Espacio-Hardin Family Reunification
Donation protected
Help Mary, Amos, and I (Jonathan) to reunite our family.
We plead with you to help us raise 1,000 US$ that will make it possible for Mary, Amos, and I (Jonathan) to reunite in the United States. If your generosity blesses us with your favor, your help will make it possible to cover the following:
National Visa Center Fees:
- Petitioner $120
- Spouse $325
Embassy related fees:
- Medical examination $275
- Consulate Interview $265
We appreciate your love for our family and know you’re probably wondering how we got to this point. But even if you’re reading about our family for the first time, we want to walk you through our story over the last (almost) 5 years that brought us to this situation.
Our family has been stationed in the Dominican Republic working in church ministry since we moved to the DR in 2016, for the training of pastors and leaders. Since our funding for ministry was not meant to cover our needs, we worked full-time secular jobs as teachers to provide for our basic needs. We were able to have sustainability for a couple of years. I am a national, Mary is American, and Amos is both.
Sadly, after our beloved son, Amos, was born, Mary developed a health condition that has no treatment or cure known to it so far. She will need more evaluations, and very likely surgery, in the near future under stateside physicians/specialists.
During the second half of 2018, the ministry demanded more of my time for which I made the decision to work part-time in Uber to spend more time in church ministry and development. After that decision, our finances struggled badly for a while. I ended up employing myself part-time as a teacher in January 2019, and later in April acquire a second full-time job, in light of finding out the new laws in the DR would not allow Mary to work legally with her passport alone. Plus her job contract was to be ended in June of the same year. By August, I was exhausted working 2 jobs, in addition to the ministry responsibilities. But even with a full-time job, we could not make it to be sustainable. I decided to quit my job and start a new business in residential electric services (which I am still providing to this date and is barely covering my living expenses due to the pandemic). But this business was not enough to cover our expenses and, at the same time, take care of my wife’s medical condition. So, we finally made the decision to relocate.
In summary, sustainability and health issues led us to decide on moving to the US. Mary and Amos went ahead in January 2020, in order to process the paperwork for me to join them, as we were hoping, in June. However, the pandemic disrupted those plans, making the process longer and more difficult due to all of its requirements – Including Mary’s ability to have a full-time job which thankfully she obtained recently. We’ve been working through this pandemic to come up with the funds, and we have covered a good portion of them; also some family and friends have pitched in to help us too for which we are very grateful. However, we were hit recently by the National Visa Center with more fees adding up to another US$1,000 to complete the process.
Right now, these fees are keeping us apart longer. If they are covered, the approval process should continue its course and hopefully, our family will be back together before our wedding anniversary in November.
We are thankful to you, because you’re taking your time to consider our story and because we know your prayers of love have been significant support we have received over time. We are aware this pandemic has placed strong stress on all our economies, which also places a heavy emotion in our hearts to request for this aid. For that reason, if you consider also donating for our cause and sharing this with beloved ones, we will also be in a gratitude debt for the rest of our lives with you. We want our family to be back together to continue serving the purpose God has given us in furthering His Kingdom.
We plead with you to help us raise 1,000 US$ that will make it possible for Mary, Amos, and I (Jonathan) to reunite in the United States. If your generosity blesses us with your favor, your help will make it possible to cover the following:
National Visa Center Fees:
- Petitioner $120
- Spouse $325
Embassy related fees:
- Medical examination $275
- Consulate Interview $265
We appreciate your love for our family and know you’re probably wondering how we got to this point. But even if you’re reading about our family for the first time, we want to walk you through our story over the last (almost) 5 years that brought us to this situation.
Our family has been stationed in the Dominican Republic working in church ministry since we moved to the DR in 2016, for the training of pastors and leaders. Since our funding for ministry was not meant to cover our needs, we worked full-time secular jobs as teachers to provide for our basic needs. We were able to have sustainability for a couple of years. I am a national, Mary is American, and Amos is both.
Sadly, after our beloved son, Amos, was born, Mary developed a health condition that has no treatment or cure known to it so far. She will need more evaluations, and very likely surgery, in the near future under stateside physicians/specialists.
During the second half of 2018, the ministry demanded more of my time for which I made the decision to work part-time in Uber to spend more time in church ministry and development. After that decision, our finances struggled badly for a while. I ended up employing myself part-time as a teacher in January 2019, and later in April acquire a second full-time job, in light of finding out the new laws in the DR would not allow Mary to work legally with her passport alone. Plus her job contract was to be ended in June of the same year. By August, I was exhausted working 2 jobs, in addition to the ministry responsibilities. But even with a full-time job, we could not make it to be sustainable. I decided to quit my job and start a new business in residential electric services (which I am still providing to this date and is barely covering my living expenses due to the pandemic). But this business was not enough to cover our expenses and, at the same time, take care of my wife’s medical condition. So, we finally made the decision to relocate.
In summary, sustainability and health issues led us to decide on moving to the US. Mary and Amos went ahead in January 2020, in order to process the paperwork for me to join them, as we were hoping, in June. However, the pandemic disrupted those plans, making the process longer and more difficult due to all of its requirements – Including Mary’s ability to have a full-time job which thankfully she obtained recently. We’ve been working through this pandemic to come up with the funds, and we have covered a good portion of them; also some family and friends have pitched in to help us too for which we are very grateful. However, we were hit recently by the National Visa Center with more fees adding up to another US$1,000 to complete the process.
Right now, these fees are keeping us apart longer. If they are covered, the approval process should continue its course and hopefully, our family will be back together before our wedding anniversary in November.
We are thankful to you, because you’re taking your time to consider our story and because we know your prayers of love have been significant support we have received over time. We are aware this pandemic has placed strong stress on all our economies, which also places a heavy emotion in our hearts to request for this aid. For that reason, if you consider also donating for our cause and sharing this with beloved ones, we will also be in a gratitude debt for the rest of our lives with you. We want our family to be back together to continue serving the purpose God has given us in furthering His Kingdom.
Organizer and beneficiary
Jonathan Espacio
Organizer
Lexington, KY
Mary Hardin
Beneficiary
