Residency

We were granted a temporary ninety-day visa when we first entered Botswana. Within a few days of entering Botswana, we applied for residency.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints always wants their missionaries to be legal residents of the country in which they reside. The problem is that Botswana is taking longer than ninety days to grant residency permits for LDS missionaries. It seems that immigration and labor officials cannot comprehend that a missionary would support themselves and that they are not being supported by the church or the local members. They are sure that something is going on. This makes getting residency a big issue for the missionaries serving in Botswana. Many Elders have had to leave Botswana to go to serve in South Africa because they could not get residency permits in time or were rejected for unknown reasons. This is especially a problem for sister missionaries and couples because we are called specifically to serve in Botswana. If you overstay your temporary visa you are fined for not being legal; and if you leave the country, you are not allowed to return or apply for residency for a year.
We have been very concerned about getting residency because we were called to serve in Botswana and that is where we want to serve. Sister Rands is having carpal tunnel trouble and essentially has been unable to use her right hand. She needs surgery to fix this problem but cannot get it in Botswana. Because she could not leave the country and get back before her temporary visa expired, we decided to wait until we received residency permits before she would leave otherwise our mission in Botswana would be over.
It was stressful because we had no idea how long it would take before we were granted residency. We were told many times a decision would be made tomorrow only to they hear that a variety of reasons it was not made and would now be made "tomorrow".
Wednesday was a wonderful day for us; we finally got our residency permits. Tonight, Sister Rands is on her way to Utah to get the much needed surgery.
Through all this the Lord has really blessed us. The doctor in Utah told us not to worry about scheduling surgery and that he would fit us in whenever Sister Rands could get to Utah. Her hand has done better than we thought by severely limiting its use. We received our residency after being illegal aliens for only a week thanks to the persistant effort of Elder and Sister Kimball. Church travel did a wonderful job of being able to book airline flights at the last minute.
We are praying that the other missionaries who need residency permits can get them on time. It is really sad to see missionaries leave Botswana because of residency permits when they help the Botswana people so much.