Rajma--purple kidney beans from India

Today we found out that Grant's employment visa---a difficult visa to get through the most difficult Indian embassy to get it from-- has been approved!!!

Grant and I spent the morning taking our friend Jennifer to the airport in Greenville and having lunch together at a little Jamaican restaurant. The goat curry and rice reminded us of India and the longing we have to return there and stay for a while. The whole time we were thinking of our visa situation, wondering about what might happen. We realized as we talked everything through that we would have to hear something positive today in order to receive our passports on time to fly Thursday. We discussed the fact that being denied might at least allow us to make our flight, since we assumed a denial might be faster than an approval. But we still hoped, and knew that anything is possible with God. Grant shared that the the more probable it became that we would not receive the employment visa, the greater his desire to serve in Manali grew. He felt his heart committing more deeply to the work we hoped to continue doing as we faced the real possibility that without this visa we would have to return to the US in September.

At around 3pm we were walking to our car when I noticed we had a voicemail. It was from our very dear friend and missions director, Justin. He wanted to know if we had checked the status of our visa recently. As we were away from home we had not looked at it since morning. We called Justin back and suggested that he get online to see. (Justin knows all our passwords and sensitive information. He will probably be able to collect our Social Security benefits someday! :) Very quickly he told us that it was approved just five minutes before, and I just as quickly assumed that he was kidding. After a few affirmations, we began rejoicing. Grant stopped the car in the middle of the parking garage we were in, started dancing around outside the car, fell on his knees to thank God, and cried.

The photo below was taken the day we left Manali in April. This beautiful gang of girls saw us off at the bus station, along with one of the boys. We took this picture as a joke, because we were all taking shelter from the sun in front of a liquor shop! We cannot wait to see their faces . . .

Still waiting for my visa to be officially approved and for both of them to be in our hands. But we are thankful and relieved. God is so good to us, and we are full of joy at His affirmation of our desire to continue serving in India.

Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your love and support. We are blessed. Please praise God with us!

Love,
Grant and Charlene