Episode Transcript
It's all too often said that there are no miracles performed these days. Well, I'd like to challenge this idea with my story of the miraculous visa grant. Welcome to miracles in the 21st century. I'm Diane Hope. I originally come from the Philippines, where in 2004 God brought me to the Adventist University of the Philippines where I studied Bachelor of Science in Nursing. And four years later I got my registration and I started working as a nurse. And 2013 I got baptized into the Seventh Day Adventist Church. At the time, I've been working as a registered nurse for about three and a half years. And because I was newly baptized and needed change in my life, my mom and I thought maybe I should try to go overseas. So I took an exam to go to Middle east, which was the easiest country to go to because they need lots of nurses. But because I've just been baptized, I thought I don't want to go to an Islamic country because I thought my faith might be compromised. And you know, I was baby in the faith, I didn't want to go there. But I still took the exam. And I thought, lord, I don't really want to go there. If you don't want me to go there, please don't make me pass the test. So after I took the test, which cost a bit of money, I failed. And I was so happy because I didn't want to go there. After that I just went back to my work and worked again. That was around September 2013. November that year a friend from primary school came home from Australia. She had been working here for a few years. She did the same. She'd become a nurse here. And so she came home and told me that they were not needing show money anymore, which is proof that you can sustain yourself if you come here as a student. And I thought, oh, that'll be good. She encouraged me to come here and I said, okay, maybe I'll try, I told my mom. But the first step was to take an English test. So I enrolled in a review center to study for an English test so I could prove that I can speak English properly. That was end of November, but the English test they did at the time they only did mostly on Sabbaths. And once a month they would do a non Sabbath one. But. And the soonest one was in December, first week. But I wasn't ready. So I thought, lord, I can't do that yet, so I'll wait for the next one, which is a bit close to when I needed to be here, which was end of Feb. But I Thought that will be the best thing for me. So I took the test on 9 January 2014, bearing in mind that I only had. Well, visas would normally take about six months to be approved, but I just did what I could. So I took the test and the results usually took three weeks. After three weeks I got my results and I passed. Just enough to go to Avondale College at the time because the others required a bit of higher marks. That meant I would do the nursing degree again for three years because the other option at the time was to do it for only three months, which would have been cheaper and quicker. But that was not the door that God opened for me. So I was aiming for Avondale College that week, which was the last week of January. I didn't know, I was waiting for them to respond because I've submitted my English test results but they didn't get back to me. I'm like, oh, I don't have much time to waste. So I told my friend and the week after she talked to them and she found out it was Australia Day weekend, so long weekend and they were shot. But after that I got my offer letter which was inviting me to enroll. That meant we had to pay the fees, which was at the time it was around four. They needed ten and a half thousand dollars, which is a lot of money in Philippines, about almost half a million. My mom said she could pay for it if she adjusted her credit limit. But my brother who was who works for Visa Card said he could do it, but because he was a busy man, we got to Friday afternoon and that's when he was able to do it. But because Adventist institutions shut on Friday afternoon at lunchtime, midday, we couldn't do it that day. So we had to wait another, another few days. Note that this always happened on Friday when just entering Sabbath just to annoy me. Anyway, the week after, which was first week of Feb, we were able to pay the fees and I got my certificate of enrollment. So next thing was to submit the requirements to the immigration. At the time I needed to get police check. And for the first time in my life, at least five years of working life, I went, I got the police check and there was a, what they call a hit where someone, there was a record that in my name or someone the same name, that they've done something, I think some thieving. I thought, oh, not again. But they were able to clear it out and I got my certificate, a police check certificate. After that I got to submit the rest to the immigration office and also even Though my friend said they didn't need any more show money or proof of funds. My mom and I thought oh, we just submit one because I have some. So we submitted a certificate on of from the bank, a statement of account that showed that she had money of about 350,000. And so we submitted it. But I got an email from them second week of Feb that immigration was saying these funds that you provided are not enough. We need about this much actually. And my mom said oh, that's okay because I have more money in, but it's in time deposit. So she got another certificate for that statement of account and I submitted it again. That was second week and on the Friday again it was about 4 o' clock in the afternoon I got the phone call from the immigration saying that what we provided is not acceptable because they needed something that we can readily access if, if I needed it. If while I'm here, if something happened, there's something we can use because they're concerned the purpose of the fund is so that you don't get stuck here or be a burden to this to the government. So we got that. Yeah. And basically they were telling me that is the last warning or reminder for me that what I provided was not acceptable and I need to provide something that's readily available. I thought, Lord, Friday afternoon, where can I get. And it's only a week before I had to be in Australia because the course was going to start. So I thought, Lord, it's up to youo if this is for me and you'd give it to me. If not, then Thy will be done. I was thinking to myself, I keep saying Thy will be done. But I was like, I want this to happen. But God was teaching me to be patient and to trust in Him. So that night I contacted my friend's parents, the one that invited me to come here, if I could borrow their money or borrow a certificate of funds that they have to use for my visa application. But they said they didn't have money as well because my friend came home because his dad, her dad had a medical episode and they needed a lot of money, surgery and all that. So they didn't have the funds. I don't know where we'll get money at this rate. But that night I went to vespers and went to church and I thought, Lord, it's up to youo. When I came home, my dad got home and he said that the money that he'd been waiting for for about 10 months had finally arrived, his retirement pay. So the immigration was requiring about 1.2 million pesos, but he got 1.3 million pesos worth of money, which was amazing. So. And that it arrived that very day. He'd been waiting for it for a few months. It arrived that very day, which was. Oh, that's amazing. So the week after, which was the third week of February, we went to the bank and got the certificate the next day and I submitted it. 19th of Feb, I got my visa, which normally would have taken six months, but I got it in less than two weeks. Five days in. Yeah. But I had to fly to Australia in five days because I needed to be here for the course. It's a bit funny and it's amazing how God worked it out, but I hope you were encouraged by my story. Good God is real and he still answers prayers. I encourage you to give him a try. He will never forsake you.
Watch all the episodes on our Youtube channel at this link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL65y7saKkuQ2TB-CeuL-Ewag2dXWlz-A8
