Praying Friends,
We have just passed the Thanksgiving holiday and now we turn our sights toward Christmas holiday. We give thanks to God for you. Your prayers on our behalf are such a blessing, and even though we are not on the field yet we see God's hand of blessing.
Soon we will reach the 5 month mark on our application for the permanent resident visa. The immigration officer told me that the permanent residence visas were taking 5 to 8 months to be processed. Our application date was early July, so we are praying that we would hear from Australia soon.
While we have been waiting the Lord has put us to work in Danville, Illinois. If we are not visiting a supporting church we are serving in our sending church. The Lord has blessed and we are seeing spiritual growth in the youth group, and in those we are discipling. God has us here for a work to be done before we leave. Though we have enjoyed the privilege to serve at First Baptist Church in Danville, we are more than "chomping at the bit" to get to Australia.
If we hear of anything from our lawyer or the immigration office we will post it immediately. It is tough to wait, and it kind of feels like when I was a kid and had to wait to open presents at Christmas. Please pray that the Lord would have our visa as a Christmas present this year, and if not we still can rejoice for the greatest gift ever given, Jesus Christ! Thank you so much for your prayers.
In Christ,
Mark Pitts and Family
