Russian Graffiti

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Originally uploaded by From Russia With Love1

I haven't seen any dead people yet but apparently someone has...and they wanted everyone to know.

Not Child Friendly

We had to get AIDS tests to renew our visas. Eve was not very happy about this at all. She kept asking me how it would feel and reminding me that she hated needles. She asked me afterwards, "Daddy, are you proud of me...I didn't scream." That's my girl. She was very brave. No screams, just a little bit of tears. It took 4 hours to get tests done. By the time you walk to the station, ride the metro (stop at this little shop and grab some of these yummy chocolate things that they call potatoes...yeah really, that's what they call them.) take the bus, and find the creepy place where they do the testing...get back on the bus, ride the metro, walk home from the station...you are now pretty wore out.

The place we had to go to was not very child friendly though. I thought, "Stven King must have designed this place. I didn't know he lived in Russia." (little known fact: We used to live close to Steven King and the town they filmed Pet Cemetery in was about 5 minutes from our house.)
This place is not very settling on a child's nerves when they know they will have to get stuck by a needle when they go inside. I was even creeped out by this place...definitely not child friendly.
Ian said this place looked like a level in the video game Half Life...I was looking over my shoulder the whole time after he told me that.

So that was our experience at a Russian Testing Center. I hope we don't have to do that any again any time soon. However, the test results are at the Ovir's office and we await their response. This has been an interesting experience, dealing with the Russian government and a lesson in faith building...hmm, I wonder if God is trying to teach us something??

We're Here

I never thought the day would get here and now we've been here for almost 2 months. We have internet now so we can post updates. I've never been a regular poster in my blogs but I will try to keep this updated with pics and thoughts on a regular basis. I told everyone that we would put in the original post about our visa situation on here so I will do that. I'll also put in the post we used in case you don't get our newsletters. Please sign up to be on our mailing list if you haven't already.

Original Post:
Our Registration got mixed up. We were told to register somewhere we shouldn’t have. Now we’re registered as tourists and not students. Yep, you read right…and we’re coming to find out that it’s more than just going to the Ovir (special division of Russian authorities) and asking, “Can you fix this?” We’ve been told (by Russians) that the Ovir is not human, they are machines. They have no emotions, no compassion, that they don’t care about our predicament. I do believe that our God is bigger than the Ovir though. Amen?! So what they are saying is that we have to start the whole visa process over again. In Russia that is very expensive. Then we have to leave the country to get our visas. We’ve been told we have to go back to America…or Finland…or Latvia…or Estonia. Pray that we get a solid affordable solution to this.

New Post:
When I first wrote this article we had an urgent prayer need. Our registration got mixed up and we were forced with the fact that we were going to have to leave the country and possibly come back to America to renew our visas. Jennifer urged me to meet with the Ovir to explain our situation. Long story short: Natalia, the director of the school went with me and we plead our case to the Ovir. Surprising our director the woman took the paperwork and said she would look into it. Natalia still told me not to be optimistic. Two days later we are in our language class when the director stuck here head in the door and said, “Congratulations, you’ll get your one year visas.” Can you say “We serve a God that does the impossible?” You can read the original article on our website under updates.

So this is a huge praise report. Please keep praying as the situation is still in the Ovir's hands. We had to get some testing done for the renewal and it was supposed to be in this afternoon. The results won't be back until tomorrow and we haven't heard anything today from the school. Pray that the Ovir will let this just pass through when we get ther results from the tests.

Some updates

Well...what has happened since our last update. We went to Massachusetts to speak at a slavic church. It was all Russian and we needed a translator to speak there. It was pretty cool. We went over to someone's house that evening and had tea. Now if you've ever been to Russia you would know that tea can mean a 7 course meal. That's what we got and it was deloicious! The Russian people are so hospitable. I love them. We met some really cool people and were able to make some contacts to help us when we get over there. On the way back to Ohio we stopped off at Niagra Falls. It was quite a nice pit stop.

We bought our plane tickets yesterday. Our apartment is lined up...and the visas are in process. Man this is really getting close. July 22nd is our launch date. Keep us in your prayers. we're nervous but know this is what God wants us to do.

Off to St. Pete

Today we're off to Russia for a preliminary trip to meet some of the folks we'll be working with over there. Jennifer's not going so I'm a bit bummed about that but Pastor Jim is going with me. It seems to be a pretty packed schedule. Sosnovy Bor, Kommunar, Luga, Ukki, St. Peterburg...all in 8 days. I am really looking forward to this trip. It will get my feet wet a bit because I will be on my own in St. Petersburg on Friday. I'm meeting with a man I met there who is a missionary with his family. He's given me some good advice and I'm looking forward to spending some time with him again. I'll try to post hwile I'm there if I get a chance.

Seperation Anxiety

Well...our sale is over. We decided not to have another one in 2 weeks. I'm not very fond of having sales. We actually didn't do too bad considering the blizzard and all. We sold most of it at rediculously low prices...but we got rid of alot of it. You never realize how much stuff you have until you decide to get rid of it all.

Why do we get so attatched to "things"? I found myself not wanting to let go of some things that I've grown to like alot. I mean we kept some of our most prized possessions, but most of what we've collected over the last 15 years had to go. I think it comes down to the fact that one man's trash is another man's treasure...or vise versa in this case. Everyone wants the deal of the century. We ended up giving alot of things away. That was a little hard. I felt like I was having seperation anxiety for my "stuff". It was wierd. The fact that we sold our bedroom suit for food stamps is a bit amuzing but it spends like cash in my house. What can ya do. On buyer backed out of buying it and the other wanted it but didn't have enough cash...so we sold it to them. we gotta eat too right!? I sold our computer as well so I need to get a laptop now. we didn't have any room in our new place to keep a desktop pc. That will have to happen soon because I'm now computerless. I feel lost without one.

I got some good news about the visa situation. It looks like we might be able to get a charitable work visa. The new law doesn't seem to be affecting those types of visas. That's great news! Pray that doesn't change over the next 4 months.

A Blizzard

We are trying to have a sale and liquidate all of our belongings and Ohio decides to go and have a blizzard. Thursday it was nice out and now it's snowing. That's Ohio weather for ya. We're probably going to try to have another sale in 2 weeks. That will be Easter weekend but I think we'll have it on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We're moving in with Jennifer's Dad and will be there until we move in July. Pray that we can liquidate as much stuff as we can. That will make it easier on us.

This realization struck me the other day. we're trying to sell things pretty cheap to get rid of it...so we're basically selling our life here in this house for a laptop and a camcorder. Kind of puts it in perspective when I think about it like that. I need a nice laptop though so if anyone knows of any good deals on a laptop let me know. That's about it for now.