Part time job!!

Tonight was my second session teaching Business English at an employment agency. They are such eager and willing students... it is a joy to work with them. The financial crisis has us all tightening our belts so when this job opportunity came around I eagerly accepted it!!

Just as we were about to start going over the article they were assigned to read entitled "How Not to Sound Like a Fool" one of the women raised her hand to ask me a question.

"Is it acceptable to ask questions about your presidents?"

I told her I was willing to answer any questions and would not be offended. She swallowed hard and said:

"George Bush makes lots of grammatical mistakes doesn't he?" She immediately covered her mouth and looked down.

I told her that he has made his share of blunders and she compared him to a former prime minister here in Russia. His name is Victor Chernomyrdin. She said his Russian grammar is horrible and he frequently said things that were just not quite right.

The former president's mistakes were not part of my original lesson plan but we will discuss a few of them next week during the warm up time at the beginning of class. I need to get on line to find some of Victor Chernomyrdin's as well... next week should be an interesting lesson.

Praise God!

On Wednesday, we had the appointment to see if we could get some type of financial assistance so that Tom could have his gallbladder surgery before we return to Russia.

We found out that we qualify for a UNM Care medical plan that has a 5$ copay for a doctor visit and 25$ copay for emergency room or surgery.

We are so grateful to everyone who prayed for him. This is such a blessing. Our hope now is to get Tom in to see a doctor very soon and for surgery to be scheduled not long after!

Today we leave Albuquerque, New Mexico and head toward Topeka, Ks. We will drop Spencer off along the way so that he can travel with a group of youth from Andover and Wichita to the Young Life Camp he will attend in Colorado.

After Tom speaks in Topeka on Sunday we leave for Edmond, OK where both of us will be speaking at a Celebrate Recovery meeting on Monday.

We get a brief time out at a Bed and Breakfast before we go back to Andover to retrieve Spencer on the 17th.

Eye Exam

Yesterday I was able to get an eye exam and order new glasses.

It was a little different to have my eyes checked here. I had to read the eye chart in Russian! She didn't have the large machine that we are used to in the states. You know the one that you sit in front of and the doctor changes the lense choices by turning a dial. Instead, she put a pair of glasses on me that was capable of holding two sets of lenses. She manually changed the lenses and asked me which was better.

The eye exam cost 30 rubles ($1.12)
The frames were 730 rubles ($27.34)
The lenses were the most expensive part at 1250 rubles ($46.82)

I used the most recent exchange rate of 26.70 Rubles = 1 USD

So for a grand total of $75.28 I will be able to pick up my new glasses today at four in the afternoon!

Tax Day

not American taxes... Russian. Our tax bill went to Alexei's mother's house in the city of Maikop. She paid them for us because any delay could cause additional penalties. Lena brought over all the receipts for the payments her mother in law made. And I gave her money in return. The bill was a grand total of:

307.00 RUB

307 Russia Rubles = 11.3940 USD


I paid 11.39 in taxes for the year on our apartment. How many of you would like that for property taxes?!

Lena stressed several times how important it is to keep the receipts because it is common to get more than one bill for the same year. And we must be able to prove that we already paid it. This happened to the church property. They paid a penalty double the taxes because the paperwork was misplaced.


Alexei is registered as a citizen in Maikop and that is why our paperwork went there. It went to the address of his registration. He is registered here in Krasnodar only for medical services. Before the purchase of our apartment he had to go to Maikop for medical care and Lena had to go back to Ukraine. Since we purchased the apartment they were able to get medical services here. If you live in a city other than the one you are registered in you cannot qualify for medical services and other benefits unless you own property. We had other couples ask us if our apartment could be purchased in their name. However, since Alexei and Lena are our ministry partners we choose them.