21 FLOORS OVER NOVO - Whoa! A Trial of our Faith

Augh! Why? Who's fault is this? What happened?  These are all words and emotions that I have expressed in the last 6 hours and have had no one vent them to so you, my friends and family are the fortunate ones that get to hear my lamentations.

At 3:30 today, I was taking a short nap, (because I can) and was expecting a call from our coordinator in Moscow at 4:00 pm to discuss the details of my stay there with Hazel to get her Visa before flying home next week. Well the phone rang early and I didn't think anything of it. It was Anna our coordinator here in Novo. She said very sorrowfully that she had just learned that the passport agency had revoked it's decision to grant Hazel's passport! They decided that to avoid future problems with this they decided to stop it now and not create a precedence for other family's to try to barter with.
So, now it's your turn to vent and get it all out!............................................................................................................................

Are you done yet? Here's some more time...........................................................................................................................


I hope you feel better because 6 hours later, I finally do. I been trying really hard to pray and understand what it is I'm suppose to learn from this.

I want to be clear that before reading this next part that you understand that there is no self-righteousness coming from me cause I'm the furthest from righteous, but I want to learn what the Lord would have me and family learn from all of this. My GREATEST hope is that my children will understand and eventually learn why this happened and all their faith and prayers were NOT in vain and that each prayer was heard and answered! Just not according to our time-table. The Lords ways are not our ways sometimes. Also, people have freedom to make their own choices. The Lord will not interrupt free agency.

This is what I read by Neil L. Anderson today, that brought me peace:

"We treasure our faith, work to strengthen our faith, pray for increased faith, and do all within our power to protect and defend our faith." So should we be surprised when our faith, that we are exercising and wanting to be stronger, is tested? How will it get stronger if not?"

The Apostle Peter experienced a trial of his faith, then later encouraged others: "Think it not strange, concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you."  Elder Anderson reminds us that "These fiery trials are designed to make you stronger...these trials are often camouflaged, making them difficult to identify. They take root in our weaknesses, our vulnerabilities, our sensitivities, or in those things that matter most to us. A real but manageable test for one can be a fiery trial for another. How do you remain steadfast and immovable during a trial of your faith? You immerse yourself in the very thing that helped build your core of faith: you exercise faith in Christ, you pray, you ponder the scriptures, you repent, you keep the commandments, and you serve others. By definition, trials will be trying. Peter described these experiences as "much more precious than...gold." Moroni in The Book of Mormon added that a witness follows "the trial of your faith."

So I guess we have a choice here. I hope I can join you in your continued faith and I look forward to December 16th when I get to come back to bring Hazel home. She'll make an amazing Christmas gift. An expensive one, but a very good one...worth the wait.

Thanks again and I guess this officially ends 21 Floors over Novo as I'm checking out at 4:45 in the morning to head home.

I love you all!

Jeremy

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Hi, a little note from the wife back home. I had a good cry this morning after learning this news and feel very much like Hazel does in this picture (sorry....just missing her and I need to see a cute picture of her right now.)



But after being angry, I've been thinking about the positive side to all of this. One is that we all miss having Daddy home and he now gets to come home tomorrow, instead of in a week. Also, the rest of the process will take 5 business days, whether it's now or in a month. So now, he'll get to start the process on a Monday and be home by that Saturday, instead of sitting around in his hotel room in Moscow for the weekend, trying to keep Hazel busy.

My friend, Rebecca wrote me a sweet note this morning: "One of my favorite quotes is, 'Generous deeds should not be checked by cold counsel.' They were inspired to be generous and then chose to check that generous impulse. Prayers were efficacious. It is obvious to me God is in all of the details of these proceedings."

Yes, all of our prayers did create a miracle. As a result of our prayers, the people at the passport office felt their hearts soften enough to make a decision to allow us to have the passport. I believe that, as well. It obviously created major regret later, though, as they worried about how this would set the wrong precedence for other people who would request the passport before the 30 day appeal period ended, in the future. Again, the Lord will not intervene in people's freedom to make choices. Russia is a society that was under oppression for many years. As a result, they are very, very cautious people. They have gun-safe doors with multiple locks on their apartments and only smile at you once they know you. I can understand why they are being so cautious. I don't like it, but I understand it.

So, we will now look forward to having a fun, crazy Thanksgiving weekend with our extended family, and keeping our Christmas quiet and low-key when Hazel is finally here. We're keeping the big picture and mind and looking forward with faith.