An Immigration Story of Faith and Hope

I have just returned from Florida where I finally got to meet Keith, Akiko and two of their boys. We were first introduced online through a website created to rally support for the family and I found out about that site from a newspaper article back in 2007. You may remember that we posted a blog entry on this blog two years ago. My mother, Mary Nielsen, and I attended church with the Campbells last Sunday and then enjoyed a leisurely lunch at Olive Garden together.

If you want to read a real love story read the new book; Denied!.

This is the story of a 10-year, bitter fight of a legitimate intercultural couple to be together. Despite their best efforts to follow proper procedure, the United States government failed them at three critical junctures. The first failure occurred with a faulty timeline, the second failure with faulty advice and years later the third failure occurred with the implementation of a premeditated plan to trick them into leaving the country under the false pretense they would be permitted to seamlessly re-enter with proper authorization. This is the story of the loss of basic human rights, the loss of family cohesiveness, home and security, and the loss of trust in a government and its ability to deal fairly with, defend and protect its people. Through faith, public opinion, the power of belief and a strong sense of community and its involvement, this family persevered and was able to overcome all the obstacles that were thrown in their path and to finally re-unite and return home despite all the barriers and the very great price that was paid. This is a true story.