Some more information about our mission has arrived

One of our children told us that we weren't posting new items often enough, and we were told to post more often, so here goes again.  Even though we haven't left yet, we have received some information about what we have to do in order to get visas for Mongolia.  This process is what takes so long and why we won't be leaving until later this fall.


We have been given our tentative itineraries for our trip to Mongolia.  


Since we both already have our passports, we have already passed that milestone.


In order to get a visa, we must first get an invitation from the Mongolian Ministry of Education.  We must send a long list of documentation to the Church's Travel Department who then sends the documentation to Mongolia, who reviews all of the documentation and if they approve, an invitation is sent back for use in applying for the visa.  We have been told that getting the invitation takes up to eight weeks, and then with the invitation in hand, getting the visa only takes about a week from the Mongolian Embassy in Washington DC.


We are told that we must get all of the information to the Church Travel Department by the end of July.  We will not have access to our passports after we send this information to the Church Travel Department.


Here is the list of documentation required for the invitation to be obtained:

1. Signed passport
2. 1 Notarized copy of passport ID page
3. 1 Photocopy of passport ID page
4. Completed visa applications (2) with a passport photo attached to each
5. 6 Passport type photos
6. Resume
7. EIL (English International Language) Certificate
8. HIV Results
9. Medical Letter (from your doctor stating that you are "healthy and carry no contagious diseases"
10. Letter to Mongolian Embassy stating the purpose of your potential visit and length of your stay
11. Certified marriage certificate
12. Photocopies of 3 awards (including diploma)
13. Copy of Driving Record (we also must state what types of vehicles we can drive)
14. Completed Questionnaire with photo attached

We spent last Friday,  running around Orem and Provo getting some of the above documentation.  We were successful in getting one copy of our passport notarized, letters from our doctor stating we are "healthy and free from contagious diseases", certified marriage certificates, photocopies of 3 awards each, copy of our driving records, and having blood drawn for the HIV test.

We plan to get the necessary passport photos early next week.  We can get the visa applications and the questionnaire done next week.  We already have drafts of resumes and the letter to the Mongolian Embassy completed.  

We have been signed up to take the EIL (English International Language) training during the second week of July.  We don't really understand this, because we already speak English (I guess that we must be certified that we can teach English.)  This class will be taught by a couple of BYU Professors.