Almost Deported....

So, way back in August I bought a visa online. It was a 21 day tourist visa. So, when I arrived in country in October, I went to the Oveer (the visa office downtown) to get a new one. The man in charge there said that there was no such thing as a 21 day visa and that there had been a mistake. It should have been a 120 day visa, so he kindly wrote in the date FEBRUARY 15, 2009 at the bottom. He assured us that it wouldn't be a problem.

Fast forward.....

Yesterday I traveled to the Armenia/Georgia border to exit the country, come back in, and get a new visa. (This is typically the easiest way to do it). When I arrived at the exit point, the Armenian officials were extremely upset that my visa had "expired" in November. We began to try to explain the situation, but they seemed to like the word "deport". At one point, a group of officials were on my side and another group of officials were....not. If they deported me, I would be out of the country for 5 years, I think. So, while all the....discussions....were taking place I was just praying and trusting that God is in control. Finally, after about an hour, they said "ok" and let me go. So, I stamped out of Armenia, walked across the border to Georgia, stamped in to Georgia, stamped out of georgia, walked back across the border, and bought the new visa!!! WHEW!!!!!!! When it was all said and done, I was absolutely exhausted. We began the long drive back to Yerevan....which was about 3 1/2 hours or more.

Another interesting tidbit from the day was getting pulled over by the police on the way to the border. We had to pay a fine for no seatbelt, and the police gave a friendly hello the the "American girl". It was, to say the least, an INTERESTING DAY! Praise God that I got to stay in the country and the misunderstanding was resolved.