Andy in South America

Hey everyone

Please pray for all of us out here as we are really feeling the brunt of the fall in the pound against the dollar. The news today of the pound going below 1.4 against the dollar (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7839391.stm) really does not bode well for the majority of us out here. For example my budget in my finance package was worked out on a 15 bolivianos to the pound exchange rate – with present dollor to pound rates (1.386) we are getting less than 10 bolivianos to the pound. Please pray for all of us out here as we work out how to deal with this.

Bendiciones

Andy

Hey everyone!

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for my visa. Today Migration accepted my application for my one year residencial missionary visa!!! Whoop whoop!

I have to return on the 2nd February to collect it so please pray there would be no further complications and delays!

Bendiciones

Andy

Okay, so I ended up in Sucre for the weekend (will write up that later when I have more time) which means by Friday afternoon I did not have all the paperwork needed….. Interesting…… especially as the requirements are changing…….

So I popped to Migration and they said okay – but you need to pay a 14bs fine every day you are late (about 1.40 in pounds). Went back this morning to the Department of Culture (the people I was waiting for) and they said return just before lunch – I did and my certificate was ready!!! Whoop!!!

This means I now have all the paperwork needed (or at least what is on the list) so at 2:30pm (6:30pm UK time) I return to Migration to hopefully get my application accepted. Please pray that they would accept it as I have everything they ask for plus a few extra goodies I thought I would through in to cover all my bases!

Pray also that they be quick to process it – at present it seems to be taken months to process applications which cannot happen as I really need my passport back soon so I can travel to Peru to meet a few fellow Latin Linkers!

Thanks everyone!

Bendiciones

Andy

Okay, so those of you who are regulars here, especially those who read the prayer updates, will know the next Sunday (25th) it is the referendum here on the new constitution, probably one of the biggest events in the recent political history of Bolivia!

Thought I would comment on it a bit, especially as there is nothing in the international news about it at the moment apart from the slightly dodgy article on the BBC website I talked about a few weeks ago. Basically – the biggest thing here at the moment is the demonstrations – a fairly normal part of Bolivian life, but with far greater frequency at the moment! Not a day goes past when the Prado (the main street) and Plaza Murillo (the government centre) is not  closed for the latest demonstration causing traffic chaos! (And bugging me as it is right by my flat and so I have to walk twice as far to get anywhere!)

I have to be honest the most impressive thing is how a demonstration of only a couple of hundred people can bring the entire city centre to a standstill! It either says something about the way the polica deal with it or something about the efficiency of the protest, I personally fear the former! 

The interesting thing is, the little there is in the news focuses on that the protests are violent and bad – something I have to be frank I have never seen and not heard in the news here! I suspect it is the western news agency trying to demonise what is going on here! The protests are the most docile I have ever seen! The only thing you have to get used to is the sound of dynamite sticks going off – which are utterly harmless!!

As to the referendum – I suspect the vote will end up accepting the new constitution – but I have to be honest I don’t think it will be the best thing for the country and a lot of people, including those from the very backgrounds that this new consitution is meant to be helping. There are one too many holes in it! However, I am sick and tired on sermons on which way Christians should vote – its almost as bad as being in an American church near election time!

Anyway, please do be praying for the next week and a bit. For peace to remain, but also for Christians to be listening to what Jesus wants!

Bendiciones!

Andy

WOW – what a week!!!! To cut a long story short it is nearly 10am on Friday (the last day of my visa) and I still am missing two certificates! However, there is actually a high possibility that I will get all the certificates today, its just whether then I will have time to go to Migration!

Basically, on Thursday I received my certificate of antecedentes (whether I have broken the law here or not – you will all be glad to know it came back clear!), however I then went to the Department of Culture and Foriegn Affairs people with my paperwork and they said the letter from the UCE (a bit like the Evangelical Alliance), who are the people based in Cochabamba, was addressed to the wrong person and they couldn’t accept it! Argh! The fact that they have read it at least four times in the past month doesn’t come into it – the joys of Bolivian paperwork!

So, a crisis call to my contact in the UCE got the letter sent to La Paz on the overnight bus so at 8:30am I was stood in the Department of Culture with all the paperwork and they told me to return after lunch to pick it up! We will wait and see!

