Dear partners in the gospel, and in our lives and ministry,

No visa yet.

If I do not get it tomorrow, I will be stuck till Monday, for Thurs-Sun is a Russian holiday. The consulate will not work.
Surely I will get it tomorrow afternoon. I paid for express service, so …

I am holed up in a room provided by the grace of Pulaska St Church in Warsaw. I have a small room to sleep in with a pull out couch bed, but also access to a kitchenette, nice shower, and a conference table to work at — no one has used it since they gave the ‘apartment’ to me. Really nice of them. I sure hope I do not wear out my welcome but get to fly to Kiev Wednesday morning.  I will then take a train for Simferopol with the hopes that there will not be a problem at the border with Ukraine letting me cross into the Russian occupied Crimea. I (presumably) will have a visa to satisfy the Russian border guards. Trains have not been really regular this summer, probably due to he low numbers going to Crimea. So, not sure of the date of departure from Kiev, but my 30 day visa will be ticking away from whatever date they have listed on it. I was due to have it by the 9th.
I know you are praying. This is a fallen world, heaven will have to wait — but the various ways in which heaven does touch the earth makes the journey more joyful than if we only see the things we stumble over in this world, a world in which the debris of its fall is everywhere.
Keep praying for peace and a united Ukraine. Tough times for the young nation. If it does not make good on its current situation with a new opportunity to change its corrupt ways, I cannot imagine its future. Keep praying for my staff, those who are settling in in Western Ukraine, and those who are learning to work with less staff and fewer of their long-time friends around them. In a ‘highly relational’ culture, it is especially hard for people to be separated.
 
Blessings,
Georges