Sochi (Moscow) Istanbul

We left Volgograd for Sochi after I made the previous entry at the internet cafe in the Volgograd Hotel. Soon after the train departed I had a look at our Russian visas and discovered to my shock that they were expiring the next day. It was the strangest experience, how could this be a shock? Did we not know from the start when our visas would expire? It was like waking up out of an enchanted dullness to discover that impending disaster is upon you – you don’t know what is worse, that you could have been so dull-witted or that the disaster is upon you? The implication was that if we reached Sochi and there was no ferry to Turkey waiting there for us we would be stuck with expiring visas and nowhere to go.

In the face of this realisation of the urgency we were facing the relaxed atmosphere among our fellow passengers was very defined. Sochi is one of the holiday destinations in Russia and our co-travellers were enjoying the first day of their holidays with festive zeal. After our midnight stop at a town that is famous for its smoked fish the party atmosphere among the group of vodka drinkers in the carriage became a bit fishy too... but they left us alone and not being able to do anything to hasten our way or make sure that we would find a ferry waiting for us, we had another good night’s rest.

At dawn the view outside the window revealed that we had left the steppe for the forerunners of the Caucasian Mountains. Soon the train reached the Black Sea coast and we spent the rest of the morning looking out over its blue-grey expanses as we made our way south to Sochi. We could feel the tension rising as we approached Sochi. Just then we got an SMS telling us to read Exodus 14:14: The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.

On arrival we grabbed our little bags and made for the ferry harbour as fast as we could. Eugenie had spent a few days in Sochi on her previous journey and she knew exactly where to go. This was expedient because Sochi, apart from being on the longest conurbations in the world (150km), must also be one of the cities with the most pedestrian subways. So we pulled our little suitcases down the stairs through the shop-filled tunnel up on the other side of the street, down again, up again and down and up and...

The beautiful ferry-port building was basically empty with many unused ex-official spaces but we found one place that had a living person in it and were told to look for the ferry-ticket booth on the dock. Out we ran, and over and down not knowing why we were in a hurry because there was no ferry in sight. At least there was a person in the booth, but what she was there for no-one can really say because all she could tell us was that there was no ferry today, or tomorrow or any specific day that she knew of. All she could suggest was that we came back the day after tomorrow...

We spent the rest of that afternoon running around in Sochi up and down up and down with our little suitcases bouncing over the pavements. We went from the hotel to the Aeroflot office to the court back to the Aeroflot office to the home-affairs office back to the Aeroflot office... We discovered that there was no way to cross the border to Georgia that day. There was only a direct flight to Turkey the next day, but they could not sell us the tickets because we would not be able to leave the country after our visas had expired. To extend our visas was only possible at a fictional building that everybody knows about but no one has actually seen. We could not stay at a hotel or book a train ticket back to Moscow because we did not have visas. If we did not leave Russia before midnight the only thing we could do was to hand ourselves over to the police.

We were in the Aeroflot office wondering how the Lord would make His promise of Exodus 14:14 true when the lady in the queue behind Eugenie asked if she could help. She was Russian married to an English man and she offered to expedite comprehension between Eugenie and the lady behind the Aeroflot counter. The result of much talking this way and that saw us sitting in her brand new 4x4 on the way to the Sochi airport where she offered to take us. As it turned out the airport was more than 30 kilometres away and as we drove there the sun was setting over the Black Sea on the day that our Russian visas was expiring.

She stopped at a gas station where she exchanged cars with her husband and he took us to the airport. At the airport he set about discovering the parameters of our problem in his more fluent Russian. We were hoping to buy the tickets to Turkey for the next day and exit passport control to wait in no-man’s land on the airport for the night, but this was not possible. The only hope seemed to be in getting the last flight to Moscow that evening and throw ourselves at the South African Embassy the next day. We bought the tickets with his help and then to our surprise he took us to meet his wife again and they bought us pizza before returning us to the airport, explaining to us how to dodge the corrupt customs officials and what to do when we get to Moscow and sending us off. They said they had their own Spa business and that he was an expert bath builder, but I think that’s only a decoy – they are really angels...

The customs officials were as corrupt as we were told to expect and Eugenie did an amazing job at convincing them to let us go without the required bribe. We were on the flight and off the flight and when we had our luggage in Moscow it was 00:30. Our visas were expired.

