Kherson non-taxi story

Here's a publicly shareable Kherson story. After we picked up our residency cards and turned in Jaan's new application at one Migration office, I wanted to go to another to talk to an expert there. He wasn't answering his phone, so we went into a coffee shop to have a place to sit while we waited for him to call back. I heard someone speaking American English in that tiny coffee shop, so I did something very out-of-character for me: I asked who he was and what he was doing in Kherson. He answered that he is an American blogger, and he had just arrived that day, because he wanted to tell the world the truth about what's going on in Ukraine. Then he asked who I am. I said that I live in Ukraine, and I'm American, too. And then the Ukrainian man sitting with him looked up and said our last name. What?!?! I had never seen him before. He said that he knows people at Migration and had heard of us. A few minutes later I clarified: does he work for Migration? He said that he works with them. Hmm. The blogger said that he hadn't been able to get into the city, but that this nice man was helping him. Okay. We drew our own conclusions. It was a rather bizarre interaction, but a good one. I'm glad to see anyone curious about Ukraine coming to see for himself.

And that's it for now. We're off to camp in the mountains. 

Taxi story #2

This one isn't even my story, but I just love it. Zarina Zabrisky, who is a journalist well worth following everywhere you can find her, posted this great video clip of a singing taxi driver:

Document details (slight update at end)

More taxi stories coming soon. For now, something else.

I keep asking people to pray about further progress on our documents, and that's enough, if you aren't interested in more. But if you are interested--if you want to understand just a bit of what it's like to always live under the shadow of immigration status and laws--here's more.

We actually have it pretty easy here on migration. The standard way for foreigners to stay long-term is to get a D visa at a Ukrainian embassy in another country, then come into Ukraine and use the next six weeks to apply for temporary residency that lasts for a year. For many years we would then renew that every year without leaving the country. We didn't have a basis for anything longer term. Then in October 2023 they added five years of legal temporary residency in Ukraine as a basis to apply for long-term residency. Finally! But at that point we were living in the legal limbo of Resolution 1202. (Our residency cards had expired, but didn't need to be renewed.) I just hoped that after the war, we would be able to figure something out with the new rules.

Jump ahead to now: the law changed, and we have new short-term residency cards. We're completely legal for a year. But we're already trying to figure out what comes next. And it's a little complicated. As time went by, the understanding of Resolution 1202 came to be that expired documents were legal for entering and living in Ukraine, yes, but not for everything else. Not for opening a bank account, for example. No one knows yet if the years that we were here legally but with expired cards count toward the five years of legal residency in Ukraine that we need. Migration in Kherson is consulting with their lawyers, and people are trying to figure out what to do with us.

This also affects my plans to apply for citizenship. If the past few years of residency don't count, I might just have to live here for five more years, before I can even apply. We can pray that it won't go that way, though.

Will is supposed to call the man we've been talking to in Kherson tomorrow. They should have answers by then, and I'm really hoping that our most recent five years count, and that we can go ahead with working towards citizenship (for me) and long-term residency (for Will). If not, we can keep renewing every year for five more years.

(Quick update: nothing new from the phone call. We're supposed to try to connect again next week, if that will be possible at camp.)

Taxi story #1

First, I'll repost a story from January that I had already shared on Facebook: 

The app I like for other places doesn't work here, so I decided to try a local one. It didn't seem to be working with my bank card, so I paid for two trips with cash. Then I got a call from the driver who brought Asya and me back from the tax office. He said that actually the app had taken money from my card, so he found the other driver who we had ridden with on a different trip, brought back the money for both those times and left it for me with someone at the door to the church. Not only are these drivers out there on the roads without traffic lights, dodging drones (in the snow now, too), they're incredibly honest and kind. 

 I still carry the note he left with the money in my wallet as a reminder about kindness and honesty. 

A detail that I didn't share before: this taxi was in such bad shape that I wasn't sure it could go as far as we needed to, and the driver appeared not to have bathed in a while. But the car and its owner both showed me not to worry about appearances.

Kherson taxis

We're back from our trip. Thank you for praying.

Honestly, I can't write much about Kherson lately. I don't like to say publicly exactly when we're there, and I can't say much about other details that touch on life and ministry there. Amazing ministries in Kherson need internet silence. The security services check our phones for photos on the way out of the city every time, and I wouldn't post them if I had them. 

Kherson taxi window

But, I think I need to start a collection of Kherson taxi stories. These days when we're there, we get around almost exclusively on taxis, which--by the way--are cheaper than in Ivano-Frankivsk and Kyiv and "safer" cities. Public transport can be dangerous (although I was happy to use the free trolleybuses the last few times I've been there), and now it's often not running at all or on very limited schedules and routes. So.... 

Taxis are often my "we're not in Kansas anymore" moment of culture shock anyway when we go back and forth between worlds now. In Ivano-Frankivsk they're more expensive (but still not too bad), nice cars, and the drivers tell you to put on the seat belt if you're in the front seat. They have AC in the summer, heating in the winter, and their windows aren't broken. The drivers are polite and professional. In Kherson, I hadn't even seen a taxi with unbroken windows until this most recent trip, the cars are mostly old and beaten up... and then we did get a Tesla, but that was an anomaly. The drivers are the nicest, bravest, possibly weirdest you can imagine, but if you would try to put on a seatbelt they would probably scream at you: it's way too dangerous to wear a seat belt in Kherson! 

 I'll follow this with a few taxi stories.

Quick post

It isn't time for me to send out another letter yet, but I wanted to post quickly here to say that Will, Jaan, and I will be traveling again tomorrow to work on documents. Will and I will be getting our residence cards and updating our registration; Jaan is starting the application process again. Asya and Bogdan are staying back this time. Please pray for our travels and for the ones not going, too. (This is neither here nor there, but you can pray for Raia in Alaska while you're at it. Then you'll have all of us covered.) Also, I'm really hoping that we can figure out more of what comes after this with documents for us: permanent residency for Will, citizenship for me, or whatever. Please pray that we can get a consultation with someone who knows what to do and figure out good next steps. Thanks!

Easter Day

Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed!

As the Easter season continues, I want to go back to Easter Day, which was April 12 here. I was rushing to get us back from Kherson to Ivano-Frankivsk in order to be able to celebrate with the church here. As the leader of the children’s ministry, I had planned the day’s activities and left instructions of what to do if I couldn’t be there, but I didn’t want to miss it. The other teachers and I were excited about the idea of baking “Resurrection rolls” with the kids. I found us an oven to borrow, and they did a quick version at Capernaum club the day before without me. Then on Sunday morning I did it again with the church kids. We had all the kids together for the Easter story, baking, and a craft. Unlike our small Christmas celebration, I think every child who could come did, plus a few. It was great and wild fun. The main thing was that they heard the story of Christ’s death and resurrection and felt the joy of the day.

This little one was disappointed that her marshmallow disappeared. Oops.

After the kids' celebration, there was food for the whole church, then fellowship and games. Then our own family came home, took photos and rested. I'm not sure I like this pattern of holidays and travel that we've had--rushing back from Poland just before church Thanksgiving, in a bus all day Christmas, trains from Kherson on the eve of Easter--but that's just the way it has worked out. And, like I've said before, I'm especially loving the Easter season this year.