Traveling, Visas, Timing, Strikes, etc...

First, let me start this out with a prayer request... Billy's dad has been given the news that his lung cancer is terminal.  A tumor about the size of a grapefruit is in his lungs and is fed by an artery... it is inoperable.  He is on 100% oxygen and they have said that he could have hours or he could have a few months... who knows.  Billy is, of course, upset and saddened by this turn of events, but feels good about where his dad is spiritually right now.  Please pray for Billy and his sisters and his mom as they go through this time of grief and stress.  Please pray for peace for his dad as he prepares for heaven.

Billy cannot go home immediately, which brings me to the "travel, visas, and timing" portion of the title.  First of all, under perfect conditions, it would take Billy 2+ days to get from here to Texas.  But, of course, we don't have perfect conditions.  Our residency visas are not final and we cannot leave until they are.  The clock is ticking because we were approved on June 25 and we had 30 days from that date to finalize.  The catch is that they sent Billy's visa to Houston and mine to Chile!  So now we are waiting for our visas to reunite in Chile so we can fly there and finalize them.  Could be in a week or so.  Add to this the national strike... Peru is having a strike - something about the miners not getting correctly paid.  We are advised to not travel until the strike is over.  Tomorrow and Thursday, we are advised to not leave our home unless absolutely necessary.  So here we sit...

Billy will eventually go home to see his mom and his sisters and hopefully, his dad.  Sarah and I will stay in Huancayo.  We don't feel that it would be good to put Sarah through any more transition right now.  We have plenty of help and friends here to help take care of us while Billy is away, and we feel really at home and really safe here, so we'll be fine.  If this had happened while we lived in Costa Rica, I would NOT feel fine about it... I never felt safe there!  But we feel great here.  Billy will go home for a week or two and all will be great with us.

Please pray for Billy and for travel and visas and strikes, etc.  Thanks for all that you do for us.  Thanks for being prayer warriors on our behalf.