Hurdles for Missionaries: Residence Permits

Today is the day we have been preparing for for the last year. The sun rose sometime around 3 am, so by the time we got up at 8 the sun was blaring straight through the windows and into our eyes. We were motivated to get to the Latvian Embassy in Tallinn and I am glad we were early because there was already a line forming outside. It is hard to get a residence permit to live in Latvia, especially as missionaries because of all the documents that are required for each person in the family. For those of you who want to be long-term missionaries in Latvia, here's a list of all the documents you need (some of which had to be reissued, notarized and then authenticated in Sacramento or Washington DC with an international seal known as the "Apostille")

1. Completed applications for each member of the family (10 pages each).



2. Marriage certificate (with Apostille).



3. Children's birth certificates (with Apostille).



4. My certificate of ordination as missions pastor (with Apostille).



5. A letter that we are sent by Calvary Chapel (with Apostille).



6. A letter that we are invited by a church in Latvia.



7. A copy of the Latvian church's registration certificate.



8. A rental agreement for 1 year proving we have a place to live in Latvia.



9. A letter from a Latvian Bank that we have $8700 of support minimum in our account.



10. Letters from a Radiologist that took our X-rays verifying we don't have tuberculosis.



11. Color copies of our passports and Apostille documents so we could get the originals back.

Praise the Lord that our documents were received without any problem, so within 30 days we should receive our official permits to freely live, evangelize, make disciples, and plant churches in Latvia. This is the culmination of a year of preparation, 2 short term mission trips, relationship building, a lot of diligence, and investing of personal and donated money, but the fruit of the long term ministry that is beginning will abound to all our accounts for eternity. As one missionary said to us back in February 2006, "There are a number of hurdles to jump to get religious work residency permits in Latvia... there are some challenges, but they are not impossible ones."