Day three

On Facebook yesterday, when we had our boarding passes to go from Chicago to Russia, I posted that walking in faith is exciting. I would like to tell you why I posted that.

From the beginning of planning this trip I was never really sure that I could take the time or afford financially to go. As the stock market got worse, I was even more concerned. I asked the Lord many times whether He was using these circumstances to tell me not to go. I thought to myself that I will plan for it but if one of the other SGA leaders wants to step in and go I will be happy to step aside and let them go in my place. It is really not a good idea for an individual to do this trip alone, so I didn’t want Bear off alone getting lost by himself. I might as well be there to help him get lost. Even though SGA takes care to provide travel support there are still opportunities for things to go wrong. I will encourage Bear to tell you about our experience last night when two non-russian speaking American men wander the streets of St Petersburg alone in search of dinner. Let’s just say that you should take a good look at what the doors look like when you leave the place you are staying, and you don’t know how to pronounce any of the street names other than Nevsky Prospect.

Anyway, our passports and visas were held up. The visas were complete on the 12th which gave us plenty of time for them to get to us before we left. I got a call from Harriet at SGA on Thursday the 15th saying that the Russian embassy in Washington DC would not release our passports and visa. No reason was given to her just that they were not being released. There was no problem with them but they just wouldn’t release them. On Friday I got the same call. Panic starts to hit. There is no way for the passports and visas to get to us before our plane leaves at 7:30 AM Tuesday morning. I called the travel agent to ask about moving our flight to the next day. The change fees and difference in rates would cost a couple thousand dollars to change by just one day. I had no idea how much this might cost in changing train tickets as well. The airline- Lufthansa – was unwilling to change anything in light or our predicament. Our travel agent called United (which was operating for Lufthansa) and said that we could board domestic to Chicago and then check in internationally once we had our passports. So, we asked SGA to send the passports and visas next day air to Chicago where we could meet someone to deliver them to us at the airport between flights. We had a 2 ½ hour window for this to happen and only if the Russian embassy would release our passports and visas on Monday. In my next conversation with United I was told that they would not let us board in Boise unless we had our passports and visas there. Now was a real quandary. We would not know if we were released for travel until Monday afternoon. On top of that we didn’t know whether we could even board in Boise without our passports (one agent said we could and one supervisor said we couldn’t). We were facing the very real prospect of either having to spend a lot of money to make this work or spending a lot of money and changing the conference dates. 17 pastors in the Tambov region had already scheduled their time for us to teach for a week and that would all have to be moved as well. At this point I realized that it wasn’t going to happen unless God wanted it to happen.

My prayer changed from God please make this happen to, Lord if this happens I know for sure that You want us there, let us be prepared and plan for everything to work out even though we don’t expect it to. I woke up early Tuesday morning with that prayer. Harriet at SGA had said that Russia had released our passports and visas and she would get them in Rockford, Illinois at 9:00AM. She would be at the airport to meet us at noon. We got to the Boise airport at 5:00AM and briefly explained our situation. The incredibly nice lady at the counter said, “Ok, we will just book you domestic to Chicago, you can pick up your passports up in Chicago and I will book your luggage all the way to St. Petersburg”. No arguing or pleading or looking pathetic (that is what our travel agent suggested). The reason that this was important is that if an airline puts you on a plane without all your documents then it is up to them to fly you back for free if you can’t enter the country. Booking our luggage through meant that we didn’t have to pick them up in Chicago and recheck them at the international ticket counter and clearing security again while still trying to make our connection through the busy Chicago airport.

Praise the Lord that He worked all these things out at the last possible minutes. I praise the Lord that He changed my heart in the process. I went from being scared about all the possible things that could go wrong, from business to personal, to realizing that this was His plan and not mine. That whatever happens is for His glory. That gives us a tremendous peace that wasn’t there before. Walking in the flesh brings all sorts of fears and concerns. Walking by faith is exciting…and reassuring.

We thank all of you for your prayers. God is pleased when His people pray. Continue to pray for us and for the pastors that will be at the training as well as Anya as she has to say in Russian everything that we say in English as well as take care of two rowdy Americans. God bless you all while we are praying.