Providence & Visas

Today has had a lot of ups and downs, but I just feel very thankful right now for how good God is to us. This morning I called the Ugandan Embassy because I hadn't gotten my passport back yet with my visa. Usually I talk to the consular secretary (or her secretary?) about such things, but today there was a recording saying she'll be out of the office until the 21st. She gave an extension for someone else to contact; I left a message with him but didn't have high hopes. The Ugandan Embassy has many fine qualities, but returning messages doesn't seem to be one of them.

Then I called the embassy operator, a nice woman who spent five minutes checking into it and confirmed that my passport had been mailed off yesterday, although she couldn't find any paperwork with tracking info. So I'm praying (and have much hope) that I'll get it tomorrow or the next day...it doesn't matter when, just so long as I have that passport (hopefully stamped with a Ugandan visa) on Monday morning! It's just a huge relief to know that my application isn't lost in a pile of paperwork, or that it couldn't be completed without the consular secretary's signature, or something terrible like that. And considering that i sent the application in rather late, it wouldn't be too surprising to have a disaster on my hands.

Then I went to Wal-Mart to pick up some mosquito coils, and got a parking spot just two spaces from the front entrance. Now that is a blessing! ;-) It just really struck me today how graciously God takes pity on me, even when i've had a pretty rotten attitude (not just pessimism about the visa thing).

In actual Karamoja news, Chrissie says that the Nakaale mission school is having a fine arts festival while I'm there, so how would I like to play Starvling in their production of one act of A Midsummer Night's Dream, starring Rachel, Emily, Katie, Amy, and Chrissie? I'd only have one line and I'd get to spend most of the scene sitting on a Karamojong stool and then doze off, so I hope I can handle it. Martha also requested some calligraphy markers for some manuscript-writing for the festival, so it should be quite an exciting time!

If you think of it this weekend, would you please pray that all the final details would go well? I'm not feeling stressed out right now, but there's just a lot to accomplish in the next few days before I go, and I don't want to let myself get anxious about things. So anyway, I would appreciate any prayer support. :)