Well after a long wait and much prayer, God showed up and showed off His Greatness by allowing me to finally get my Visa!!! I am sooooo excited. I just want to thank everyone for your prayers and support over the past couple of months....it has been very encouraging!!
I will be leaving Tuesday evening to fly back to Dublin. I will arrive at 8:30am and within a couple of hours be back in the lovely town of Kilkeel! I am very excited to get back over there and jump back into things. I ask that you continue to pray for my ministry over there with the youth in the community. There are many exciting things that we are looking forward to, so make sure you check back regularly for updates on what's happening.
As of now, I am packing things up and spending the last few days in the states with family. Again I want to thank you for your prayers and support....God is Great!!! Psalm 24:1 "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it!"
Yearning for Christ,
Jason
Friday, June 12, 2009
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Nearly there....please PRAY :-)
Well I can finally send in my Visa application again. So I ask that you would pray that God would grant me favor in the eyes of the British Consulate. The goal is to have my Visa by the end of the week so that I will be able to head back to Northern Ireland on Tuesday, June 16th. I am really excited that things are moving again. So please be in prayer with me as I wait to hear back about my Visa.
Thank you so much for your prayers and support. May we continue to keep our eyes on Christ. I will keep you posted on my Visa!!
Yearning for Christ,
Jason
Thank you so much for your prayers and support. May we continue to keep our eyes on Christ. I will keep you posted on my Visa!!
Yearning for Christ,
Jason
Friday, May 22, 2009
Continue to Pray :-)
"The earth is the Lord's and everything in it" Ps 24:1
I am absolutely amazed at God's grace!! These past four month, though frustrating at times, have been very fruitful especially as I look at my own relationship with the Lord and my now greater understanding of His incredible Grace that sustains me each and every day.
I want to give you a quick update on what is happening with my life. Unfortunately I still don't have a concrete date to give you in terms of when I will be heading back to Northern Ireland. However, our goal is still to be heading back in that direction by mid-June, which is very EXCITING!!
Right now, Mourne Presbyterian Church has applied to become a certified sponsor. We are waiting for that to go through. Once they have been approved, then they will submit an application for me to become one of their sponsoree's. The home office will look over the application and Lord willing, approve me to come over. When they do, they will issue a reference number, which Mourne will forward onto me. It is then that I will be able to reapply for my VISA, and hopefully shortly after be issued it :-).
So I continue to ask for your prayers through this process. I am really excited about finally making some progress, and I continue to hope and pray that God would open the door for me to return. Pray for favor in the eyes of the British Government and for expedience so that I will be able to return soon.
May we continue to keep our eyes on Christ, especially as we enjoy the beautiful creation around us as we see plants and flowers blooming in full beauty.
Jason
I am absolutely amazed at God's grace!! These past four month, though frustrating at times, have been very fruitful especially as I look at my own relationship with the Lord and my now greater understanding of His incredible Grace that sustains me each and every day.
I want to give you a quick update on what is happening with my life. Unfortunately I still don't have a concrete date to give you in terms of when I will be heading back to Northern Ireland. However, our goal is still to be heading back in that direction by mid-June, which is very EXCITING!!
Right now, Mourne Presbyterian Church has applied to become a certified sponsor. We are waiting for that to go through. Once they have been approved, then they will submit an application for me to become one of their sponsoree's. The home office will look over the application and Lord willing, approve me to come over. When they do, they will issue a reference number, which Mourne will forward onto me. It is then that I will be able to reapply for my VISA, and hopefully shortly after be issued it :-).
So I continue to ask for your prayers through this process. I am really excited about finally making some progress, and I continue to hope and pray that God would open the door for me to return. Pray for favor in the eyes of the British Government and for expedience so that I will be able to return soon.
May we continue to keep our eyes on Christ, especially as we enjoy the beautiful creation around us as we see plants and flowers blooming in full beauty.
Jason
Sunday, May 3, 2009
A light at the end of the Tunnel!!
Well there is definite progress in getting back to Northern Ireland, and as each day goes by, I get more and more excited!! I just found out that the Elders at Mourne Presbyterian Church were able to meet and they officially gave me the thumbs up and have invited me to come back and partner with them for next year!! God is good and I continue to be in awe of how awesome He is!
Now the next step is for them to become an official sponsor. Once they have done this, then I will be able to reapply for my VISA and LORD WILLING, will be able to return sometime around the beginning of June. The hope and prayer is that I will be able to get a VISA that will enable me to stay 12 months, which is the max amount of time you are allowed with the VISA. Therefore, the plan is to be there from June 2009 to May 2010.
