So we find ourselves here in Ecuador, legally, under a 12-VII visa.... "missionary". (ain't that special) That's how the Ecuadorian government classifies us, not the Society! To obtain the visa, there is a bit of work involved. In other words, you don't just go down to the Consulado and say " Can I get a visa" ..... of which, the answer will be "yes", if you provide us with the following list! Well thinking back.... the first thing you need, is the application off the computer filled in fully. The problem was you can fill in the form, but due to some glitch on the file from them, you can't see what is being typed. So the only thing you can do, is put the form, into print preview and then you can see whats there, .... what you have typed. (that I had to figure out on my own, after they insisted that, "the file was fine" and it was my computer.... could be) So the 20 minute filling out of the application took more then 4 hours..... everything is slower in Latin America even when Latin America is in North America. (if you know what I mean.... EC consulate is in San Francisco) After getting all the stuff together, medical exam results, blood test, passport photos, PASSPORTS... yikes!.
.......
Police certificate ... no criminal record, (I did get a speeding ticket not to long before I left ...... But it was bogus, right, Karla? ... I hear you saying, "that's what they all say" ..... Besides down here if you get a speeding ticket it would be a badge of honor, as it appears you can do just about do anything driving, and not get a ticket) Then you have all the paperwork that the branch supplies, which you get after the congregation gives a favorable recommendation to the Branch, that accompanies your personal introduction letter to the Branch. Perhaps, it doesn't sound like a lot, but it all takes time to get together and then send off to the Consulate in SF. Then you get to deal with the Consulate which said it takes 1-2 weeks .... remember we are dealing with a Latin American entity, and 1-2 weeks (that time period is like the time period that elders tell there wife's they will be in a meeting after the meeting "10-15 minutes honey, .....at the most" ...... it's SYMBOLIC! Four weeks later we get the passport, with the visa stamp with all those shiny stickers..... uuuuu, aaaaah .... shiny stickers.... and of course, there is the money that you pay, to get those.
Once here, you contact the family, that I have written about in the past, that gets everything finalized, ..... kinda. They provide a letter and get something else done for you, not sure what, but I know it's important. THEN you get to go to immigration in LATIN AMERICA ........ And the fun..... really, begins!
So we go the other day, because we have to get this done within the first 30 days of being here. (Next week we have the DC in English, and up to now, .... we have just not had the time to get it done.) We set off for the office and arrive early, because if you get to any place, where something might take a little while (more then 25 minutes) and you arrive that much time before lunch? You get to come back, after the 2 hour .... yes I said, 2 hour, ....... lunch. Nice, for the workers. Bad for you, if you are trying to get something done. This is the land of "I want to get 6 things done today" and get only 2 completed..... I am not joking! ..... Soooooo, the fruits of the spirit come in very handy here, ... and we are refined everyday....... it's a good thing!
Back to the story. We arrive and are told we need copies of the stamped passport, in color, and, ..... "A" .... large envelope to send everything, after they process what is needed. Of course, they don't have a little vendor outside the door, for all this stuff, so they tell us that, down at the corner, we can find a place, to make copies in color ..... So off we go, following the instructions of our guide at immigration. At the corner is the XEROX dealer in Cuenca.... and of course, you not only can buy machines, copiers, MFC's (which I did) but they also do copies.... how wonderful! So the young woman starts to make copies, and when they come out of the machine, they are all pre-wrinkled for you, no need to waste your time to scrunch or do any manipulating of the paper, because it looks like it has been put through the wringer already .... Then she asks me, if "they are OK?" that way. No..... "I don't think so, I say with wrinkled brow, it's for Immigration"..... "oooooh" .... So we finally get the copies, and I asked for extras, because down here, everyone seems to want a a color copy of your Passport, after it has been stamped. Now, we head back to the Immigration office (I forgot the envelope, oups!) get back to the IM office and he reminds me that he needs "A" envelope, so I return to the same store and get one, then go back to IM, at which time he tells me he needs one envelope for each of us..... so back to the Xerox store, and I ask a different person, if they have another envelope at which time, the young woman who did the wrinkled copies, informs me that they don't sell them, but she will give me one..... "oh thank you" and back to immigration. When I get there, the guy was astute enough to start on Carols stuff, to get her outfitted with her ID card. Only problem was that, by this time, the computer system linked to Quito, would not operate. So he indicated he had called the "other guy" to come and fix the problem.... He, arrives 25 minutes later and puts in his information and voila, it works! Here's were the real fun begins. This guy starts with Carols stuff (but at this time, we don't know who he starts putting in information for, in the computer) and when he runs out of the stuff he is getting off other paper work, he says to me he needs my photo.... takes the photo, and then asks me how tall I am, so I stand up because when I say 5'-9" he just looks at me like from "what planet are you from" ... 5'-9"?,..... 5'-9"what? Here along with the rest of the world, (with the exception of the USA) they work the metric system. Well I don't how tall I am in Metric, do you? (I do now 180 centimeters!) Wow, that sounds like a lot ... I'm really up there! Then after getting all the information he hands Carol the paper to sign that has her info and evidently some of mine. Confused ????? So were we !!!!! So we tell him that he put information from both of us together and he assured us he would fix it..... later. (not sure if he did) ...... Next, he moves onto me, and my paperwork, enters all the info. and when he gets to the end, puts Carols photo on my cards and then wants me to sign the card before he laminates it .... so sheepishly I ask him if he did that intentionally ..... from the look he gave me, that was a NO! So he starts all over again, and now he can't find my Photo when he tries to attach it as a file to the form he wants me to sign, every time he goes down the list of photos, he passes mine, time and time again ...... finally I blurt out, "there it is!" (I didn't want him to feel any more foolish then I would have felt given the same circumstances, so at first, I kept my mouth shut) It gets filled out and finally, I sign it!..... yeah baby finally! ...... Whew, that was hard! During the fiasco he mentions that the card he messed up for Carol, he has to pay for out of his own pocket ... $4.00. Well they make so little down here, that I take it upon myself to give the extra $4.00. When I give the 12.00 total, I let him now that the one HE ruined, was taken care of, ("generous soul will be made fat"?) and that he wouldn't have to pay out of his own pocket..... Heeeeeere's the clincher.... he doesn't even, acknowledge, the kindness! ...... No thanks, .... no nothing! (Maybe that's equal to "thank you" here ... I don't know, I'm new) So what should have been about an, in and out in 30 minutes, turned out to be a 3 hour ordeal! Now you understand when I say, you may have 6 things to get done on your list but you only get 2 completed during the day. Just glad we didn't walk in 1 hour before lunch, as during the process I am sure they would have asked us to come "back after lunch".... In which case we would have completed only one thing that day!
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