03/08/2022
We are safely back in America.
As of last night our plane landed in JFK and we are currently driving to Cleveland. It was a very hard decision to come back. Hard because Russia is our home, our lives are there. We love serving the Lord there, our ministry is going super well and the Lord is blessing.
But on February 24, 2022 Russia entered Ukraine on a “liberation mission” which was received as an act of war. This changed a lot of things for us. With countries putting sanctions on Russia those same sanctions began to effect us. We felt prepared to live through those sanctions as they were implemented- not being able to pull cash out of the ATM, no international bank transfers, credit cards being frozen, no Facebook, and flight travel was restricted from many surrounding countries. Not all of these happened at once. This last Sunday, the Visa and MasterCard stopped working for any foreigners using foreign cards inside Russia. Hundreds of businesses have pulled out of Russia. KinRoss a Canadian gold mining company who provides jobs for 1,500 people of Magadan shut their doors for now. IKEA, Toyato, Lexus, Nike, Adidas, and more have pulled out of Russia. The Russian ruble has gone from 70 rubles to the dollar to 150 rubles to the dollar. It’s insane. The economy is collapsing right before our eyes. The Russian people are being hurt the most because of this war while many are losing their lives in both countries.
February 27, Sunday, James and I felt the Lord leading us to go back to the States for the time being. By Monday, we felt peace about staying and to get out of the country would be complicated. On Monday diplomats from each country sat down. We had hoped to wake up Tuesday to a cease fire agreement but that didn’t happen and the fighting intensified.
James and I both spent more time in prayer and by that afternoon bought tickets to fly Vladivostok to Korea , Korea to San Francisco, and then to Cleveland. That day we packed up 4 bags, cleaned the house, and called a church meeting with our people. With heavy hearts we explained what’s been going on in our hearts and how God was leading us. We left the next afternoon with a send off party. They were as sad as we were about it all.
After two flights the next day, we were told Korea isn’t allowing transfer passengers from Russia. Online it showed flights but it was only for diplomats and citizens. We were so discouraged- it was evening time and we were exhausted. I knew in that moment, I set the tone for my family and chose to remain positive. I told the kids, God lead us here. He will make a way for us.
We settled into the hotel and James spent hours on the phone. He came back with 3 options. The easiest being to just return back to Magadan. After a conversation with our pastor, he said returning home would be retreating and we should follow God’s leading. Option 3 was less desirable because it was a long trip but that is what we chose. We flew to Moscow the next day (9 1/2 hours) and rested there. We bumped into other missionaries who were also stuck trying to find their next plan. They too had planned to fly to Korea from Moscow. (We ended up traveling together the rest of the way to the states. This was a special blessing because it was refreshing to be in the same spot with someone who understood what we were going through. ) We then flew to St. Petersburg and took a bus into Estonia.
The trip to Estonia was a difficult one. The bus ride was supposed to be 6 hours with crossing the borders around the 3 hour mark. We ended up at the border crossings for almost 6 hours. A lot happened in that time and we saw some sad things. There are many people trying to flee out of Russia right now. Everyone cheered on the bus as we made it out of the Estonian border control and back onto the bus. Everyone was so tired. But there was a comradery among everyone. Everyone helped without being asked when there was a need. At one point, in Russia, I was being checked with the four kids while James was taken to another place for screening. They cleared us all and then the bus was reloading. There was no way I could take 2 half sleeping and crying kids plus 4 suitcases and 5 backpacks by myself. Two men grabbed all of our luggage and I took the kids on the bus. I had a moment of concern being on the bus with all our passports and children but no James. He joined me shortly but we sat and waited for others to get back on… the story goes on but I’ll stop it there.
It was so sad to hear everyone cheering as the gate opened into Estonia. This wasn’t a happy occasion for me, although I knew it was where we were supposed to be. There was a sense of relief that we made it out of Russia.
At 4am Estonia time we arrived in Tallinn. We were met by a missionary friend of ours (who served in Magadan for 5 years). The next day our other missionary friends joined us. Their trip in wasn’t as eventful as ours and for that we were thankful. We stayed in Estonia and enjoyed our time immensely there. We are so grateful for Bro. Mike Smith taking us in and spoiling our kids. Estonia is an amazingly beautiful country in need of the gospel! We flew out Monday to Poland and from Poland to NYC. And here we are almost a week of travel later.
So many have sent messages saying you were praying for us. It has meant so much. This last week was a whirlwind of emotions. Our pastor told us to make the trip fun for the kids. And we did just that. We made it into an adventure trip and took videos of our journey. They were hoping to find their friends at each new leg of the journey but instead found another clue as to where to go next. We didn’t want to tell the kids about the whole long journey ahead because it would overwhelm them. God is doing the same thing with us right now. We don’t know what lies ahead for us and hope to be back in Russia soon. We are trusting Him with each leg of the journey.
We have other missionary friends leaving tomorrow for the states and others who are staying in Russia. Pray for those who are trusting God where He leads them. Ukrainians and Russians alike and all those helping refugees need our prayers. War changes people. War can bring unity to a nation and a softening to hearts. Pray many will be reached with the hope of the gospel during this uncertain time.