So I urge you to continue to pray over this process...and especially for me getting the VISA. It seems like this is the final stretch. I must say though, that I am very thankful that I have had this time at home to take a step back to be able to think and evaluate different things. It has been tremendously refreshing and insightful....especially as I look as I look to how I can best use the gifts that God has given me for His glory.
Also, within the next couple of weeks, I will be sending out an update via snail mail, so that you will know my latest updates and prayer points as I look to return to Northern Ireland soon. I again want to thank you for your continued prayers and support....it has been tremendously encouraging.
Until next time....may we continue to keep our eyes on Christ!!
Yearning for Christ and Longing to return to Northern Ireland,
Jason
Now the next step is for them to become an official sponsor. Once they have done this, then I will be able to reapply for my VISA and LORD WILLING, will be able to return sometime around the beginning of June. The hope and prayer is that I will be able to get a VISA that will enable me to stay 12 months, which is the max amount of time you are allowed with the VISA. Therefore, the plan is to be there from June 2009 to May 2010.
So I urge you to continue to pray over this process...and especially for me getting the VISA. It seems like this is the final stretch. I must say though, that I am very thankful that I have had this time at home to take a step back to be able to think and evaluate different things. It has been tremendously refreshing and insightful....especially as I look as I look to how I can best use the gifts that God has given me for His glory.
Also, within the next couple of weeks, I will be sending out an update via snail mail, so that you will know my latest updates and prayer points as I look to return to Northern Ireland soon. I again want to thank you for your continued prayers and support....it has been tremendously encouraging.
Until next time....may we continue to keep our eyes on Christ!!
Yearning for Christ and Longing to return to Northern Ireland,
Jason
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
An update!...
About a week ago I finally received a phone call from the Consulate. The lady I was talking to was very helpful and informative. She pretty much told me that the problem with my Visa application was that I applied for the correct Visa but the incorrect sub type of the Visa. As a result, they were unable to issue me a Visa here in Chicago. She informed me that I could continue the appeals process, but they would have to send it back over to the UK and that could take quite some time. However, she advised me that the quicker option would just to be to reapply altogether under the correct Visa. So, that is what I am doing.
However, rather than just reapplying right away just to rush back so that I can be there until August, I am talking with Mourne Presbyterian Church and the elders are meeting to discuss the possibility of me staying through next year since this year had a little hiccup. With the new visa that I will be applying for, it will enable me to stay up to 12 months. So the hope is to wait until June to go back and then stay through May 2010. So God is good and works through all things.
Looking back on my time here in the States, I am very thankful for it because God has been teaching and me and showing me many different things that I might not have learned otherwise. I ask that you continue to pray for the situation as the Elders at Mourne talk as well as when I will end up reapplying for my Visa. Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support. May we continue to keep our eyes on Christ!
Yearning for Him and Longing to return to Northern Ireland,
Jason
However, rather than just reapplying right away just to rush back so that I can be there until August, I am talking with Mourne Presbyterian Church and the elders are meeting to discuss the possibility of me staying through next year since this year had a little hiccup. With the new visa that I will be applying for, it will enable me to stay up to 12 months. So the hope is to wait until June to go back and then stay through May 2010. So God is good and works through all things.
Looking back on my time here in the States, I am very thankful for it because God has been teaching and me and showing me many different things that I might not have learned otherwise. I ask that you continue to pray for the situation as the Elders at Mourne talk as well as when I will end up reapplying for my Visa. Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support. May we continue to keep our eyes on Christ!
Yearning for Him and Longing to return to Northern Ireland,
Jason
Thursday, April 2, 2009
♫ Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord ♫
The song "Everlasting God" has gone through my head many times during the last 9 weeks. The wait continues as I continue to wait and trust in God's perfect timing. Unfortunately, there still hasn't been any news or updates even in light of the letter that I wrote at the beginning of last week to the Consulate.
I continue to take each day as it comes, one at a time...continuing to keep my hope and trust in my Sovereign God knowing that He has a reason and a purpose behind everything that He does. I am grateful for the time I've had at home. I've had some great opportunities to connect with some of my old youth group guys from nearly six years ago, help out some old friends, as well as get a little more acquainted with the college ministry 631 which prior to this, haven't had much exposure to. So there definitely is good behind all things.
