70% of Residency

What a day this has been. William got to our house at 9:00 this morning. We called to see if our Good Health letters were at church, but they weren't. William called the doctor and she had the documents at her house. However, her official stamp, which is required on the document, was in her office at the hospital. We left our house and headed to the hospital in downtown San Salvador, picked up the stamp and then drove back across town to give the doctor the stamp and pick up the letters.

Next stop was the Immigration Office located in the Las Cascades mall. The line of Salvadorans was long, but William checked with the guard at the door to see if there was a separate line for gringos. Surprise, surprise, as of three weeks ago that location does not process immigration papers for gringos. So it was back to the parking garage and off to find the location they mentioned. It was after 11:00 a.m. when we pulled up to the office. The only place to park was on the sidewalk blocking two other cars. The guard took our name and promised to call us when one of the two people wanted to leave (only in El Salvador.) The chairs inside were full of people and the next number up was 01--we got #26. About 12:15 William called New Life Christian School to let them know we were at Immigration and weren't going to make it to class.

We were finally called to one of the desks about 12:45. She looked at everything we had and approved of about half of it. (All of the documents that we brought from the states had to be translated by a government licensed translator.) Today, the immigration officer approved our support letter from from Abundant Life Baptist Church in Lee's Summit and documentation from Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva in San Salvador. She told us that we should have our paperwork completed prior to March 30 because our Good Conduct letters from the Lee's Summit Police Department were dated December 30. She said that the description of some of the paperwork in the translation was not as detailed as she wanted and that we needed to take it back to the translator to have it corrected. In addition, we both need to obtain a good conduct letter from the San Salvador Police Department. She gave us a document telling us what we were missing so that when we return with the required paperwork it won't be necessary to look at each document again.

Our next stop was to drop off the paperwork at the translator's office and to explain the required changes. The translator's secretary said she will make the changes and then have Dr. Chavarini approve of it. She hopes to be done with it by Monday, March 28.

We also stopped at the police station and paid for the required forms. We will fill them out and take them first thing in the morning. We will try to get them expedited, but they tell us it usually takes at least 5 business days.

We are praying that if we do not get the police conduct letter by Wednesday that they will not hold us to the March 30 deadline since everything was in process before the deadline came. We are trusting God to bring everything to pass in His perfect timing.