More Immigration Fun!

If you look closely at the portion of my work permit that is pictured above, you will see that I was granted official permission to work in Canada until Aug 31. I don’t plan to stay that long, but it’s nice to have a little buffer time, just in case. But if you look at the “Conditions” down below, it also notes that I must leave Canada by June 30. Wait, what? Yikes!

When I received this documentation at the border, it never occurred to me to read over it carefully, to make sure there weren’t any important typographical errors. All that occurred to me was to get out of there as fast as I could, before they changed their minds! And frankly, the border agent I was talking to didn’t come across as a fella who would have been thrilled to learn of a typographical error he’d made. But it would appear that an error has been made. An important one and an official one. I just so happened to read over the permit a few days ago and I came across this discrepancy.

This afternoon I called the immigration office, and after a really enjoyable phone tree (haha!), I was eventually able to talk to someone. He acknowledged that it appeared to be an error, but that he couldn’t just correct it. And I couldn’t just disregard it, either. It said I have to be out by June 30, so that meant I have to be out by June 30. Even if it’s a mistake. The options were to either drive to the border, in hopes of a new permit, or to apply online, in hopes for an extension. Since I’m about 11-1/2 hours from the border currently, I went ahead with the online option. I completed that application this afternoon, so now I wait. Wait to see if I am granted an “extension”. Which is really just a correction on what I was already granted. But alas, there are no promises when working with immigration services. And I can’t even use my words and my smile to charm them face-to-face (just kidding!). I just have to trust the Lord. Which is enough. Doesn’t always feel like enough, because I am prone to wanting to solve the problems for myself. But I can’t solve this one, beyond doing my best to submit the paperwork accurately. All that to say, would you pray that my work permit would get properly sorted out, one way or another, so that I actually can stay here for camp this summer? I’ll trust the Lord if the plans are different than I would hope, but for today I’m simply praying that I might be able to stay and serve until mid-August.

Good News

• We have had a few people reach out about the possibility of coming to serve at Rock Nest for some part of the summer! Pray that the door would open wide for those people who are considering this opportunity.

Prayer Needs

• We do still need more staff. I have reached out so far to 14 local churches within a 6 hour drive of the camp. So far I’ve heard back from a few, though it hasn’t yielded results yet. But I do plan to continue that outreach, and we will trust that the Lord will bring the staff, even as we work hard to turn over every rock.
• And pray that I could continue to be one of those staff members, too! It would sure be quite a change of plans if I was not allowed to be here for the summer. I expect that won’t be the case, but it’s out of my control.

Conclusion

Again, we are so grateful to have such an incredible team of folks praying for us and with us. We mean it when we say thank you for praying.

Ryan and Leanne Donovan