is in motion
Jenny's fiance Vova has been doing everything he can to get letters of invitation for us to come in on 90 day private visas. Thankfully he has friends at his local immigration services office and has managed to speed up the process. He went to that office four days in a row and was able to get the initial "it will take ten days" answer cut down to just a few days. He picked up the completed documents this morning and they should arrive here tomorrow. Then we will go to the Ukrainian consulate here in Poland on Monday, apply for our visas, and hopefully have permission to reenter Ukraine!
The part that needs prayer now
There is still one part of this that is a little uncertain. We need to pray that the consulate will approve our private visas. We already have religious visas showing in our passports. If the official at the consulate wants to give us a hard time, he'll say "Why are you going in on private visas now? Your intentions are religious and I will only approve religious visas." We already tried to describe our situation to him earlier this week, explaining that the Ministry of Culture is not willing to look at religious documents at this time. But that got us nowhere. He would not accept visa applications for a 90 day tourist visa.
So please pray that the consulate approves our private visas and that we can return to Ukraine next week! Thank you.
Visa laws in Ukraine changed about three months ago. On December 25th (of all days) they will change again. Earlier this week, the Ukrainian government decided to inform us that they will not do anything for our visas until the new law passes. We had done everything they asked. My girlfriend and two of our church pastors had spent two weeks running around collecting the documents they had requested and then the government decided to disregard it all. They will not even give new information about how we will need to change the documents that we will submit under the new law.
So basically, there has been a three or four week window in which it has been impossible to apply for a religious visa. We submitted documents at the beginning of the month and nothing has come of it. At this point, we are back to square one, just waiting to find out what documents they will want us to submit once they're willing to start processing stuff again. And it is really difficult to say how long it will take them to sort things out with the new law and decide how to deal with things. When the law changed a few months ago, the first month or so was very rough for applicants. Also, there are a lot of other people in the same situation as us (sitting and waiting) so the work load is going to be pretty heavy at first. On top of that, the government has a couple holidays coming up over the first week of January.
The backup plan is in motion
Jenny's fiance Vova has been doing everything he can to get letters of invitation for us to come in on 90 day private visas. Thankfully he has friends at his local immigration services office and has managed to speed up the process. He went to that office four days in a row and was able to get the initial "it will take ten days" answer cut down to just a few days. He picked up the completed documents this morning and they should arrive here tomorrow. Then we will go to the Ukrainian consulate here in Poland on Monday, apply for our visas, and hopefully have permission to reenter Ukraine!
The part that needs prayer now
There is still one part of this that is a little uncertain. We need to pray that the consulate will approve our private visas. We already have religious visas showing in our passports. If the official at the consulate wants to give us a hard time, he'll say "Why are you going in on private visas now? Your intentions are religious and I will only approve religious visas." We already tried to describe our situation to him earlier this week, explaining that the Ministry of Culture is not willing to look at religious documents at this time. But that got us nowhere. He would not accept visa applications for a 90 day tourist visa.
So please pray that the consulate approves our private visas and that we can return to Ukraine next week! Thank you.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Regarding e-mail updates...
If you would like to reply to any of the update e-mails you receive, please know that clicking the "reply" button will not send an e-mail to me. The e-mails come from an automated service of blogger.com that sends blog updates to those of you who have subscribed to them. Clicking "reply" will send an e-mail out somewhere into cyberspace, never to be found. Send any e-mails you would like, but please send them to joshuaingram@gmail.com. I would truly enjoy hearing from you.
If you are reading this on the blog and don't know what I am talking about, here's the deal: You can sign up your e-mail address on the right hand column of this blog page. Then you will receive e-mails containing any blog posts I make!
If you are reading this on the blog and don't know what I am talking about, here's the deal: You can sign up your e-mail address on the right hand column of this blog page. Then you will receive e-mails containing any blog posts I make!
