The power of fasting

Our visa process is long. Longer than it should be in theory. Since we filed our petition on the 21st of September, 2009, we have been kept in the dark with absolutely no contact from USCIS to say, yes your file is being processes, or no we haven't reached your file yet. For all we knew, we could be waiting for another 12 months.

On Tuesday evening (Monday evening US time), Melodie and I were talking on the phone. We read through our scriptures as we do every other night and we said our family prayer, as we do every night. For some reason, as we were saying our own prayer in silence, while still on the phone, Melodie said "We should fast tomorrow for the first two meals".

That evening, I ate the last meal I would be having for the next 24 hours. I knelt by my bed before laying my head to rest for the evening and prayed, with sincerity, and explained to Heavenly Father the purpose for our fasting - For a quick approval of our visa petition (NOA2). I prayed for the strength for Melodie and I to endure the small sacrifice we were making.

I am very active through my line of work, and was interested to see how the lack of food would affect my day. It turned out to be an extremely hot day and as I completed my own training at 10am, I was frustrated and absolutely dirty at myself for sipping on water. My 11am client wanted to go for a soft sand walk along Manly beach. By this stage, my mouth was as dry as a towel, and I could taste the nastiness expelling from my intestines. But, I knew the reason why I was putting myself through this temporary 'pain'.

At midday, I headed back home to get some rest before I was needed back at work for 7pm. I spoke to Melodie, who had done extremely well through the whole day (Melodie is 5 hours ahead of Sydney time, so she was getting ready to eat!!). We spoke about our experiences during the day and so on.

I fell asleep, only to be woken by my boss calling me at 4:55pm saying, "you have a class to teach at 5pm"... Awesome, thanks for the heads up! haha

I got into the car to drive down to the gym only to have my BlackBerry buzzing every 2 seconds with e-mails coming through from Melodie... 'call me when you can' ...
An email had come through from vistaprint.com which, at the time of sleepiness, looked very much like VISAPRINT.com... a couple of minutes later, I received this...

*** DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS E-MAIL ***

The last processing action taken on your case

Receipt Number: WAC0935112XXX

Application Type: I130 , IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE, FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN

Current Status: Approval notice sent.

On January 26, 2010, we mailed you a notice that we have approved this
I130 IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE, FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN. 

I was expecting to wake up at any moment and be faced with me running late for work again... And no email from USCIS. Thankfully, that wasn't to be.

Melodie and I had completed our fasting and had done so in a sincere fashion. We were blessed by Heavenly Father much sooner than we were expecting. We had endured minor pain and discomfort for a LOT of relief and happiness!!

More importantly, this event was experienced by us, as a couple, much like the blessing of meeting each other, falling in love and having a beautiful wedding. This has added to our testimony as individuals, as well as OUR testimony as a family.