Ross & Taya Black

rossandtaya@gmail.com -or- www.rossandtaya.com

missionaries serving with:

The Waiting Game... Once approved,

e first question our friends ask when they see us is: we purchase our plane tickets
“What’s the latest on your Visas?” & prepare to move to our new
Unfortunately, not much has changed since our last 4. home: Melbourne, Australia
update. Our second attempt at securing visas for Once approved,
Australia is a 4-step process, & we’re still on step 1 our family applies to the
(the application has been submitted but we are still Australian Embassy for a
waiting for approval). 3. “Skilled Worker” Visa
Once approved, FamilyLife
submits an application to
sponsor our family as their
2. chosen “Skilled Workers”
FamilyLife Australia submits
for approval to sponsor e second question friends ask is: “How long will it take?” Honestly, we are
1. “Skilled Workers” from
outside Australia
baffled (& a little frustrated) that it has taken this long. Based on our history, we
hope that step 1 will be approved within the next 2-3 weeks, with each subsequent
step taking 6-8 additional weeks. It is only speculation, but maybe we would
receive our Visas in November & prepare to move right after Christmas???

After hearing about our Visa status, the third question friends ask is:
In the Meantime... “What are you doing in the meantime?” Here are a few recent highlights:

e
Change & FamilyLif
Outside the Power to en fu n This is what 100 Chinese Stu
C. It has be
office in Langley, B. dy Bibles look like.
nis ter to his homeland! Our new friends in Vietnam - they lead a house- Each Bible will be shared by
for Ross to mi serious persecution because of
5 Pastors who face
church movement & care for orphans. They’ve their faith in Jesus.
asked if we would help them do some marriage &
family ministry in Vietnam.
Oh, Canada... ...China & Vietnam
Even though we’re not in Australia yet, we’ve still Our Bible-smuggling trip was incredible. It’s hard to even begin to
found plenty to keep us busy! Ross has been sum up the adventure we were on. We did put together a little video
working on projects with the team at FamilyLife that gives a taste of our experience: www.bit.ly/rossandtayachina.
Canada (their office is just 40 minutes away from We were able to make 11 trips across the border, & although we
where we live). ey are a small team trying to were stopped by Border Guards several times & our Bibles were
reach a big country, & Ross has really enjoyed the confiscated, there was never a time that God didn’t allow us to bring
camaraderie. We’ve already had some very at least 2 Bibles into the country. In the end, we were able to bring
fruitful ministry opportunities, such as 775 Study Bibles to China & a little over 100 Hymn books into
hosting a marriage conference, setting up Vietnam. We saw God blind the eyes of the guards, He gave us
social media networks for FamilyLife Canada & boldness & strength even as we were surrounded by police, & most
Australia (which have given us many great of all He taught us how to pray without ceasing. ank you for
occasions to minister to hurting & hopeless praying for us on this trip. We’d love to go again & take you with us!
Husband’s & Wives), hosting some impromptu Please pray that God would strengthen the faith of our new friends
prayer meetings, as well as helping to promote in China & Vietnam as they boldly share the love of Jesus in spite of
& plan upcoming marriage conferences in opposition & persecution. Pray also that God would open doors for
B.C., Alberta, & Ontario. We are so thankful us to bring helpful Marriage & Family resources to them.
that God has opened up this door for family
ministry while we wait for our Visas to arrive. Hudson Taylor once said: “If I had 1,000 lives, I’d give them all for China.”
We pray that God would give us a devotion & dedication like that!
Honestly...
e last question our friends ask is “How are you doing with all of this?” Our simple reply is this: we’re discouraged with
how the Visa process is going & we’re encouraged by the love & support we’ve received from our family & ministry partners.
We know that God is guiding us, even though we don’t understand the timing or the details. Our missionary journey began
Six years ago when God whispered a single word to us: Surrender. It seems we’re back at the start again, just surrendering all
of our hopes & plans to God. anks for your continued prayers, faithful support & for joining us on this journey,