Update on Visa
Well, I'm still here in Poland of course. The paperwork in Kiev, Ukraine is going a bit crazy. One department sends the paperwork to another. The second says no, we don't want it. Sends it back to the first. The first says, okay did we mention we want another document? The department for the extra document forgets to mention they want a scan of EVERY page of our passports (including covers, blank pages, and backs). The funny thing is that while this is frustrating, none of it surprises me in the least.
Thankfully, Lesya and the two youth pastors I work under are trying to keep on top of things and make sure that they don't take more time than they have to. The extra document should be ready Monday morning. Lesya has assurance from the first department that they should be able to approve things in about an hour once they receive this document. Then the question is, how long will it take the second department to approve things? Hopefully, only one or two days!
So here are the parts to be praying for especially, please:
Thankfully, Lesya and the two youth pastors I work under are trying to keep on top of things and make sure that they don't take more time than they have to. The extra document should be ready Monday morning. Lesya has assurance from the first department that they should be able to approve things in about an hour once they receive this document. Then the question is, how long will it take the second department to approve things? Hopefully, only one or two days!
So here are the parts to be praying for especially, please:
- That the documents will go very speedily from the first department to the second.
- That this second department, the Ministry of Culture, will look at our documents immediately and process them efficiently.
- That the documents will make it to an overnight shipping service or onto an overnight train in time to arrive here Thursday, giving us a chance to apply for visas Friday and get out of here in time for Christmas with loved ones and friends!
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| Subway! Not in Ukraine |
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| Lots of beautiful cathedrals here |
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| Market Square |
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Getting A New Visa Isn't Easy
What to say? I am on a train to leave the country and apply for a new visa to replace the one that expires tomorrow. The good news is I am leaving the country on time in order to not get blacklisted (shut out of the country for a year). The bad news is that I do not yet have the documents I will need from the Ukrainian government in order to apply for a new visa.
The Problem
Mr. President (Viktor Yanukovych) decided to disband the Committee of Religious Affairs a couple weeks before we tried to submit our documents. So where do our documents go now? Most people, even lawyers, had no clue. Thankfully, my wonderful girlfriend Lesya started making phone calls, going from one number to another and piecing together clues about how to make the process work now. Someone along the chain of phone calls gave her the personal number of one government official who was able to direct her to the temporarily correct place for our type of documents to be submitted.
As things stand right now, our documents appear to be in the right hands. The biggest problem is that those hands are swamped with work, partially due to the disbanding of the Religious Committee. They say it could take up to 30 days to get approval. We pray it will be much less!
The more immediate problem is that they want one additional document with information regarding the church. Honestly, this shouldn't be a huge problem but every day counts right now. We sincerely hope our youth pastor will have the time to get this document turned in tomorrow. This could be the difference between spending Christmas in Ukraine or in Poland.
What To Pray For (Please!)
Please pray for quick document processing and approval. Please also pray for government employees to be attentive to their jobs and quickly inform us of any additional details or information they decide they will need. We have already lost time because of this. Things are very much at the whim of human nature. Thankfully God is ultimately in control of everybody involved.
Once the documents are done they will be sent to us in Poland. "Us" is me and the other New Life intern, Jenny. We have hostel booked for eight nights and hope that will be enough time to get the documents done and overnighted to Ukraine. If so, we will make it back on Christmas Eve!
What I Will Be Doing In The Meantime
I will try to make the most of this time that is out of my hands. This will be a time for extra talks with God and asking Him to line up all aspects of my life in order with His plan. I will be seeking out that plan and the next step of His vision for me. I can get through some piles of Russian homework. I will do some Skyping with friends from the US. I'll have opportunities to enjoy not-so-everyday things like going to the movie theater because most movies here are shown in English with Polish subtitles. I will take pleasure from a few Mountain Dews and some peanut butter sandwiches (cheap solution to food but a delicacy after eight months in a country that lives without peanut butter). During all of this, I will be missing my amazing Lesya. But I know God uses different times for different purposes and brings the most out of each.
