Alma 32:21
“Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things”. Often, when we do not understand something, we start to wonder “why...”. The Lord will try our faith in all things and that is exactly what is happening now. We have the faith that the Lord knows what he is doing even if we don’t completely understand it at this moment. We have the faith that this is all for the ultimate good of the work. Elder Uchtdorf during our training a couple of weeks ago called it a “divine reset”.
After the Mission President’s training, 77 Presidents and their spouses were able to go to their assigned field of labor. 55 were delayed. So we are not alone in this endeavor. This week, three of those delayed received their visas and will be on their way soon so progress is being made.
Upon arriving in San Francisco, we got word that the visa request by the Paris France Mission President and his wife were declined. Only short term visas are being processed at this time. In addition, their paperwork was going to be returned. We were hoping they would be given an exception, or at least keep their paperwork for faster processing once long term visas were again being granted. Since they did not make the hoped for exception, nor were they going to keep the paperwork, we canceled our appointment knowing that we would have the same fate. We hope that they will begin processing long term visas in the near future.
We are confident that they way will be made clear for the work to move forward better than ever before. The transition may seem unsettling and messy, but it will eventually work for our good. We don’t have a “perfect knowledge” of things right now but we put our faith and trust in the Lord’s timing. We look forward to seeing and working with you soon.
A faaitoito!
President and Sister Banner