If this is ready and also my certificate to register my address is ready I could be in Migration this afternoon…. potentially….. would be great to be! Interesting thing – heard that the last people to apply for a residency within the Latin Link team were three months late with their paperwork because they had so many problems! Maybe there are advantages to being an awkward person when it comes to asking for things!!

So, please pray for this afternoon – would rather not pay a fine! Also, if I am done in time I am off to Sucre for a birthday weekend with the two girls I arrived with, and a couple of other team members who live there!! Should be good fun – definately need the weekend off! Will try and update tonight before going to let you know if I have it or not!

Bendiciones

Andy

Okay, so two days have passed and so far the following has happened:

• Monday – received my health certificate – all clear (although slightly intrigued as to why on a certificate about infectious diseases they put as an important observation that I am short sighted!!
• Tuesday – police came round and did the check on the address. Also went to my lawyer to get a covering letter for my application to migration.

The problem that has occured though is that I will not be receiving one of my certificates which the department of culture need for their certificate (see post below) until Friday midday which is too late for the timescales I have been given. Soooooo, tomorrow I hope to go to the department of culture and give them the rest of the paperwork and ask if they will accept the other certificate when I go to pick up their certificate on Friday. Sounds easy, but here they like all their paperwork and more normally so please pray! I really do need an absolute miracle in the true sense of the word – good thing our God is in the business of miracles!

Also please pray, as tonight a new missionary arrives from Columbia, and I am helping with the orientation (he is staying with me for a few days) as at present our short-term coordinator is in Ireland, and Louis and Maribel are going to Cochabamba for a youth conference. Pray I would be able to support him well in the next few days, whilst still managing to get the time to sort my visa!

Bendiciones!!

Andy

Hey everyone

As anyone who looked at this last week will know, really needed prayer this week for my visa. Basically my present visa runs out on Friday and the timescale looks very tight! Here is a list of what should be happening this week:

• Monday - Picking up my health cerificate from the general hospital
• Tuesday - In the morning I am visiting a notary to legalise two letters from Latin Link about how I am supported here. I am also going to a lawyer to get my covering letter for my residency application. At midday the police are coming round to check I live where I say – this involves me, my landlady, and two witnesses being present at the same time.
• Thursday - As early as possible I need to go to the police to pick up my equivalent of a CRB check and also certificate to show where I live. I then need to run to the Department of Culture with copies of these and several other things to get a certificate of membership to the mission, which takes 24 hours!
• Friday - once again as early as possible I am out, this time to the Department of Culture to collect the certificate and then off to Migration to put in my application

Please pray that there would be no delays in any of this, and that when I go to Migration they would not want any other papers. In particular pray that either Migration or the Department of Culture would accept a legalised copy of my certificate from the mission here as I only have one copy, and don’t have time to get another original sent from Cochabamba.

With my last visa we ended up going back and forth from Migration a lot of times, which this time we don’t have the luxury of time.

If the worst happens and we run out of time, please pray that Migration would give me a waiver on the fees bearing in mind they misinformed me about several ceritficates, and also Christmas and New Year fell in the middle of the 30 days I had to collect all the paperwork.

Bendiciones

Andy

Hey everyone

Spending today collecting papers for my residencial visa and run up against two problems.

First one is I need the equivalent of the Foreign Office here to certify a letter from the mission justifying my presence in the country, and they wont accept the letter at the moment as the mission is based in Cochabamba and so they are saying needs a signature from the prefectura in Cochabamba. We are returning to chat with them again in a few minutes,as Migrationdont say we need this signature……

The second is with the certificate from the police for proof of my address. Unfortunately during the year the husband of my landlord died, and so allthe papers suchas the tax bill are in his name, but I cant produce his ID card obviously!! The police have asked for even more paper and I got sent to see their in house lawyer about it today. This afternoonI intend to return with all these additional papers and try again! Please also pray for my landladyduring this time as it is obviously reminding her of her husbands death.

Please be praying!!!!

Bendiciones

Andy

Hey everyone

My January prayer update is now available on the prayer letters page.

Bendiciones

Andy

Hey guys

Just in the process of setting up a new project within Bernabe, which I would love to give you the opportunity of getting involved in. Please see the page Climbing Project for more information.

Bendiciones

Andy