I am feeling much better tonight than I felt last night. Had a good night rest. Actually I hit the hay at 9 p.m. and slept until 8 a.m. I cannot remember the last time I slept that long. My flight yesterday began with a major delay in Columbus. Thus, it cut my connecting time in Chicago for international flight from 2.5 hours to about 15 minutes. 15 minutes in Chicago OHare airport is not enough at all. I even received a notification through United that I have been rescheduled for another international flight. Not sure how that actually works especially because I had another connecting flight in Germany. At the end I made it safely even though I was breathless and my luggage made it as well. I was greeted by one of the Harbor staff. After I checked into a place where I am temporarily staying had a meeting with our Harbor staff. I was tired and my brain was not functioning at full capacity like it usually does. The bottom line the meeting was not as uplifting to me as I had hoped and actually I was discouraged in some ways. The meeting was pretty much related to local fundraising and business project development. The biggest goal of the Harbor is to become self-supported organization. You might recall that we have hired last year two additional people for our local fundraising team so that there will be more fruitfulness. Well, in some way there is a progress, but on the other hand not as much as I had hoped. Moreover, it is tough to see when there is no synergy and other aspects as well. Now I am trying to gather as much info as possible and then will need prayers for wisdom in making the right decision for the future. I prayed for comfort last night because I felt heaviness on my heart. This morning when I was spending time with the Lord I was reading Romans 5 and through the Word God gave me comfort. This morning I found an apt and will move there next week. The price and location was right so I am thankful for Gods provision. Had a meeting with Valerie who was an orphan, been to the states on a hosting program, whose younger sister has been adopted, but Valerie unfortunately wasnt. Valerie works as a psychologist in a kindergarden and has a huge heart for the children. Originally she is not from St. Pete, but has been here now for awhile. In the Soviet Union there was a federal requirement established to have what is known as propiska, which basically means a residency. Even as a tourist when you come to Russia for more than 7 days then it is required to register with the Federal Migration Service that tracks every person who is in Russia and most of all where you are. I always tell people that even though Russia has not been a communist country for over twenty years, but there are many left overs or side effects that have been engraved into the system and a culture. Everything in Russia is connected to propiska and if you do not have one then you will face many challenges. Many corrupt agencies been establish that help you to have propiska and charge a hefty fee. Valerie paid such fee thinking that the agency was legit, but recently found out that the agency has been shut down and now she has no propiska, been charged a hefty penalty and potentially her foreign passport might be recognized illegitimate by the government. Basically it is a mess. She needs prayers that God would provide her either the funds to buy her own place or find someone who would give their agreement to register her. My schedule for tomorrow is quite full. In the morning I am going to a hospital with Oleg the Harbor new National Director to visit Kostya one of the Harbor graduates. Recently he somehow fell from the second floor of an apt building and broke his foot and some other bones. I am grateful that he did not injure his spine because he could have been paralyzed forever. Prayers for the healing are appreciated. Then I am meeting Elya the realtor and an attorney who is helping us to locate the building for the vocational training center. I will know more tomorrow so stay tuned. Then I will meet with Sasha a former orphan who is now on fire for the Lord, been teaching computer class at the Harbor training center and doing a lot of other amazing ministry reaching to broken hearted and my final meeting tomorrow is with Sergey our local fundraiser. One of the things that many of you including myself been wanting to know what is the current political and economical situation is in the country. Yesterday I decided to visit one of the largest malls in the city, grocery stores and a coffee shop. Well, the prices have gone up. On one hand prices jumped significantly and people are feeling a crunch, but on the other hand not much has changed. Yes, there was a moment when a few weeks ago there was definitely a chaos where people were buying tons of metro tokens, various household appliances and more than one at a time (i.e. 3 TVs, 2 refrigerators, etc.) Here is an example. At a coffee shop I had soup, salad and a drink and the total cost was 240 rubles = $3.63. It is not that much in USD, but for a Russian person it is not cheap at all. My good friend used to get paid 24,000 rubles = $750, but now his 24,000 ruble salary = $360. Thus, his 24,000 rubles does not buy as much as it did before especially when he has a family of 4 people to care for. The cheapest drink at a Starbucks coffee was 160 rubles = $5, but now the same 160 rubles = $2.42. Of course, if you come to Russia with USD or Euros then you can swim in milk and honey, but if you get paid in rubles then not so much. Shelves in the grocery store are fairly empty, but that is primarily due to embargo on certain foods. Lots of stores having major sales trying to get rid of clothes that were previously purchased and once they get rid of old stuff they will either raise prices for new batch of clothes or might simply be forced to go out of business because they wont be able to survive. It will be interesting to see what will actually happen in the next 4 months or so. Many economists are predicting that inflation rate this year will be as high as 17%, which will kill many businesses eventually. Another example - tonight I had dinner at one of my favorite places in the city called Market Place. If you know me well enough I do not need to eat that much to be satisfied/full. Well, before my dinner would cost between 250-300 rubles = $8-9, but now the same 300 rubles = $4.50 so for me personally since I come from the states and bring USD it is good, but if I lived in Russia and got paid in rubles then I would be having a difficult time financially. Hopefully this gives you somewhat a decent understanding of the current situation. I will continue to keep you posted and give you more examples. I took some pictures. My plane is landing in St. Pete so there is snow, but it is not super cold. Actually it was much colder in Columbus than it was in St. Pete. A new terminal baggage section and a Christmas tree at the Galleria mall. As always I could share so much more, but I think for now it is good. Your continuous prayers, love, care and support are greatly appreciated because I could not have done without it. Thank you!
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 20:47:54 +0000
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