I will be bringing the note pictured above to Peru with me.  It will be in my carry-on so I will be sure not to lose it.  But David, why are you going to bring an ordinary hand-written note with you to Peru?  That seems silly?  Let me explain:

I am appying for a resident visa to live and work in Peru.  To do this, I needed to mail to Lima a copy of my passport that had been authenicated by the Peruvian Embassy here.  Well, I was thinking I could just bring my passport to the embassy and they could make a copy, stamp it and away we go.  That was not the procedure though and I had it copied and notarized, authenticated bythe Fairfax County Clerk of Courts and then the embassy would authenticate that it was a true copy.  Because of needing to do all of the afore mentioned during normal business hours, it took me about two weeks to get it all done.

Next step was mailing it to Lima, Peru to the SIM ofice there.  As these are important documents, I wanted to entrust them to a trusted international courier so they would get there safe and sound.  So I took them off to the news agent shop near my work who is an authorized FedEx, DHL, UPS shipper.  I told him I wanted to send them FedEx and we packaged them up, addressed them, he gave me his phone number so I could call and get updates and that was that.

Off to Charlotte I went for the SIM orentation, blissfully assuming my documents were speeding their way to Peru.  A couple days later I phoned the shop to check on the progress.  “No it has not arrived.  Maybe call back tomorrow.”  The next day, he called me and said the address I gave him was wrong and they needed the phone number or email of the recipient so they could deliver it.  Strange, I thought.  The address had been correct.  Oh well, no biggie.  I emailed Peru and got their phone numbers, emails etc and the next day called the shop and gave him the info.  A couple days go by,  email SIM Peru…no, no one has called them or emailed them about the package!

I called the shop back.  He said that the FedEx office had tried emailing and calling but got no response.  He also said that if nobody claimed it in the next 48 hours it would be abandoned and destroyed!!!  WHAT?!  I informed him that the recipient had neer been contacted and asked him to give me the tracking number which I would pass to Peru so they could use that to claim it.  So he gives me the tracking number which I then email to Peru…

I am in class all day and get back in the evening to check my email and find a note from Peru that they called and told FedEx the tracking number but that FedEx claimed it was an erroneous number and that, in any event, they didn’t have any documents to deliver to SIM!!  WHAT?!

So I am very concerned.  I try calling the shop that night but they are closed of course.  The next morning I try again and they are not open yet.  I called FedEx directly and explained to them the situation and they asked for the tracking number.  I tell them.  “Oh no, thats not our tracking number, that is a UPS tracking number”.  JIGGA WHAT?!  So I call UPS, yes it is their number, yes it was for a package going to Peru, but no contact information had been provided to them so package had been abandoned!  WHAT?!

At this stage, it is like 8am.  I am very angry.  The agent guy at the shop had totally botched everything.  Why he took it out of the FedEx envelop, put it in a UPS one, messed up the address, then lied to me about it and not given the contact info I gave him…I don’t know.  Let me insert here my many thanks to Katie who was on the scene like a champ.  Katie, if you are reading this, you are a blessing thank you!  She let me vent about the situation and prayed right then for me and that the papers would be found.

I emailed Peru, explaining to them everything I had found out and telling them I would speak to folks at SIM to figure out what to do next.  I went to the morning prayer meeting vexed but after some worship, I turned the situation over to God and since there was nothing that could be done, I prayed silently and just decided to take a good attitude and put it behind me.  Continuing to be mad was not going to accomplish anything.

Later that morning, Bob comes in and slips the above note in front of me during the class!!  WHAT?!  They received the package???  PRAISE GOD!!!  I found out later that the Peru office had prayed together that morning about the situation and had called UPS on the off chance that it was still there and it was!!  Just thinking of it even now makes me so thankful!

So, back to the original question: why am I keeping this note?  In the Old Testament, the Israelites would often build piles or rocks or do other things to commemorate events in which God had demonstrated His faithfulness and His grace.  This note is my pile of rocks!!  It reminds me that God is sovereign.  That God is good.  That God is faithful and I can trust Him.  I know that hard times and difficult situations will come up while I am in Peru.  It will be nice to look at my simple, hand-written note, remember a time when God demonstrated His great faithfulness and be encouraged that He will do it again.