Contracts and Visas

We got our passports back after expediting their renewal (the expired February 2010 and they needed to expire after September 2010 for the yearlong visas we are requesting. So, last week we made our way to Houston, Texas where the Italian consulate is that has jurisdiction over the state of Oklahoma, among a few others. We had to go in person to present our application and documents. We are requesting a visa for "religious reasons", which is one of the valid reasons listed on the consulate's site. The visas are good for one year, but renewable in Italy, in the form of living permits issued by the main police station of the city you are living in. In our case, Verona. After inspecting all the documents, they told us the visas should be ready in 7-10 days. Not sure if that is literal or "business days". It literal, we could expect them as soon as Friday, May 1st or as late as Monday, May4th. If it is business days, then it would be somewhere between Tuesday, May 5th and Friday, May 8th.

(A building in Houston reflects another much like a Monet painting)

This week, the rental agency sent us the contracts to sign for our apartment in Verona. They also sent the bank information for the international transfers which would need to be done for deposits, first month's rent and agency fees. We did the transfers on Tuesday and emailed them copies of the contract Tuesday as well. We will be mailing the originals this week.

Apartment Hunting Continues

So, we have been talking with a real estate about one particular apartment in Verona for about a week now. They have sent us a layout of the apartment so we can better see how the rooms fit together.

They sent us a sketched version of layout. After I figured out which building it was on Google Maps, I overlaid the apartment layout sketch on top of the building in Google Maps. Google Maps has a scale on it, so once I scaled down the size of the layout to fit the building, I had the scale to determine the lengths and widths. The measurements may not be exact, but I think they are pretty close.

One of the things that we were asked to send to the rental agency was a "permesso di soggiorno". This is living permit for foreignors. We will not get one until we arrive in Verona and go apply at the Police Station, or Questura. Even then we will just get a receipt for one, sometimes you can wait up to six months for a permesso di soggiorno. However, a receipt should work. Since we are trying to take care of as much of this on this side of the ocean, I asked if there was another document we could use instead of a permesso. For example, could we use our visa, once we get that from the Italian consulate? You have to get a visa to get a permesso, so I thought it might be comparable. He said I should ask the Italian consulate, that they would know better than he. I called the Italian consulate. A man gave me the woman's email address that I needed to write for the information. She wrote back that she didn't know, I would need to check with the rental agency!!! Not sure what we'll do on this one.

I did call to see if they were waiting on that to show the landlord. Giulia is who answered and she said she would need to talk with Elio (the boss) to find out. I asked if they were still showing the same apartment to anyone. She said no, when someone makes out a proposal, like we have, they cancel all showings of that apartment. That means we are the only ones in the hunt for it at this time. We offered a little less than the requested monthly rent, which is common in Italy.

Tomorrow around noon, they are supposed to call and tell me where things stand with showing the proposal to the landlord. It may be a little hard to go to sleep tonight, with all the anticipation! Here's hoping and thanks for praying as you read this. Mainly, we just want to be where God wants us to be in Verona. We believe it is He who called us there and we are just excited to get there and see what God has in store for us!

New Prayer Topics

New Prayer Topics
You’ll start seeing some new prayer topics filtering through our prayer updates. Just write us if you would like to receive our prayer updates, which normally are sent twice per month. Some things you can begin praying about is our visas, apartment search in Verona, team separation and travel.
· Visas – we have to apply for religious worker visas from the Italian consulate in Houston. In order to apply, we have to meet all the requirements that the Italian government has for that particular visa and then compile all the documents that prove so. Then we must present those documents in person in Houston and wait once more while they pour over the application. It is a process that can take as little 7-10 days and as long as three months.
· Apartment Search – Starting next week, I will be contacting our real estate agent in Verona to begin putting together options for us to look at (and pray over). Hopefully, they will be able to send us photos via email so we can better imagine the situation and evaluate each apartments merits’. We plan on making our choice upon arrival in Italy during our first weeklong stay in Verona. Please be praying about this. We want to be where God wants us to be, not just down to the country or city, but the neighborhood, building and specific apartment. We believe that God has just the place in mind for us to do His work and help us to not get in the way of His plans!
· Team Separation – It is one thing to be in separate states within the same country, it is quite another to be a team separated by an ocean with differing roles and functions. Please pray for all of our remaining team members, as they continue advancing during this time of preparation and support building. Pray for us and April upon arrival to not feel lonely without the rest of our team in Verona.
· Travel – During the remaining three months, we have much travel planned. This includes travel to Houston for visa procurement, Louisville, Joplin, Kansas City and other potential sites. We would love to provide a final visit with each of our supporting churches, pray for there to be time and finances enough to allow that.