The bath-builder told us to ask for the consul when we get to Moscow. The kind lady at the airport information desk helped us reach and he explained that he could extend our visa if we had a ticket out of Russia. We spent the night in the waiting area at international departures and the next day we had flu. With fever and runny noses we made the 3 hour trek through Moscow to the other international airport where Air Turkey flew from. There the adventure of misunderstandings continued for a few hours but finally we had our tickets and every hope that the consul at that airport would be issue the visas just before we fly.

Eugenie’s fever was very high, and while she was sleeping in the waiting room I spent about an hour trying to find a way of spending the last few Roubles we had. I finally got tree cups of hot milk from a coffee machine that we mixed the last cappuccino into – the best coffee in Russia...

The memories of the flight out, the arrival in Istanbul and the finding of the ugly little hotel are all washed in a haze of fever. We spent the whole next day in bed watching Turkish television in a rainy Istanbul.

Moscaw to Volgograd

Eugenie was her usual efficient self in getting us to
the right train at the right platform at the right
station at the right time in Moscaw. This is no small
accomplishment since there are more than 10 main
stations and the one we had to go to was a member of a
trio all built on top opf each other... for me it was
just a maze of amazement.

My lasting impression of Moscaw is a sence of lively
optimism. Spring is well on the way from there on
south, and while we had to struggle to find stones
through sometimes more than a foot of packed snow on
the stations between Murmansk and the capital, most
sighns of snow has disappeared within hours of leaving
Moscaw.

The interior layout of the train was the same as the
previous one we took - they look the same all over
Russia Eugenie tells me - but the atmosphere was very
different. The pale blond northerners were now far in
the minority and our co-travelers' features reflected
the final destination of our train in Tadikistan. Much
less alcohol and more open interest in who we are and
what we are doing.

They did not heat the truck we were in during the
night, so we had by far the coldest night of our trip
sofar, and we were glad to be able to get of the train
and walk for hours in Volgograd yesterday.

This is where the turning point of WWII was in 1942.
When Germany was stopped and defeated here the rest of
the war was a story of the decline of the 3rd Reich.
But it came at an unimaginable price in human lives:
more than 3 million people lost their lives her in the
space of the 200 day battle of Stalingrad.

We visited the was memorial this morning where a mass
grave for more than 30 000 people was errected on the
mountain that formed the pivital point of the battle.

Thanks for all who sent scriptures and prayed with us.
We made the proclamations at the Volga river this
morning and I know the Lord is doing amazing things
here, and His plans to make this a place of His glory
is great!

Now to Sochi where we hope to find a ferry to Trabzon
leaving tomorrow night... nothing about this ferry is
certain, so please pray for us that all goes well
withour crossing over the Black Sea to Turkey!

Kirkenes Murmansk Moscow

Our Russian border crossing was uneventfull and we
came to Murmansk late Tuesday night. Passing through
the restricted zone where towns like Nickel was
visable in the cold otside our buswindows was a bit
eary.

For lack of better information we stayed at quite a
nice hotel in Murmansk that night where we could enjoy
our last baths and get everything ready for the long
train ride to Moscow.

Early Wednesday we were plowing through the shlushy
streets of Murmansk to find a money changer and buy
our train tickets. Both of these tasks were done much
faster than we expected and we were able to enjoy the
rest of the day eating pancakes and looking at
whatever Murmansk had to show us. Its a real
industrial city without much decoration but it is
friendly alive and very vibrant.

That evening we got onto the train and settled in our
little coner of a 3rd class train wagon that sleeps
54.

The 38 hours that followed allowed us much opportunity
to onserve our Russian companions passing the time in
whatever way they liked best: the men next to us drank
a lot, but slowly, so it never got out of hand, the
ladies accross, slept and read, ate a bit read again
and slept some more. I spent my time with Embroidery
while Eugenie played Sudoko. And outside the white
forrests and lakes of Siberia passed us by.

We arrived in Moscow yesterday morning, checked into
Galina's flat where hosted in all the typical Russian
houshold comforts. Then we set out to see the CITY.
Eugeinie took me to saee the University, a very
impressive building, and the beautiful Sparro Hills
full of walk ways and with the most impressive view of
Moscow. We took the tram back and saw Moscow in early
spring.

