Trip planning and fundraising

As an update, we will be flying Delta again this year.  Between the better customer service as well as prices being very competitive this year, we chose Delta.  We are excited about landing in a familiar airport and having lunch at our favorite mall. 

We'll spend much of the first afternoon in Red Square and the Kremlin.  We have a number of first time travelers so it will be good to take them through some of the sights.  I imagine we'll hit cathedral square this year, but we don't have firm plans.

Saturday and Sunday will begin our time with the graduates in Vladimir where we'll spend fun times and provide lessons on life skills and attitudes. 

Monday we'll be at the orphanage and we'll stay through Friday.  Our plan is to have lessons, games, crafts, and skits.  There is lots of planning to do between now and May. 

Again, if you'd like to donate, you can send a contribution to:

Covenant Presbyterian Church
2845 Parliament Drive
Colorado Springs, CO 80920

Or www.covenant-pres.org and click the donate button and specify that it is for the Russia trip.

Thanks, and there will be more to come. 

A funny day

It was a funny day—funny in a funny way and in a strange way.  It was funny because Maksim was being his funny self, pestering everyone trying to work on his English.  It was funny because in Chari’s lessons on parenting, Nathan, Julieanna, and Kate played their parts well acting like spoiled brats (Julieanna and Nathan) and an out of control mom (Kate).  It was strange because kids that I thought would certainly be at the ministry center weren’t. 

So, for the disappointing part of the day, both Valya and Oleg, whom I’ve known for years, were not able to make it to the ministry center again today, which means it’s like that I will not see them this year.  For Valya that would be two years in a row. 

For the bright spots.  I talked to Pasha, who was the first kid that I connected with at the orphanage in 2005, and he just graduated from Vladimir State University.  He is a great young man.  We also talked about my endeavors.  Some of the older kids are getting to be much better conversationalists.  They actually ask about other people rather than waiting for Americans to ask about them.

Another highlight for me was that Anna Frolova, who stayed with us two years ago for six weeks (not an orphan) drove to the Vladimir ministry center from Ivanova (about an hour and a half) to see me.  She and her sister Masha arrived just as the church services was getting out.   Anna and Masha joined us for lunch.  We had some great conversation, and they even stayed for Chari’s parenting session.  It was a great chance for them to see what we do and to listen to a lot of English. 

We saw a lot of our former interpreters at church this morning.  I was able to sing all of today’s songs out of the church song book.  For dinner we took all of the kids that were with us to Globus.  It’s a lot like Costco, except it has a very large buffet type restaurant.  The kids liked it and we didn’t have to deal with the chance of rain. 

We also gave away most of the clothes that we brought with us from our clothing drive today.  The clothes were very well received.  We set them out and allows kids to shop for two free pieces of clothing each, then the remainder was put away to give to kids who were not able to attend.  One jacket that we almost left behind was snatched up immediately by one girl and another Adidas jacket created a debate between two good friends about who would get it.  When one of the friends realized that the jacket was too small for him, the potential conflict was resolved.

And now it’s almost midnight and I’m falling asleep as I type.  So I’ll insert a few pictures and get to sleep.

Today was a most excellent day

That's what BJ called it.  Today, we drove from Moscow to the ministry center in Vladimir.  Fund Nadezhda runs the ministry center.  We were up early for breakfast in the hotel restaurant for its wonderful buffet.  After that we gathered out things and took off for Vladimir.  Unfortunately, traffic was very bad and in order to save time we had to stop at MacDonald's for lunch along the way and eat on the bus.  It always strikes me as funny to come to Russia and go to MacDonald's, but just as in the US, it was the most convenient option along the highway. 

Zhenya, a girl who graduated in 2010 from Pokrov arrived from Kovrov (about an hour and a half away) with her boyfriend.  He seems like a nice guy and she seems to be well.  He is 23 years old and she is 18.  He has graduated from college and has a job.  They seem happy.  It was great to see her again.

Many of our friends from the immediate Vladimir area arrived to hear and particpate in the lessons on anger by Don Shive and lessons on business that I prepared. 

In between and after the lessons our free time was filled with conversations, sharing photos, and playing Uno.  The Uno game became very loud and laughter filled the room. 

BJ's highlight was seeing both of his boys, Sasha and Dima, together for the first time in a long while.

We had a pizza dinner and finally left the ministry center a little after 8 p.m., so it was a long day and it's time for me to go to bed.  We had a team meeting and we've decided to leave all of the donated clothing at the ministry center.  The director said that they can uses all of the clothing there as some of the women in the young mothers program can have childrens as 7 or 8 years old and some of hte orphan graduates are small enough to wear even a size 14. 

We were glad for such great blessings to today and to see that the kids really do want to related to us and to learn from us.

Made it to Russia

So, we finally made it to Russia after an extra 8 hours in the Denver International Airport and our flight through Frankfurt.  It was my first time in Germany in 35 years.  We didn't see much because we arrived a the gate that was only a few gates away from our departing flight.  Everyone made it safely and Anna N. met us at the hotel.  Anna graduated last year and she now works in Moscow while she prepares to go to school next year.  She looks good and seems to be doing well.  Tomorrow we will got to the Vladimir ministry center in the morning.

On your mark, get set...

Well, we are only a day and a half away. We will be in Russia soon. Tonight we had our last meeting to pack and to pray for each other and to make sure that everyone gets to the airport on time.

It is exciting, yet scary. There is so much to do at home, and yet so much need to travel to Russia. I'm looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones. We have new team members coming and experienced ones as well.

So, Covenant Presbyterian Church in Colorado Springs, we are almost gone. We just need to get to the airport on Thursday morning on time with all of our passports.

Then...GO.

Flight delayed all unknown

Well, it's been a busy day. First, I went to the bank to get cash for the trip, then I found out that the visas were not at HopeChest's office. Then I found out that they would not get there. Then I found out that they might get there. Then I found out that the woudn't.

In the mean time Delta's group travel agent steered me wrong and told me I could wait until morning to reschedule my trip once I had the visas. A HopeChest rep thought that sounded strange so he called Delta. That rep said that we did need to take some action before morning. So, now we have to wait till the morning to take next steps to find out when we are going.

One obstacle is that Delta's policy is to charge a $250 change fee plus the price change of the ticket. In this case the price change could be between $300 and $3,800. Obviously, we aren't going with the $3,800. So, we'll see what we can do and ask on bended knee for some grace.

Keep reading for more updates.