The Flores Journey

I want to thank every one of you for praying for us as we have faced some opposition during this last hurdle.  We have received lots of feedback that you are all praying and wondering how things are going with locating our documents.

The package is still lost in the USPS but we have some better news.

We have been talking with the SA consulate in Chicago and because they were partly responsible for losing our documents they have been very helpful in trying to locate them as well as pulling some strings to go ahead and resubmit an application.  They told us that we will be able to submit whatever copies that we might have of the originals we had lost.  The head of the consulate is also on the phone daily trying to locate everything else.  We are very grateful that they are putting the pressure on the USPS because I think it has a much greater affect coming from officials vs little ol' me.  She even told me that she would push for the USPS reimbursing us for any costs that would be incurred because of their neglect... (e.g. airfare changes)

On another note.  I thought I had sent my passports in that package to the Consulate in Chicago and they too were lost in the mail.  I was so convinced that I never looked for them here at the house.  I had checked off on my list of to do's that I had put them in the package with everything else.  I was looking for copies of birth certificates, and anything else I might have, to send to the consulate and found all three of the passports in with the papers.... Because we do have them, the Consulate is able to pull some strings and use copies of Birth certificates for this application. (so our mistake became a blessing in disguise!!)

We sent the second application to them last night and it arrived this morning May 21.  The head of the consulate said to put her name on it so she could see to it herself.  I will be contacting her this morning to find out what else we need to do.  I will keep you all posted. 

Thank you very much for your prayers.  Our plans remain to go on the 30 of this month.  I can't tell you how good it feels and how much confidence we have knowing that all of you stand so solidly behind us. We have been encouraged by so many of you shooting us emails or posts on Facebook and Twitter letting us know that we are in your prayers. That means the world to us... and we know your prayers are helping!

James 5:16  The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.  And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.


Bryan, Claire, Peyton, and baby #2

www.missionminds.com

Hey friends! If you haven't heard the news yet, we are expecting our second child! We discovered this wonderful news on April 29th and are so happy to be welcoming another member to our family. At first we weren't sure how this pregnancy would affect our journey... but after much prayer, deliberation and wise council, we have decided that we will be having this baby without the help of insurance in South Africa. (Our Global Health Insurance won't cover maternity until May 2011) Thankfully, a pregnancy and delivery are actually much less expensive in South Africa than here in the U.S. We are looking at a grand total of between 2,000-5,000 including pre-natal care and hospitalization. We are praising God for this added blessing and the fact that He has made a way for us to have this child overseas. We actually heard of a woman who lives in the states but chose to fly to S.A. to have her baby because she preferred the care offered there!!!

Well, we are "down to the wire" as far as our leave date! Only 12 days until we are supposed to be leaving! Please pray for us because our visa applications are lost in the mail... and have been lost since April 22nd. The last "touch" that shows up on our tracking number was on May 5th in Chicago. We have called multiple postal services and everyone we've talked to seems to simply give us excuse after excuse to get us off the phone. We've been told that we would know for sure on Monday... then Wednesday... then Friday... and so on. But we've run out of time to wait. We called the South African Consulate in Chicago (whose addressing mistake caused the package to be lost) and they are very apologetic and have promised to rush our visa application when it finally does get found. The head of the consulate also has promised us she will be calling the USPS daily until we find this package.

WE DESPERATELY NEED YOUR PRAYERS. We need a miracle right now to be able to move forward. Without those visas, we cannot leave on May 30th. Please pray for us, because in that application are our birth certificates, passports, checks and marriage license. We need this package to be located THIS WEEK or else we won't have enough time for the consulate to process the application and return the envelope to us. PLEASE KEEP US IN YOUR PRAYERS.

We know that God is in control. We are trusting Him that this will all work out!

Be Blessed,

The Flores Family