I have completed the long journey back to Canada. I am thankful for traveling mercies and the welcome from family and church in Newfoundland! "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." Luke 8:39.
While in Canada, one of my tasks is to go to the Madagascar Embassy in Ottawa to get the paperwork which will allow me to return to Mahajanga with a work Visa. I have been there with a tourist Visa.
There was real concern that I was not going to be able to stay in the country, and at one point a punctilious civil servant told me that I had to leave the country immediately because I was not a tourist and therefore was there illegally!
Thankfully her superior was more reasonable and allowed me to stay in Madagascar, but he made it clear that I needed to get the appropriate Visa.
The last three days before I returned to Canada were spent in the capital, Antananarivo, where a number of people were attempting to get the various papers I needed in order to apply for a work Visa once I arrived in Canada. Of those who helped, none were more successful than Bishop John, the diocesan bishop of Antananarivo, and also the President of FEEM, the federation of episcopal bishops and dioceses in Madagascar. Bishop John knew all the right people, and was able, in short order, to have all the paperwork in hand for me before I left the country. Everything we need God always provides! He always puts the right people in our path, at the right time, for His glory.
I’m writing about this, in as much as anything, to ask for your prayers, so that I do not get embroiled in bureaucratic inefficiency. My prayer is that I will be able to get the necessary Visa in one day at the Madagascar Embassy in Ottawa in one day. I cannot return to Madagascar without it, and so please pray that God intervenes and helps this process happen very effectively!
Please be assured I am praying accordingly. Blessings in all you do. Bruce.