Then
After we get our visas there will still be a lot of work to be done. Under the new visa law (which has been extremely confusing and which trickles down to different government agencies months after going into effect), we get 45 days in the country. Within that window we need to get temporary residency in Ukraine. This means we need to find someone who will let us register at their apartment. The problem is, this means someone accepts that we will have a say in matters such as the sale of the apartment during that time and that this person can become liable for our actions. So more prayer requests may follow soon!
As things become clearer or confirmed in my understanding of God's vision for me, I will post to this blog and let you know what will be coming up. Thank you as always for all different kinds of support. These have been essential and I appreciate the ways they have enabled and guided the circumstances that have helped me grow over the last eight months.
Contact Me
If you want me to give you a call and want to hear personally what has been going on in Ukraine, let me know! I have a Skype account that allows me to call your phone number with no long distance charges. You receive the call from a US phone number. Send me an email at joshuaingram@gmail.com if you would like to find a time that coordinates over our seven to eight hour time difference. I'd like to tell you about my life and hear about what I've missed in yours.
The Problem
Mr. President (Viktor Yanukovych) decided to disband the Committee of Religious Affairs a couple weeks before we tried to submit our documents. So where do our documents go now? Most people, even lawyers, had no clue. Thankfully, my wonderful girlfriend Lesya started making phone calls, going from one number to another and piecing together clues about how to make the process work now. Someone along the chain of phone calls gave her the personal number of one government official who was able to direct her to the temporarily correct place for our type of documents to be submitted.
As things stand right now, our documents appear to be in the right hands. The biggest problem is that those hands are swamped with work, partially due to the disbanding of the Religious Committee. They say it could take up to 30 days to get approval. We pray it will be much less!
The more immediate problem is that they want one additional document with information regarding the church. Honestly, this shouldn't be a huge problem but every day counts right now. We sincerely hope our youth pastor will have the time to get this document turned in tomorrow. This could be the difference between spending Christmas in Ukraine or in Poland.
What To Pray For (Please!)
Please pray for quick document processing and approval. Please also pray for government employees to be attentive to their jobs and quickly inform us of any additional details or information they decide they will need. We have already lost time because of this. Things are very much at the whim of human nature. Thankfully God is ultimately in control of everybody involved.
Once the documents are done they will be sent to us in Poland. "Us" is me and the other New Life intern, Jenny. We have hostel booked for eight nights and hope that will be enough time to get the documents done and overnighted to Ukraine. If so, we will make it back on Christmas Eve!
What I Will Be Doing In The Meantime
I will try to make the most of this time that is out of my hands. This will be a time for extra talks with God and asking Him to line up all aspects of my life in order with His plan. I will be seeking out that plan and the next step of His vision for me. I can get through some piles of Russian homework. I will do some Skyping with friends from the US. I'll have opportunities to enjoy not-so-everyday things like going to the movie theater because most movies here are shown in English with Polish subtitles. I will take pleasure from a few Mountain Dews and some peanut butter sandwiches (cheap solution to food but a delicacy after eight months in a country that lives without peanut butter). During all of this, I will be missing my amazing Lesya. But I know God uses different times for different purposes and brings the most out of each.
Then
After we get our visas there will still be a lot of work to be done. Under the new visa law (which has been extremely confusing and which trickles down to different government agencies months after going into effect), we get 45 days in the country. Within that window we need to get temporary residency in Ukraine. This means we need to find someone who will let us register at their apartment. The problem is, this means someone accepts that we will have a say in matters such as the sale of the apartment during that time and that this person can become liable for our actions. So more prayer requests may follow soon!
As things become clearer or confirmed in my understanding of God's vision for me, I will post to this blog and let you know what will be coming up. Thank you as always for all different kinds of support. These have been essential and I appreciate the ways they have enabled and guided the circumstances that have helped me grow over the last eight months.
Contact Me
If you want me to give you a call and want to hear personally what has been going on in Ukraine, let me know! I have a Skype account that allows me to call your phone number with no long distance charges. You receive the call from a US phone number. Send me an email at joshuaingram@gmail.com if you would like to find a time that coordinates over our seven to eight hour time difference. I'd like to tell you about my life and hear about what I've missed in yours.
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