The past month…
With the start of the Chinese New Year (February 15th
this year) our company reworked their benefits. Many American companies do this
as well and your healthcare or vacation time changes year to year. The biggest
effect for us was in the travel department. When we were offered the job it
included 8 round trip tickets anywhere in the world for our family. This was
quite a perk and weighed heavily in our decision. It allowed us to have me in
the States for May and August as Maria transitioned on and off campus at USC.
It allowed her to come for the summer and for us to travel somewhere as a
family during the summer. The news came to us verbally from our friend Lollie,
head of human resources. However even she was unclear exactly what the new
policy entailed. How many tickets, and when and for whom? These were our
questions and she didn’t have the answers. So Stephen emailed the management of
the company a strongly worded email with the subject line, “URGENT – Juttons
continued involvement with the company”.
And we heard…nothing.
He instant messaged everyone and asked them to please read
and respond to his email, that it was critical to our family.
And we heard…nothing.
He called all of them and they pushed us off to the others.
And we heard…NOTHING.
Around this time we switched our prayers to Lord show us if
we’re supposed to stay or if we’re supposed to go. Our hearts wanted to
continue to talk with friends and share our lives and Christ with the people
there. But the management of the company and their lack of concern for legal
things like visas was alarming. The Lord
would answer this prayer in the next few days…
Then about this time we realized my visa would expire in a
couple of days. We came in on tourist visas at the advice of the company. I was
required to leave the country in 60 days. We reminded the company of this MANY
times and were told every time, “no problem”. So we tried to be patient.
Then it really expired and I found myself in a foreign
country, a communist country with an illegal visa. Not our calmest hour.
**disclaimer – we are adults, intelligent adults, intelligent adults who have
traveled. We should have known better, we should have reacted sooner. But alas,
we are also human adults and we did not**
The solution was to report to the local police station,
explain my case and ask for a visa extension. Not the happiest two days in
China as we went to a police station three different times. Remember we are the
only non-Chinese in our area that we have seen. And by the reactions – I am the
only American EVER to stay past her visa.
The company had mistakenly (although maybe it’s just the
Lord’s sovereignty) booked our returns on the original tickets to March 30th. (We actually reminded them several times to
change the dates, but they never did) At no point did our plan include either
of us to returning on March 30th.
Until now.
The solution for my visa was a signed confession of guilt.
Then I received a new visa in my passport with an “exit by date” included. Yup
– never even had a speeding ticket here and I now have a record in the Chinese
legal system!
We informed the company that we would be using our March 30th
tickets to travel to the US. Stephen would travel with me to ensure I didn’t
have trouble clearing customs as I exited the country. But really we both knew
it was time to go home.
The final confirmation was the firing of Lollie. She was our
main interpreter for everyday interactions. Rambo (who was fired a couple of
weeks ago) was Stephen’s main technical interpreter. Without these two
individuals we were fairly isolated. It seemed to us that anyone that was
confident and capable was being let go. They were building a company of young,
inexperienced followers that wouldn’t question the decisions made by the
leadership. We simply don’t fit that description.
Then we set our minds to the money matter. Stephen’s first
paycheck and both of mine (all illegal since we had tourist visas) were
deposited into Chinese banking accounts. His second, and subsequent, paychecks
come to our account in the US. We tried to complete a wireless transfer but
were denied. The Chinese don’t like for money to leave their country. So we
went to plan B…
We withdrew 51,000 RMB in cash and stuffed our bags!
Absolutely crazy but we have laughed so much. Stephen had to go to multiple
ATMs every day for a week to withdraw it all due to daily limits. But we
emptied the accounts, packed our bags, prayed, and left the country.
 |
| Stacks of 10 - looks more valuable than it really is with the exchange rate! |
It is technically legal to exit with up to $5000 US dollars
each without declaring it but we were expecting some questions. None. We made
it home with all of it.
 |
| Cleared customs and at the gate, ready for US soil. Smiles of peace. |
We are technically on a two week vacation here. We would
like to see his last paycheck appear in our banking account before severing
ties with this company. We don’t trust their integrity at this point. And that
makes us sad. That pay should be transferred around the 15th.
We’re not 100% sure of why the Lord had us in China but we
see some possibilities:
1. We
shared the gospel with 3 people. (2 of
them may have never heard it completely before)
2. We gave
our dual language Bible away to Lollie and started her reading in Mark.
3. We
acknowledged and confessed that we like to trust in our own abilities.
4. We
learned that the Lord does not allow us both to be weak at the same moment.
5. We were
reminded of His sovereignty in very anxious situations.
Overall, it was an amazing experience. We met so many
wonderful people. We loved the culture around us. We did everything within our
power to grow that company. We do not believe it was a mistake to go…nor do we
believe it was a mistake to come home.
Thank you for praying with us and for us. We love each and
every one of you!
**UPDATE from our errands on Monday - We had no problem depositing all that foreign cash at Bank of America. The teller said a quick, "oh my word" when we sat the stack on the counter but then got down to counting. After the banking errand we dropped by Steve's last place of employment and he was offered his job back. He should start on Monday.
So we'll end this adventure with the same thought as when we started:
We see God's hand in this, and so we go...
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