Visa

This is the miracle of the South Africa visa. I went in on the last Friday of school to the Consulate General of South Africa in Los Angeles. I brought everything they asked for on the website, but while I was there, discovered that I needed some more things. I would need a letter of invitation from Felito with his letterhead and organization logo on it. Felito was in New Zealand at the time and would not return until the week before I arrived. I did not have contact with him except for email and I knew that he is not able to check his email often. I would need the letter within a couple of days because of the processing time and time to send the visa via mail to my house. At my Men's Chorale concer that night, I bore my soul to the crowd and they prayed for me. Two days later, i was at the Vinyard Church in Laguna Niguel to get prayer for my trip. As they asked for prayer, I explained my visa situation. Cathy Greer sitting next to me said, "that's easy" and went on to inform me that she had all the letterheads and organization logos in her house. Miracle!
The next thing I needed was an X-ray of my chest. I went to the Presbyterian hospital on Saturday (the day after I applied for my visa) to get the X-ray. They told me to come back on Monday and they would be able to do it. I came back and they said I needed to get a doctor's order. So, I went to the APU Health Center and they sent me in to meet with a nutritionist. She told me that I would need to see a doctor and to come back on Wednesday. I came back on Wednesday and got a doctor's order for an X-ray. I went back to the hospital where I spent an hour and a half with a lady tryign to figure out what insurence to use. Finally, I just paid for it out of my checking account. I walked out with a signature and a stamp wondering how it took five days to get a 24 year-old's signature.
As I was driving north for Men's Chorale tour, I called the Consulate-General to see how my application was going. They said that my bank account showed insufficient funds and I would need to fax in my bank statement with more money (though they wouldn't tell me how much). So, I told my mom and she and my dad did that the next day. I called again a day later and they said that in my letter of invitation, my accomodations were not accounted for and I would need to send another letter. Cathy Greer sent me a copy of the letter and I read it and remembered that the letter did state that my accomodations would be covered. So, I told her that and she checked. There it was in the last sentence...my visa was sent that night. I received the visa in the mail on Friday (the next day) and toasted all my relatives' wine glasses with my passport (visa inside). God does not need possibility to work. He is the God of miracles!