Monday, January 08, 2007

To Russia...With Love

This is going to be an act of love. I am scared, yet excited. I hope (and you can pray) that I can find a traveling companion-maybe one of the Missionaries church members, or family members.

Kursk is about 6 hours South West of Moscow by train. About 18 hours from JFK to Moscow. So..do I fly out to NY and spend the night, get to Moscow and spend the night...so many questions. God has the answers.
I am investigating what priorities are-as far as Visas, Passports, official letter of invitation, topics needed, clothing requirements etc. I will be a Visiting Professor at the University, so do I need suits? Does a "respectable" woman there wear pants?

It is going to be exciting to see how God does this all.
The main difficulty in the transition from Orphanages to Foster Homes, is of course financial. Russians are poor. A child is another mouth to feed. Orphans themselves are leery of leaving the known for private residences. Just as in a prison, orphanages have surrogate families that get set up. To take one child and not another is traumatic.
I guess lots of posts will be about this. I've found very little about Kursk itself, some lovely photos. One friend said a Russian friend's advice was to "Pack as if you are camping". I think that may be wise.
More to come.

3 comments:

Vanessa said...

Let me work on this...have an acquaintance who is a missionary to the Ukraine and his wife is Russian.

klasieprof said...

Vanessa, YOU would be a logical choice to come with me. YOU are an adoptive Mom, have been through the process..he wants me for about 2 weeks.

Anonymous said...

hey I travel to and from Kursk Russia once a year, maybe I can help you. see www.calvarymonument.org
seek out the Intern, Rich