We met Carol Singleton for coffee and prayer in the
late afternoon and then we went to look for a stone on
the Red Square.

Go to Go!!!!

Oslo, Kirkenes, Mehamn, Kirkenes

The evening in Oslo with Sandy and Christine was a
blessing beyond measure. After a refreshing walk
throught the old city we were back at our Pension just
in time to meet these ladies from the local
intercession network. We spent hours sharing on this
and other prayer journies and the amazing things God
is doing in Norway and in the world.

The next morning we got away late, mostly because it
takes so much longer to get dressed in all these
layers of clothing we need fpr this cold. We scuttled
down the hill where the Norwgian King has his abode,
and got on the bus half a minute before its departure.
Checkin at the Oslo airport went smoothly although the
security cost me my little bottle of drinking water...
We slept most of the flight to Kirkenes, where we
spent most of the rest of the long day in the transit
zone for our 16:30 flight to Mehamn.

Stepping onto that little 20 seater propeller aircraft
as the deap nordic dusk lingered was exhilirating. And
half an hour's flight later we landed in Mehamn, with
its single airstrip and its little wooden Airport. We
expected to find Dan, the guy from the Youth Hostle
that I had been dealing with in the reservation
process there, but instead Widar, his boss came to us
with his airport workers clothes and told us to wait
for him while he finished his work, then heæll take us
to the Hostle.

At the YH we discouvered that we are the only guests.
He told us Dan had a bad flew and that he would take
us to Nortkinn himself the next day. He told us tha
there was a Swiss group who started the 30 Km walk to
Nordkin the day before. Due to the weather situation
he has an arrangement with the local nature reserve to
be able to check if his hicking or skiin guests are OK
using snowmobil, even though snowmobil is not allowed
there normally. This is how we joined a *rescue* party
and got to doe the journey overland by snowmobil the
next day.

Yesterday must be one of the most memorable days of my
life. High thck snow gear that can keep you alive in
40 minus, snowmobil riding, blue sy, large expanses of
white snow covered wilderness, beauty beyond
description...

We prayed and left the stones from Jerusalem. We
picked up a styone from Nordkin, we returned at lunch
time, spent the rest of the day in Mehamn and last
night we borded the very nice ferry that brought us
back to Kirkenes. After dard we stood on the deck and
saw the Northern Lights! It was like curtains of light
green fire works covering the whole sky! Then suffenly
little purple lightning-like lights shot through the
green - we could only gawk in Awe! It was awesome.

Now on Kirkenes, waiting for the bus to Russia!

God is awesome!

Dubai Istanbul Oslo

We arrived inoslo at midday today after a LONG and amazing journey. The onboard entertainment in the Emerates Flight made my experience of Dubai swim in tired immages of Ratatouli and the Jane Austen book club in the back of my mind. We saw all in the transit area during 8 hour stay over there before we flew to Istanbul. Arriving there after sunset, we could feel the wintry parts are much closer now. Our taxi from the airport got lost in the old city, due to the strange traffic there, and we gor an hour long tour of the old city - amazing place! We spent less than 12 hours in Istanbul but it is already right up there amoung my most favourite cities in the world. The 7 hours sleep was a bit too little to restore and we feel a bit fragile, so please pray for our health. We had a good flight to Oslo, and though its really cold and rainy here we will be able to rest well before we go to the north tomorrow.

We hope tofind the Norwegian intercessors shotly!

Here we go

It’s a beautiful afternoon here in Pretoria and its hard to think that we’ll be on the other side of the planet when the sun goes down tomorrow. There was much grace in the preparation for this journey and I feel more able to experience the moment than during the mad rush our previous trips were characterized by.

Tonight on the plane, tomorrow morning in Dubai, sleep in Istanbul, and fly to Oslo on Saturday. Some of the Norwegian believers from Oslo may meet us there on Saturday evening. On Sunday we fly to Mehamen – one of the northernmost towns of the European continent. On Monday we will charter a little boat to take us to the farthest most northern point of mainland Europe: Norkinn. There we will build the altar with the 40 little stones from Mnt Zion. And only then the Highway Prayer Journey is officially begun.

Thank you for your love and prayers!

Ps. I am trying to send emails to this blog from my phone. I have not had any success yet. So if you see funny posts like the “lets try this” of earlier today, forgive me and pray for more technological anointing!

Lets Try this

Blogging!