The Newest Citizen!

What does it take to become a citizen of the United States?  Most of us have only a fuzzy idea of what the “naturalization process” entails.  We became citizens the easy way—by being born on US soil!  I recently got an up-close-and-personal look at becoming a citizen as I helped a new friend take the final steps on her journey.

“Fatima” is from Afghanistan, and has been in the US for five years, along with her husband and three children.  The law says that a person must be a legal resident of this country for five years before they are eligible for citizenship.  So at the four-and-a-half year mark, Fatima began studying for the exam.  I met her in October when she showed up at the English class I was helping with, not far from her apartment.  We worked on English for several weeks, but since her listening and speaking were fairly good, she asked if we could help her with her citizenship process.

One of our interns, Kendra, joined me in quizzing her on the 100 civics and history questions she had to know the answers to.  Some of the questions are ones that we weren’t sure about… How many US Representatives are there?  What are three of the positions in the President’s cabinet?  Name one war the US fought in the 19th century?  But Fatima is bright and she quickly learned the answers.  (In the actual test, applicants are asked only 10 questions, taken randomly from the list of 100). In addition, we helped her practice for the reading and writing portions of the test. And we reviewed her lengthy application, to make sure she had understood and answered all the questions correctly.

After each tutoring time, I made sure to ask Fatima about her children and her family back in her home country.  Tears would come to her eyes when she spoke about her two brothers who were in hiding in Afghanistan, in danger and trying to find a way to join her in the US.  Then either Kendra or I would pray for her and her family in Jesus’ name.  After a few weeks, Fatima would eagerly ask us to pray for her as we finished the lesson.

When the big day came for her citizenship interview, Kendra and I told Fatima we would be praying for her, and we did.  We were grateful, though not surprised, when she texted that afternoon, telling us that she had passed!  She told us later that she felt peace in her heart because of our prayers.  After English classes ended, she hosted all the teachers and interns at her home for a celebratory meal!

We long for the day when Fatima and her husband will not only be fellow citizens of ours in the United States, but also in the Kingdom of God!


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