I encourage you to continue to pray for me and for my situation. I can honestly say that my heart for those in Northern Ireland hasn't fainted at all...in fact, it's probably gotten stronger. I miss them tremendously and cannot wait to return and continue to encourage them in their faith. So pray that God would enable me to go back soon by granting me a VISA from the British Government. May we continue to keep our eyes on Christ, putting our hope in the Grace that He shows us each and every day!
Yearning for Christ and Longing to return to Northern Ireland,
Jason
I continue to take each day as it comes, one at a time...continuing to keep my hope and trust in my Sovereign God knowing that He has a reason and a purpose behind everything that He does. I am grateful for the time I've had at home. I've had some great opportunities to connect with some of my old youth group guys from nearly six years ago, help out some old friends, as well as get a little more acquainted with the college ministry 631 which prior to this, haven't had much exposure to. So there definitely is good behind all things.
I encourage you to continue to pray for me and for my situation. I can honestly say that my heart for those in Northern Ireland hasn't fainted at all...in fact, it's probably gotten stronger. I miss them tremendously and cannot wait to return and continue to encourage them in their faith. So pray that God would enable me to go back soon by granting me a VISA from the British Government. May we continue to keep our eyes on Christ, putting our hope in the Grace that He shows us each and every day!
Yearning for Christ and Longing to return to Northern Ireland,
Jason
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Hmmmmm.....wow
First of All I want to thank all of you for your continued prayers and support during this crazy period of my life!!
Unfortunately I am still in the states. Who would have thought that I would be around an extra 7 and a half weeks now (and counting). I think that this past weekend might have been the hardest period of my wait thus far. Why??...well this weekend was the SU Retreat, where the Senior SU went away for a weekend retreat. The downside is that I was supposed to be the speaker for it. So it was a bummer to face the reality that I didn't make it back for that.
However, I still continue to keep hope. Nearly every day I remind myself of the verse that is starting to become my life verse - well for this period of my life at least! Psalm 24:1 "The Earth is the Lord's and EVERYTHING in it...!" Sometimes things just don't make sense, but that's because we are not God and we cannot fully grasp the infinitely awesome plan that He has for each of our lives. It's usually after the fact that situations begin to make sense. That's probably what is happening right now with me. I have no clue why He doesn't want me over in N. Ireland at the moment, but I know that it's for a reason and a purpose. So I just need to continue to trust and put my hope in the reality that my God is sovereign and knows what's best for me!!
So, in light of that, I continue to wait. I just wrote a letter to the British Consulate here in Chicago asking for a status update on what is going on and when I should expect to hear something. I ask that you would continue to pray about my situation and especially for this letter...that God would grant me favor in the eyes of the British Government and that they would be willing to grant me the VISA so that I can get back over to Northern Ireland. Also, pray that I would continue to trust in God's timing....it definitely has gotten frustrating at times, but I need to continue to trust in God and truly rely on His Grace.
May we all continue to keep our eyes on Christ!
Yearning for Christ and Longing to return to Northern Ireland!
Jason
Unfortunately I am still in the states. Who would have thought that I would be around an extra 7 and a half weeks now (and counting). I think that this past weekend might have been the hardest period of my wait thus far. Why??...well this weekend was the SU Retreat, where the Senior SU went away for a weekend retreat. The downside is that I was supposed to be the speaker for it. So it was a bummer to face the reality that I didn't make it back for that.
However, I still continue to keep hope. Nearly every day I remind myself of the verse that is starting to become my life verse - well for this period of my life at least! Psalm 24:1 "The Earth is the Lord's and EVERYTHING in it...!" Sometimes things just don't make sense, but that's because we are not God and we cannot fully grasp the infinitely awesome plan that He has for each of our lives. It's usually after the fact that situations begin to make sense. That's probably what is happening right now with me. I have no clue why He doesn't want me over in N. Ireland at the moment, but I know that it's for a reason and a purpose. So I just need to continue to trust and put my hope in the reality that my God is sovereign and knows what's best for me!!
So, in light of that, I continue to wait. I just wrote a letter to the British Consulate here in Chicago asking for a status update on what is going on and when I should expect to hear something. I ask that you would continue to pray about my situation and especially for this letter...that God would grant me favor in the eyes of the British Government and that they would be willing to grant me the VISA so that I can get back over to Northern Ireland. Also, pray that I would continue to trust in God's timing....it definitely has gotten frustrating at times, but I need to continue to trust in God and truly rely on His Grace.
May we all continue to keep our eyes on Christ!
Yearning for Christ and Longing to return to Northern Ireland!
Jason
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)