The State Department

Life can be so scary when you have to do stuff you've never done before. That's what has happened recently. We had to get financial statements, our marriage license and some other legal documents notarized, then we had to take these same papers to the State Department and pay to have them stamped with what is called an "Apostille". This is a stamp that certifies that we are legally qualified to obtain a Visa from Cyprus to live there for at least 18 months or longer.

So we got the papers together and went to the State Department in downtown Los Angeles. We were required to fill out a form and supply the notarized documents and paid a very high fee - $20 per page. After that we had to wait for the Apostille stamps to be placed on the required pages. Of course the line was long, but the clerks have this down to a science and got through all the people in jig time. We were out of there in about 30 minutes flat. We were surprised to say the least.

We have now completed all that is required of us to present to the State Department, tomorrow we overnight mail all the papers to Salt Lake City for the church missionary department to examine. Hopefully we won't have to provide anymore legal documents - that really is disconcerting for we common citizens.