The trip is getting close

Nineteen of us are now waiting for our invitation to Russia so we can submit our visa applications.  Those should come in a week or so ahead of our trip.

Plans are moving ahead with curriculum using characters from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  We'll have lessons and skits along with the story.  We'll be viewing the movie with the kids!

Other plans involve kids at the ministry center on parenting, relationships and jobs.  We'll also talk about how to treat the opposite gender.

Keep praying and if you'd like to donate, go to www.covenant-pres.org.  Thank You!

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. 

We have an indiegogo page!

Here is a new way to contribute and raise funds for causes.  Check us out at indiegogo, send us a contribution, and you get a prize as well as knowing that you've helped Russia orphans in their quest to become confident young people.

Here is our page at indiegogo!

The team has been chosen

We have nineteen travelers this year for our annual trip to Pokrov, Russia.  We'll visit the Ministry Center in Vladimir as well.  The trip will include seven teens.

We'll spend nine days total working with orphans in the orphanage as well as those who are out of the orphanage in school or working.  Life skills will be the the theme at the ministry center again and we'll focus on character traits using C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe at the orphanage.  Along with that, we'll have lots of fun encouraging the kids to believe in themselves. 

We look forward to a wonderful trip from May 30th through June 9th.

United Airlines to Russia, would I do it again?

So, a week later, I'm thinking about the trip and how well it went.  I'm looking at all fo the great things that happened.  Sure, we could have done better, but all went really well.  Everything went well, except for one thing--the experience with United Airlines.  So, let me tell a little story--a true story.  So that I don't bore you, I'll stick to some bare facts about our trip.

First, we have always flown Delta.  We've had a great experience with Delta and even one year that our visas were late, Delta waived additional change fees for our passengers who had purchased team tickets.  The process of purchasing group tickets is very easy and the instructions are well laid out and complete.  I almost never have to wait on hold for more than 5 minutes to get a customer service rep.

This year the ticket price was great enough that we decided to fly United Airlines--the largest airline in the world.  The largest airline in the world sure acted akin to the largest car manufacturer in the world.  It was  like a bloated beached whale.  Don't get me wrong.  Many of the individuals who work for United were very helpful, but even many of them told us how bad the systems were. 

Let's start with making the initial reservation.  So, you call and get put on hold.  I think that it will be about ten to fifteen minutes.  Approximately four hours later, I get a real voice.  We go through the process of making the initial group reservation.  I then receive an email with two documents, neither of the proving overly helpful.  Two examples,  one document tells me when the names are due, but not where to send them.  ????  It made me wonder if this was the first time they'd done a group reservation.  In addition, the language about when to provide names was a bit confusing.  There was a deadline to ensure that you didn't lose some of your reservations.  Then there was a second drop dead date.  Interestingly enough, neither of these dates matched the date in the computer when I called.  I also found out that I misunderstood the deadline language.  The message says that the number of tickets reserved would be reduced to ten if not made by a certain date.  As I only had ten travelers, I really didn't care.  So, I set my sights on the second date.  When I called (another two hours on hold), I was informed that I should have provided the names by a different date that was close to the first date in my letter, but not the same.  Of course, I had sent an email earlier in the year to ask a question regarding this and I received an email almost two MONTHS later with my answer.

I was told that I had to complete ticketing that day or I would lose the reservation.  So, I pulled out my trusty credit card and promptly purchased $14,000 worth of plane tickets.  Well, perhaps not so promptly, because when they tried to run the credit cards, their system was down and they took my credit card information and told me that they'd call me if there was a problem. 

Fortunately, there was no problem and we got tickets. 

Of course, that couldn't be the end of it.  We arrived at the airport on the Thursday morning of our flight and found that our flight from Denver to Washington, DC was cancelled.  At first our option was waiting till the next day.   NOT! So, we managed to get everyone on a Lufthansa flight eight hours later. 

I guess that was the end of the terrible stuff with United...

Oh, no, wait.  I forgot to mention the $1,000 deposit that I made to reserve the tickets.  It's now been eight days since I arrived home and my deposit refund has still not shown on my credit card, nor have I seen a check in the mail.  So, now, I may have to spend another 4 hours on hold to get my deposit repaid. 

So, I'm not sure if this is a real airline or not.  Seems to me to be a bad imitation of the old Soviet version of Aeroflot.  I guess it's comforting to know that at least the pilots weren't up front smoking and drinking vodka...or were they?

Silly Americans in Pokrov

After a lovely sunny day in Pokrov, the skies began pouring rain shortly after our team meeting.  Four of us braved the rain to get to the grocery store to purchase a few items.  People looked at us as if we were the craziest people in the world.  Other shoppers called cabs to take them home while we walked the three or four blocks without umbrellas. 

Today began with half the team walking to a local convent for a tour and explanation of the orthodox faith.  The rest of us stayed and worked with the kids on repairing books.  We had to skip our lesson due to a number of factors.

After lunch we had some free time, then we had a presentation about Peter the Great.  A dance group from the city came and danced as part of the program.  They were giggly littel 12 year old girles and they loved the fact that I had lived in the Los Angeles area.  Later we played games and crafts.  The craft for today was a paper mache bowl.  There were a number of great looking bowls and it generated a lot of interest and very nice projects.

I also was able to connect witha girl named Ksusha who I have known for two years.  It was the first time that I have seen her photographs of her family and friends.  She was very proud of it.

A group from the Russian party led by President Putin came also.  They led the students in games related to the celebration of Pushkin's birthday.   Pushkin would be 213 today. 

It was a busy day, but we only have two days left.  We'll have to make the best of it.

Yoga in Pokrov

While we did far more than yoga today, that was the big hit.  Julieanna Keenan, a high school student and new member of our team,  decided to try a yoga class just for girls today.  It was our way of connecting and also encouraging the girls to exercise.  It was standing room only in the yoga room with barely enough room for all of the mats.  Tomorrow we will likely have more girls as Julieanna was a HIT.  

The day begin with our teams being set up and developing their slogans and their posters.  I was asked to write the text of our poster in English.   The kids decorated the poster in English.  The theme for the week is a positive attitude and the theme for today was do a good deed.  We were encouraged by the orphanage staff to do a good deed and to also compliment people, especially orphanage staff. 

We also played soccer and did crafts.  We didn't have time to do our lesson, but Chari thinks that she can get two skits into one lesson and combine the two themes. 

We also had an orthodox priest come to the orphanage today.  Some of our team members met with him and some kids and had an interesting time learning more about the orthodox faith.  In addition, some went to the local Grace home.  The Grace home is an apartment, supervised by Svetlana and her husband.  Five boys live in this transitional housing apartment while they adjust to their new roles in college, technical schools and universities. 

So, now we have to make plans for the talent show on Friday.  We have to provide 5 acts.  I have to find one.  ARGH.