Home: News Archive: May to September 2010

What a Relief! The Wait is Over! -- September 24, 2010
The day we've been waiting for... our passports just came back to us in the post with a letter saying our application has been approved! An hour before, another postman brought us our new 'identity cards' (biometric residence permits). Whenever we come or go from the UK, we will need to present it at customs with our passport. It's the wave of the future I guess. No visa in my passport--but a plastic card with my pic and an electronic chip. It is valid until 2013. Fantastic! We thought we might be waiting for another month or more. THANK YOU FOR PRAYING! THANKS BE TO GOD!

Halfway There! -- September 18, 2010
Good News!! Karen and I are happy to report that the church here has finally been approved to be the sponsor of one 'skilled migrant worker'. That puts us halfway there. The church now can issue me (George) a 'certificate of sponsorship' which I can add to my work permit application. Karen's visa will be granted simply as my spouse. The remaining steps will take some time yet but we will let you know when we know something. Thank you for praying and please continue to do so. It seems that glitches are easy to happen.

Still Waiting -- September 8, 2010
Yes, we are still waiting for a new visa here in England. Keep us in prayer please. Several days ago, the church seeking to sponsor us was asked for more information by the authorities, and that was after 2 months of silence. The delay seems peculiar to anyone who hears about it. In the meantime, our passports remain with the authorities. Please pray for a speedy granting of the necessary permissions and finally a visa to give us 3 more years of stay here in the UK.

Visa Situation -- August 1, 2010
Dear friends/family, We thought we should update you on what has happened since out last plea for prayer in regards to our visa situation. The church here resubmitted its application to be our sponsor with the additional documentation necessary to prove that the church is a charity. George was able to speak to someone from the Home Office about our situation. This person advised George to go ahead and submit our visa applications with a cover letter explaining the situation. Our current visa expired on the 25th of July, but as long as the government has our applications and passports, we are not considered "illegal" - but it means we also can't come home for our intended mini-furlough and holiday to see the family and hold those little granddaughters (George hasn't even met Sophia yet, except via Skype). We have been directed to go to Liverpool this Wednesday to have biometrics done. This is a digitalized photo and fingerprinting. The church's sponsorship application is still being considered, and our applications to remain here cannot begin to be considered until the church's is approved. So it may yet be a matter of several weeks before we here anything, positive or negative. We praise God for the progress that has been made and for the encouraging support and prayers from people all over the world. Please do keep praying. Thank you! Hope you are all having a wonderful summer!

Visa Situation -- July 14, 2010
Would you please pray specifically regarding our visa? It's been a long and drawn out process. About last October, George and the church secretary got the ball rolling. The first step was to get approval for the church here to be our sponsor. A local Christian organization we went to for advice and documents offered to take care of this application on our behalf. However, in the end they weren't able to help us. All of this set us back timewise.

So, the church "secretary" (kind of like the chairman of the deacons' board here), the church treasurer and George got busy assembling all the needed documentation for the church to apply to be our sponsor to remain in the country. That was submitted in early May and then we waited. As time went by, we started calling weekly enquiring about the status of things. We were assured that all was fine. A week ago we received a package. It was the payment and the documents being returned to us with a rejection letter saying that the documentation necessary to prove that the church was a charity was insufficient! This was very upsetting and George and the church secretary took the matter to the local MP who wrote a letter on our behalf and gave some advice. The church also wrote up a petition on Sunday (was quite encouraging for us to see their support of us.) On Monday the whole application for church sponsorship was again resubmitted with hopefully all the proper documentation necessary in regards to the church's charitable status.

Our visa applications are filled out and ready to be sent in. However, our current visas expire on July 25th! The proper procedure is to get the church sponsorship and then send in our visa applications with a sponsorship number filled in. So, now the question is - do we wait or do we go ahead and send in the visa applications saying the number is pending? If we send in our applications, they will have our passports which means we can't leave the country and if we are still here after the 25th it means we aren't considered "illegal" since they have our papers. Or do we leave and begin the process all over again from outside the country, which we are told will be quite complicated and time consuming (which it already has been!) and also has the potential for us not being able to return to England? George is seeking advice and people here are concerned and praying.

It seems like in a way our work here is just getting off the ground and it is too soon to leave - but we know that God is in control and it is HIS work, not ours! But this whole matter has been disconcerting and frustrating. We are "in limbo". I, especially, want to come home for vacation to see the kids/grandkids and we keep getting communication from a few of our kids anxious for us to come, and anxious to know our plans since what we do affects plans for other things. But a delayed vacation is the least of our concerns, really!

Hopefully, I've explained this clearly. We appreciate your prayers so much in this matter. May God be glorified! Sincerely, Karen (and George)

Team Canada is on its way! -- May 2010
A team of six including leader David Smith (ABWE Canada president) is due to arrive for a 15-day ministry with us on May 24th weekend. Their main activity is a 5-day VBS during the upcoming school holiday of May 31st to June 4th. The last time our little church did such a thing was several years ago and they saw less than 20 children come out. We are trying to publicize the event in 3 local schools. Pray that our efforts at publicity will bear fruit. We would be satisfied if 30 children attended--we would be ecstatic if 50 came out--and we would be pleasantly overwhelmed if 100 showed up, making it necessary to run both morning and afternoon sessions!

ESL -- Establishing Salvific Liaisons?
We continue to operate English classes and tutoring for both men and women based, and the efforts are going well with good attendance and participation. But we long for more situations where it goes beyong teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) to meaningful discussions about the good news. Pray that more and more of those opportunities will arise. In particular, you can pray for K.A. who is one of Karen's lady English students. Recently, they had a meaningful talk about Abraham's intended sacrifice of his son and the animal that became a substitute for the son. You can also pray for A.S. who is one of George's English students. A.S. is keen to spend time with George in any sort of activity whether it is English, learning guitar, or planning a family outing together.

Family Highlights
The big news is that our youngest daughter Angelie (21) is engaged to be married to Aaron Hamill of Kitchener. They are planning for a May 2011 wedding. They're a good looking couple and both of us are very pleased. Another good bit of news is that our middle daughter Alisa and her husband Adam Gagne are planning a missions trip to Malawi, Africa this coming September. They are raising funds and making all the necessary preparations. We are sending a separate notice to friends on our email list giving full details for those who might wish to support them. Some of you have followed Alisa's life since she was born while we ourselves were raising funds to go to Bangladesh. Now it's time for the second generation to make their mark for God!

Yours in the gospel of God's grace,

George and Karen King