Arrival at St. Petersburg Apartment

My flight was great and it was not crowded which makes flying overseas a lot more comfortable. I arrived in St. Petersburg on Tuesday evening with all my bags and no problems with customs. As a matter of fact, I was off the plane, through passport control, and had my bags in the lobby within about 15 minutes! That’s a new record!

In the last 45 minutes of the flight, a snack lunch was served that included a small chocolate bunny. I thought, should I dare ask… but I did. I asked the stewardess if I could have any extras or if anyone on the plane was not going to eat them, I could give these as gifts to the kids at the orphanage and day center in Sosnovo and use it as a lead-in to explain the real meaning of Easter. When I got off the plane, more were given by the Lufthansa stewardesses. I was thinking… “how am I going to explain this to customs if I’m stopped!“

My son Sergey and his brother-in-law Misha were there at the airport to take me to the apartment/office I usually stay at. Misha has a car and uses it as a taxi. When we arrived, Vica, the Program Manager for SAC was there to open the door and give me a key.

After getting my bags to the room, we all went to dinner at a little café around the corner. The pictures are of the building and street I live on. By 10:30pm I was in bed after being up for 30 hours! I was awake at 3:30am due to jetlag. So, finally at 4:30am I decide to get up and work on my computer and check e-mail.

When I checked e-mail, I learned from a letter that a friend of mine had passed away on the previous Sunday. Homer Reynolds was an attorney in Plano for the last 20 plus years and he helped me develop the legal documents to make SAC an official non-profit and tax-exempt organization. He did all of this free of charge as a way of helping out the SAC ministry. Homer wasn’t that much older than I was. I was shocked and sad to hear of his passing. I’ve know his wife, Sandra for many more years. Sandra went with Hunters’ Glen on our first mission trip to Russia in July of 1999. She saw the seedlings of what would later become SAC starting on that trip. Both Homer and Sandra have been dear friends and supporters of the SAC Ministry. It made my first day in Russia sad and difficult. Please remember to pray for Sandra and her loss of her husband Homer.