Gosh, so much has happened since my last post....:) Let me catch you up to speed for those of you I haven't talked to or weren't in church on Sunday...
Thursday afternoon/evening, I printed out all the papers and had everything filled out. All I needed to do was get my yellow fever vaccination stuff (From the Brainerd Clinic), obtain more passport photos (Via Rex McDonald studio in Wadena) and mail it all back to Washington D.C per Fed Ex (drop box in Long Prairie, where I had to go for work-perfect.). Simple enough, right? Oh no. The lady at the clinic informed me that she was getting over an upper respiratory illness and wasn't feeling well. The doctor who had to sign my vaccination from was not in Friday. I asked if he would be in Monday and she informed me that she had a busy day that day and "didn't know if she'd have time." I politely informed her that I was sure she had more than enough work to do, but that I'm supposed to leave the country October 1st and would really appreciate her help in any way. She basically had zero interest in helping me, so as I'm breaking down in tears, I say, "Can you just call me as soon as you can help me get this taken care of?" and I hung up. And cried. Again. So I try to pull it together to go get my passport photos taken-lovely pictures-thankfully they were able to just reprint my previous ones so I didn't have sad, teary-eyed passport photos. :) I then proceed to call the gentleman at TDS (Travel Document services---the place I sent everything to in Washington D.C) and the operator transfers me to "Alex" who is supposed to help me. Well, wouldn't you know that Alex was not in his office ALL DAY on Friday. I get his voicemail and am frustrated-I just want to talk to someone who can help me! But wait! His inbox is full so I can't even leave a message. I called back to TDS probably at least ten times Friday and either got the general voicemail or Alex's voicemail. I even told the operator that this guys inbox is full and asked if there was someone else who could help me. He assured me there was and proceeded to transfer me....to Alex's voicemail. ah!!!!
So Friday, I was a bit of a wreck. Finally, I realized that it was Friday and there was nothing else that I could do. I was still confident that God wanted me to go on this trip, but was still questioning how this was all going to pan out. I kept repeating to myself, Philippians 4:6, which says, "Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done." God commands me not to worry. Over the course of the weekend, I can honestly say that I was at total peace about this mess. I allowed God to have control and still felt confident that in some crazy, amazing way, He would get this taken care of and provide what I needed to do it. I was totally content with whatever was going to happen. I knew that if it didn't work out, for whatever reason, I wasn't meant to go. Would it have been a struggle? Heck yes. I kept thinking of all the people who have supported me and what if I didn't go?!?! But I was completely surrendered to the will of God and whatever that looked like. I don't know that I've ever felt so content and peaceful about such chaos in my life. I was sooo encouraged in church on Sunday by so many people who asked where things were at and reminded me they were praying.
Last night, I reviewed all my paperwork and made sure I had everything in order. Even made extra copies (just in case). I had to work for a few hours and then was planning to head to Brainerd to hopefully get my vaccination stuff from the lady at the clinic, have the court house staff sign my documents and seal them and then head to the Fed Ex office to send it all away. Again. While I'm driving to Brainerd, I decided to call TDS one last time to see if my stuff "magically" appeared and I had to ask a few questions to make sure I was resending everything correctly. The operator transfers me to some guy who proceeds to check and tells me I'm still not in the system and they haven't received anything. At this point, I'm so crunched for time, that TDS requires you to make an "appointment" to have your documents signed and pay a lot of money to expedite this process. So I ask this guy how I set up this appointment and he transfers me to another guy. While I'm talking to this man, he asks for my name because he sorts the mail everyday and "if my stuff arrives, they don't want to double issue everything." So I tell him my name and he informs me I don't need this appointment, but to just send everything in. I'm getting ready to hang up and he's like, "Wait...hold on a second..." Could it be!?!?!?!?!? He tells me he's just getting the mail from Friday.... and then he says, "Jennifer L. Steinkopf....yep, here's your passport, visa application...yep, it's all here!" Me: ARE YOU KIDDING?! (He probably thought I was crazy....)
I just laugh. I've been saying how I want to practically apply the things I say I believe. I want it to move beyond head knowledge to heart knowledge and truly living it in my day-to-day life. I also just mentioned how much I struggle with control. What an opportunity to give up control and apply my talk lately of how God is faithful and provides. I'm not saying I enjoyed going through this mess, that's pushing it. However, it was such a great reminder that God always takes care of it and goes above and beyond. And that what happens isn't always what I want or had planned or how I expected it go, but when I quit trying to do it my way and control everything and let God do His thing, it's all good.
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