I was brainstorming ways to blog about Russia and thought ok I'll do Russia Part I then Part II and so on... but the idea just made me not want to write at all. That part by part thing just does not work for me and this trip. So I instead will share random moments worth sharing.
It was the beginning of the trip, in fact we had not left the country just yet. I was unsure of what to expect. We already drove to New York City and we had to simply pick up our Visas and passports. It sounds easy, but you have never had contact with the Russian National Group. They are strange. Whenever we called to set up our Visas, they would find a way to confuse us and say something different from the person we talked to five minutes ago. One said "You do not need a picture" the other said "You do need a picture" and much more. It was a painful process. So from our point of view, we had to pick up these important documents within a few hour time frame and catch our plane ride to Moscow and this would be a challenge with these people. Who knows... maybe they would change their mind again and say "You need your grandma's first dog and second cousin here in order to pick up these hyper-sensitive documents." and we would utterly fail and miss our flight. And be stuck in New York City for the next three weeks, pretending to be in Russia. (We began thinking about our Plan-B strategy just in case that happened).
We got to the building before the office opened so we stood around and got bagels and coffee. People would walk by and we would check if it was open once in a while. There was even a lady in a white dress who stood around with an eye-patched man. They kind of made out while we ignored them, waiting and worrying. Then Dasha and I went again into the elevator to go to the second floor to check if the office was open. This time the lady in the white dress joined us in the elevator. She got off on the second floor. Dasha and I looked at each other as she headed towards Russia National Group office door and started to open it with her keys. We, with much delight started talking to her (the office was still not to open for more than two hours or so), and she was the manager. After asking for our Visas and Passports, she simply handed them to us. Not only that, but she gave us all the other ones as well.
Looking back at the moment, it was awesome how God planned it all out. The manager was there early with eye-patched man, going into the same elevator as us, and handing us every single persons passport without questioning us. God is just awesome in the way He does things.
And He showed us that before we even crossed the border. In the journal Dasha called it "Miracle on West 30th Street (!!!)"... Well said Dasha.
More to come. :)
It was the beginning of the trip, in fact we had not left the country just yet. I was unsure of what to expect. We already drove to New York City and we had to simply pick up our Visas and passports. It sounds easy, but you have never had contact with the Russian National Group. They are strange. Whenever we called to set up our Visas, they would find a way to confuse us and say something different from the person we talked to five minutes ago. One said "You do not need a picture" the other said "You do need a picture" and much more. It was a painful process. So from our point of view, we had to pick up these important documents within a few hour time frame and catch our plane ride to Moscow and this would be a challenge with these people. Who knows... maybe they would change their mind again and say "You need your grandma's first dog and second cousin here in order to pick up these hyper-sensitive documents." and we would utterly fail and miss our flight. And be stuck in New York City for the next three weeks, pretending to be in Russia. (We began thinking about our Plan-B strategy just in case that happened).
We got to the building before the office opened so we stood around and got bagels and coffee. People would walk by and we would check if it was open once in a while. There was even a lady in a white dress who stood around with an eye-patched man. They kind of made out while we ignored them, waiting and worrying. Then Dasha and I went again into the elevator to go to the second floor to check if the office was open. This time the lady in the white dress joined us in the elevator. She got off on the second floor. Dasha and I looked at each other as she headed towards Russia National Group office door and started to open it with her keys. We, with much delight started talking to her (the office was still not to open for more than two hours or so), and she was the manager. After asking for our Visas and Passports, she simply handed them to us. Not only that, but she gave us all the other ones as well.
Looking back at the moment, it was awesome how God planned it all out. The manager was there early with eye-patched man, going into the same elevator as us, and handing us every single persons passport without questioning us. God is just awesome in the way He does things.
And He showed us that before we even crossed the border. In the journal Dasha called it "Miracle on West 30th Street (!!!)"... Well said Dasha.
More to come. :)
to this day im still astonished by this episode. I think God was showing us how foolish it was of us to worry so much about it
ReplyDeleteWow, that's awsome how God started to work in your group not even getting into the country. God couldn't wait to start working within your group, and further show how great and awsome He is! He showed you that He was with you all from the very beginning!!!:)
ReplyDelete