GOD BLESS AMERICA
A Sri Lankan wins the lottery!
By Yvonne Gunawardena

In June 2006 I received a call from an immigration officer stating that my application had been chosen to receive the Green card, a lottery program that was introduced many years ago in the United States.  I was reminded that I sent my application a few years before but it never crossed my mind since it had been a long time.  Seated in my car many thoughts crossed my mind, I was wondering if this could be true, very reluctantly I gave in the information the lady required.  After I hung up my phone I looked up into the sky and asked God, “God is it you?”  Through this I meant if it was God who was working this out for me.

This was not the first experience of God’s love.  We as a family were extremely blessed and having a great life in Sri Lanka amongst the ongoing civil war, and the extreme height of the expenses rising above all means. God had always been good to us. I accepted Jesus 24 years ago, and since then I have had miracle after miracle just knowing Jesus.

Even though we were very much blessed we had to go through so much stress and worry knowing if we would return home safely. The bad driving, the excess of vehicles on the roads, polluted air and the suicide bombers are some of the daily routines that we had to face in Sri Lanka. We never murmured, we were happy amongst the trouble. It was our own country and we preferred living with our people than going out and living in a foreign land. I had three brothers and three sisters and my mum who migrated from the country during the early 90s who lived in London and Australia, even though I did not vote to leave the country the worry and stress, of the safety of the kids kept lingering in my thoughts all day until they were back home and I was under a great amount of stress.

So this call was great news but I had my doubts I was not certain if this call was genuine. So while asking God the question my eyes turned toward the sky, and for the first time I saw Jesus looking down at me smiling. I heard him say “I know this is going to make you very happy” It was a vision of Jesus dressed in blue and white, a picture I will never forget, it will remain in my heart forever. It was then that I knew this was a serious matter. I knew if it was from God it has to be true. I immediately believed in Him, I told my husband and kids that we may have to leave to America.

For the next few months I began training my staff to handle the schools I owned by themselves. I monitored them while at home. I did all the training necessary for them to carry on the schools by themselves. I prepared my way and completed most of my work.   It took about one year from then until we received the visa. We left on the 9h of August and reached Dallas on the 12th August 2007.

There was just one family whom we knew, who helped us throughout our settling down process. I thank God for people who live their lives by being a blessing to others. We had met Keith a few years ago in Sri Lanka and he and his family were a great blessing to us. They picked us up from the airport and took us to the new apartment they had rented for us. They had furnished the apartment for us, bed linen, table and chairs, most of the kitchen items were all thought of, so we were comfortable. Keith a devout Buddhist who has always lived according to the teachings of Buddhism was truly an inspiration to me. He taught me many lessons of being honest to what you believe in, he taught the lesson of practicing what you preach.  He taught me words become useless unless they are kept, something I learnt which was very rare amongst most people.

For the first few months it was difficult to get about getting anything done. The first most important task was to buy a car, Keith had briefed us about getting our international driving license from Sri Lanka before we arrive, so we were very fortunate that we had the international driving license, which was a great help. For anyone migrating to Texas I think this is a must. You should get your international driving license before you arrive to this state. And buying a Navigator was a very good investment, because it took us exactly where we want to go without any complications. The roads can be confusing and driving can be difficult if you have little experience, but coming from Asian countries I think we could drive anywhere in the world.

The internet was the best way of getting all our information, so we instantly got our high speed internet facility which I would recommend for any immigrant. That will help you tremendously. Surfing the net getting information of how and where you need to go to get things done became very easy as soon as we got the connection.

Waiting for the social security was a difficult task, without a social security number you are paralyzed in this country, You cannot get anything done not even open a bank account or bank your money if you have no social security and this took about three to five weeks of waiting. Thank God the schools do not require a social security number to admit your child to school. Things became very easy as soon as we received the social security number, we went job hunting and within a short period of time my husband got a job. It was not the job he did in Sri Lanka and not even close to it, even though people do say there is no more discrimination in America, when it comes to jobs I think people do look at your color and country but most of all your first and last name. It did not matter to us because we consider ourselves blessed wherever we go and whatever we do because we knew God is always on our side.

I think there is one other important factor that I want to share with you who are migrating, You should be aware that building credit works excellently well, specially when you plan to get a mortgage, which is very different to an Asian point of view. We avoid using credit cards except for debit cards in Sri Lanka. Our banks over in Sri Lanka would offer all kinds of visa and master cards which we are reluctant to take. We preferred the old fashioned way just making payments with cash on a day-to-day basis.  But over here in America it’s necessary to build up credit and how you do this is by using your credit cards, and making your payments on time. This is very important. In this way you will build your credit and own your house within a short period of time. This is something we did not understand even though Keith and many others explained.  Until we were looking for houses, we used most of the money by paying cash for every item purchased.  We lost credit worth at least $ 30,000, before we really got into credit cards. Credit does matter and this is one area I think I would like to expand on: To the new immigrants I say, save up all your money until you receive your credit cards, a bit of difficulty at the start will help a long way during the latter stages.

The initial stage of migration is tough, please remember this is a blessed country, and people do give preference to God and their Christian beliefs, and we are blessed to be here.  The struggle you face initially will ease as time goes by, for everyone who migrates it is not an easy task.  Having a conversation with other immigrants will make you feel comfortable, knowing every person went through same procedures.  First few months are difficult and some of you may wonder if you made the right decision, but believe me things get much easier as time goes by. It has been only three months and I feel the difference now. For us there is a peace which is difficult to explain, which we never had in Sri Lanka ever since we set our foot to the USA. It was only when I came here that I understood what God said to me in the vision, because I feel the Joy and peace beyond any explanation. Thank God for America. For all of you out there who have just migrated May God bless you, may you find that peace, joy and fulfillment throughout your stay which I pray will remain with you forever. God bless America, and God bless you.