So life is funny, huh?! Well, we got together at 7:00 to leave for the bus on Saturday. We made sure that most of our luggage for the next three months was ready to put in Silas’ and Mike’s car. Mike and Silas were going to drive so that we had cars available for use while we were out of the country. So, five of us take the mashutka to the bus station and the real adventure (for us) begins. We walk by several buses that look likely that do not say Chisinau/Cernauti. We keep looking and finally find an old, ugly bus that from a distance, Andrea, Brandy’s friends says, “with our luck we will be riding that one.” How prophetic. The seats were close together, and were narrow, but that was the good part, at least we were close to our seatmates . . . because it appeared that the bus had no heat. There was ice on the inside of the windows, but one would assume that once the bus got going it would warm up. Stephanie and Andrea went to look for something to eat and in a short time we were underway. The further we went, the colder the bus was. There was a heater by the driver and his assistant, but the driver was a smoker so the window had to be open also. I truly was thankful for the huge down-filled coat that I have (thanks mom!). We made several stops and learned that while the bus was idling at bus stops it would actually warm up (relatively, we mean that it was not so cold), so we began to pray for many stops! We arrived at the border at 4:00 and found ourselves questioned by the border patrol (yes, the Americans held up the rest of the bus) and once on the other side we were met by the man who was the Bishop of the Baptist union who was working with Silas for our time in Ukraine.

Well, although it was cold, the van was nice and we waited for Silas and Mike to arrive at the border. We saw them come, and then we saw them turn around and leave. That was not good. It would appear that their papers were not in order for their cars. So, the nice man from the Baptist union went over to the other side of the border and tried to help them. The best they could do was make arrangements for us to walk to the cars (they allowed them to come closer) and get our most important suitcases and walk them back to the van. In the process we learned that we weren’t very cold before. BECAUSE WE TRULY FROZE during this time!

So, Silas left Mihaela with us and left to go back to Chisinau with Mike to get passports for their cars! Now, all of this was very stressful, but I have to ask, did you read that last sentence? THEY NEED PASSPORTS FOR THEIR CARS. Inanimate objects need passports. Very funny. So ends that little story.

Next story, we can’t stay here in this place very long, we have to make a decision about what we will do tomorrow in the absence of Silas, our leader with the assistance of his fiancé who is Romanian but just continues with the conversation without checking to see if we are following. She is learning English.

As soon as I can upload the pictures from my camera, we will post the one of Stephanie, Andrea, and Brandy keeping warm on the bus. Brandy laid across the other two girls for most of the trip! They were actually warm much of the time, except their feet.

We are being cared for well, here in Cernauti but must make decisions soon. Thanks for reading this email and praying for this rag—tag team of Americans wandering around in Eastern Europe. And pray for us to begin to understand the basics of Russian!