We are set to Travel 4th August!
From Global Lutheran Outreach missionaries Dixon and Christy Gbeanquoi (Serving in Tanzania):
A Difficult Journey in Getting Our Visas!
What we took to be an easy task, became one of the most difficult periods of our lives and ministry. We
thought we would just leave Tanzania to come to our various home countries, get our visas in few weeks or maybe a month or two. I guess we were wrong, the process lasted for almost 4.5 months and cost us a whopping $5,175, for our visas, Dixon traveling process, and all of us getting our new passports. Christy and the children first interview appointment was on April 23rd and due to some technical issues, they were denied visas. This was indeed sad for us because, for this particular interview, we had spent $1,080 in total. We had to again start another process to secure their visas.
Dixon’s Second Trip to Liberia for His Interview
As we did mentioned in our last newsletter, Dixon was given an appointment for 14th June to sit his visa interview in his home country Liberia. He had to again travel from Nigeria to Liberia, this again was a blow to our already depleted finances. We had to spend $2,565 for ticket costs and changes, hotels, and four different Covid-19 tests in Nigeria and Liberia, and new passport. Dixon was successful on
his first attempt in securing a visa on-like Christy and the kids in Nigeria. Dixon visa was issued to him on the 17th of June and he was due to fly back to Nigeria on the 27th of June after having quality time with his parents and siblings, unfortunately, after doing a Covid-19 test to get a negative result for travel, he was told on the day of his travel 27th June that his result came out positive. Meaning he was Covid-19 positive, even though he is fully vaccinated. He was told to go home and come back after a week to do another test.
Christy and the Children Second Attempt for their Visas
After being denied the first time, we decided to apply again for Christy and the kids. This time we
had to go through a visa agent to help us with the process. What this means is that we had to pay a fee for the processes. In total, we had to pay $1530, for visa application fees, consultation, agent fees and earlier dates for interviews. We are thankful to God that this time around Christy and the kids were each given two years visas. We are thankful to God that they were all issued visas on their second attempt.
Milcah’s Birthday Celebration
This year for the first time in six years we celebrated Milcah’s birthday in Nigeria and under difficult circumstances. Her birthday came at a time we all were struggling to get our visas and I was in Liberia
, while they were in Nigeria. What was most interesting is that her birthday came on the same day they were to have their interview. So her birthday brought blessings for us during their interview. Milcah on the day of the interview reminded the interviewer that she was celebrating her birthday that day and this brought some calmness and friendly discussion during the interview and the interviewer wishes her a wonderful birthday celebration. Also, it was sad that I wasn’t able to be around for Milcah’s birthday, the reason being I was diagnosed with COVID on the 27th of June and was prevented from traveling for two weeks. This caused me to miss Milcah’s birthday. We are hoping we can all have a wonderful celebration in the US as a family.
Transition Challenges
As we go through the excitement of moving to the States, we still have before us huge financial
challenges that we must resolve as we make our way to the US. We still have a debt of $5,175 to pay back to Global Lutheran Outreach as a loan taken to complete our visa processes. Now we have the challenge to pay back the loan. We are also looking for $2,500 as an amount we will need for our transition process in St. Louis. We have been given an apartment that is furnished, but we will need to get some essential items for our new home. We have gotten our date for travel and we are to arrived St. Louis on the 4th of August. We left everything in Mwanza including our clothes and some important items for the children we wanted to take along with us. This is our project for now.
To learn more about Dixon and Chrity Gbeanquoi, click here to read their latest newsletter!
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