Back From Poland

I arrived safely back from Poland yesterday morning. Things did not go exactly as planned (or even remotely close at some points) but they are temporarily behind me. I may only have six months though before going through this visa process again.

First of all, customs officials did give Jenny (other American intern) a hard time about being two days over her 90-day allowed stay. Sometimes it is hard for us to distinguish between bribe and actual fine because an official can show us the paperwork and make everything look legitimate, only to pocket the money himself. Which is what I think happened but I'm not sure we could have done things differently. What we did not stand for was the cost of the fine suddenly jumping from $75 to $150 when only one official was left speaking with us (that after he closed the door to our room)! He made that one a little too obvious for his own good.

Krakow, Poland was a very pretty city. It was much more English-friendly than Kiev and I was surprised at how much easier most aspects of communicating and traveling in that city were. We got our visas taken care of only to find that the Ukrainian Department of Religious Matters has currently given permission for us to stay only until the 15th of December. Please be praying about that. It is most likely something that can be changed but it will take a lot of hassle here in Kiev (putting a lot of extra work on the shoulders of New Life church) and it will probably involve us making another similar trip to reapply for new visas in December.

We had quite a hang-up returning directly to Kiev according to plan so after much walking between train stations, wi-fi hotspots, and bus terminals, we were able to devise an alternate plan for returning. Online train and bus schedules are wildly inaccurate, with errors ranging from discrepancies of arrival times to showing train itineraries that simply do not exist. Basically, you have to do everything in person, on the spot. Trains we expected to take out of Poland were either non-existent or fully booked for two days after our planned departure. Thankfully, we found an overnight bus that took us to Lviv, Ukraine, giving us a place to sleep for the night and also giving me my first experience with claustrophobia.

We spent the day walking through Lviv, which is the center of traditional culture in Ukraine (and a very pretty city). The weather was pretty nice and both Jenny and I had some friends there we were able to get in touch with and see during the day. We were also able to get train tickets for an overnight train leaving that night and getting us back into Kiev Sunday morning just in time for me to shower and make my way back into the city for church. I am very glad I went because there was an American choir from Atlanta leading the worship and they sang some songs in English. I did not have any idea how much I missed worshiping in my own language!

God was watching out for us the whole time, I'm sure. Everything here involves changes to expectations and plans. It's simply a part of life. It's very frustrating and time-consuming, and it drains the energy right out of you, but that's the way it is.

I'll post some pictures when I have the time. The next two weeks will be busy ones of rehearsals and worship services Tuesday-Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.