By Kumi NakagomiAbout 4 years ago, God opened up an opportunity to intern at Newsong NOC right after graduating from seminary, even though I already had a job lined up back in Tokyo in the corporate sector. I was recovering from a car accident injury at the time, and my recovery was not going as fast as I had hoped to start my job in Tokyo on time. But while I was recovering, Brian, our former lead pastor, offered me an internship opportunity, and after experiencing the miracle of receiving my parents’ blessing to stay and be in vocational ministry (as my parents are not believers), I knew without a doubt that God wanted me to stay here at NOC to learn, grow, and serve. Being a Japanese citizen, I had to get a religious worker’s visa (called the R-1 visa) sponsored by Newsong. The first time around was not as difficult, as there were less requirements. However, over the past few years, immigration policies became a lot more restricted, and visas have been harder to obtain.
We started my visa renewal process over a year ago, as we knew that my R-1 visa was going to expire this past September. After hours of getting documents ready with the help of my lawyer Bob, we finally submitted my visa petition to USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) this past April. USCIS told us the average waiting period was about 3 months, but 3 months came around and we heard nothing. We started to inquire with our local congressman, and in August, they finally came by to do an on-site visit, which is required for the visa process. Peter and I were interviewed by an immigration officer, and we were honest and transparent about the process. After the immigration officer left, we felt like everything went well. However, two months later, we were informed that our visa petition got denied due to a very technical issue regarding church plants. We were all baffled and shocked, as none of us expected this decision. My lawyer rarely has cases denied, so he was very frustrated with the decision. As for me, I was very disappointed and disillusioned, to be honest. I was upset at God, and in a lot of grief. The whole time, I kept moving forward because I didn’t sense that my season at NOC is over yet; but in the process of staying here, there were sacrifices I made – in giving up my dreams over to God, in being away from my family, and giving up a financially attractive job opportunity. So I was upset because I felt like I gave up a lot to be here, and yet, God didn’t seem like He was pulling through. A big obstacle was the current visa I had also expired before the decision was made, so when they denied my visa petition, I was suddenly out of status, which meant that I could no longer be employed by NOC and had no rights to get paid legitimately.
With the support of NOC and the leadership team, we decided to move forward to appeal the decision that USCIS made, as it was important to set the record straight, and also try to get another type of work visa so that I could continue working at NOC. Meanwhile, because I no longer had a source of income, I tried hard to figure out what I could do, and started making jewelry to see if it could help support me. However, in that process, I realized that I was so stressed and overwhelmed by the burden of trying to financially support myself on my own, and started hating life because I just wasn’t enjoying jewelry-making as a fulltime career. One night, as I was working in my little sweatshop (aka kitchen table), God clearly spoke to me, saying, ”Kumi, this isn’t a burden you have to carry.” But I snapped, "Then who's gonna carry it for me? I've always had to carry this burden" and I kept working at it. But I was clearly miserable. As I started sharing about this, people started encouraging me to stop. But I wasn't able to let it go, as I couldn’t let go of my self-sufficient, self-reliant mindset. I couldn’t let the burden go, as my ability to produce and financially provide for myself has been a huge part of who I am. Yet that was exactly what God was wanting me to let go of.
In this process, God brought so many people to just love on me and encourage me to let God take care of me, and to also let this community take care of me. Friends at Solidarity have shared with me stories of how God has provided for their needs, and how the process has taken them to a deeper relationship with Jesus. A dialogue with some NOC staff encouraged me to ask the NOC community to financially support me in this journey, as it's not my fault that this had to happen to me, and that there's people that really do want to love on me, and be a part of this journey with me. I did not want to ask others, though, because I've never asked for any financial help from anyone other than my own family. I was taught to never ask for money. Yet I knew there was just no way jewelry making would make ends meet, and that divine intervention was needed. So after much resistance, tears, and the Spirit's nudging, I asked specific people to pray and also consider supporting me financially, and really, just be a part of this journey with me.
The day after I sent out an email asking for support, I was only $50 short of the amount I needed. By the day after, I had more than doubled the amount I needed. The next day, it tripled. And finances continued to roll in. People offered to help cover for my rent and my airfare to take a trip home as I need to in order to obtain my visa. I was dumbfounded and overwhelmed by how this community responded so quickly and with so much love and support. Through the NOC community, I tangibly experienced God’s love that encourages, supports, and provides. The burden of needing to provide for myself was relieved, and that burden became an opportunity for the community to be a part of my process and to be a blessing to me.
About three weeks after my visa petition was denied, we submitted our desire to appeal to USCIS, and began to prepare for the appeal and new work visa process. My lawyer told me that he will do all this work pro-bono as he felt the decision was unfair, and didn’t want finances to be a hindrance. He also brought up my case to the American Immigration Lawyer’s Association (AILA), and they took interest in the decision that was made. AILA then took it up to the senior officials of USCIS in Washington DC, and because of that, USCIS decided to re-open my case soon after our appeal form was submitted, and within a matter of days, they decided to approve my visa petition. God brought a whole army of lawyers to advocate for me on my behalf.
I realize through all of this, God is truly sovereign, and He does what He wills in order for His plan to carry out. He truly is above all government authorities, and desires to carry out His justice and His love in spite of obstacles and unfair decisions like the case that I experienced. And through this, I experienced how God truly is writing the story of my life, as long as I’m up for the ride and am open and willing to follow. As crazy as this story is, it’s been an overwhelming experience of tangibly being loved and taken care of by my Heavenly Father, who totally holds my life and this whole world in His hands. It’s taking me to a deeper place of trust and obedience. And I’m looking forward to what the next chapter holds.
