Answers

We had a safe and easy trip. Thank you, Lord!

It looks like we've found an apartment. Please pray that everything will work out with that, if it's what the Lord has for us.

Will tried to go back to Russia and was not allowed into the country. Please pray for us to be able to get our belongings here another way.

Moving

We're leaving tomorrow! Please pray for us as we travel.

Once we get to Ukraine, please be praying for us to find an apartment that will be good for our family and ministry.

Also, once we're there, Will needs to get to Russia and back, to bring our things from there before May 10. Please pray for him traveling and for the logistics of that trip.

Thank you!

Almost hard to believe!!!

OUR VISAS CAME! Now we really can leave on May 1, and we don't have to live with the suspense of waiting for visas any more. PRAISE THE LORD!

(Please be praying for our friends the Beairds. They have tickets to go back to Russia April 30, but no visas yet, as far as I know.)

Buying tickets

We just sent off the check for our tickets. We should be leaving May 1! Please just pray that our visas get here in time for that. (I hate the suspense of having tickets before visas. We've said before that we'd never do that again, and now here we go. . . . We really do need to leave as soon as we have visas, so it's better not to wait.)

Here and gone!

Our invitations just came in, and Will's already sending them off to apply for visas! Praise the Lord for one step that happened just on time, and keep praying for speed.

Tickets

We have started looking at plane tickets to Ukraine!

The short version: Please pray for us to get tickets at a good time.

The long version: We should have our visas on April 28. It would be best if we could leave as soon as possible after that, so that Will has time to enter Russia and move our things to Ukraine, before his Russian visa runs out on May 10. The earliest that one travel agency could give us was May 5, which is cutting it close. Please pray for good tickets, good timing and good prices!

On their way

Our invitations were ready, and DHL picked them up, so they're on their way to us. We just found out that they'll be here on Monday! Then we can apply for our visas.

Next step with invitations

Will got a hold of Sasha in Ukraine without any trouble last night. Sasha said that actually, our invitations should be ready on Monday; he doesn't have them in his hand yet. He will email us on Monday to let us know, if they're there. Then, Will can schedule a DHL pickup for Tuesday. So, the prayer request is that they really will be ready on Monday!

Invitations

Our invitations are ready! Now we have to get them from Ukraine to here. Will's getting up at 1:00 in the morning to call and arrange that.

Visa update

This is what I posted on our blog:

Our friends Pavel and Tanya are in Ukraine, visiting relatives. Pavel has been working on getting us invitations. We sent all of our information to Sasha, a relative of his in the Baptist Union. Sasha just wrote, saying that he would pass it on to the missions department for them to apply for our invitations, and that it only takes 3-4 days for them to come through. So, if he turned them in right away, we could have invitations ready by early next week! Then, he will mail them to us, and we will apply for our visas. Please pray that all would go smoothly and quickly!

Moving forward

We have a region of Ukraine chosen. Now we're working on visas. Please pray that they'll come through QUICKLY. Pavel, our friend and pastor from Kovrov, is visiting his relatives in Ukraine now, and he's working on getting invitations for us. Please pray that will go as quickly as possible!