In Moldova!

Well, as I must do every 90 days while I live here in Ukraine, I have left the country for a few days in order to get a stamp in my passport that qualifies as "registration". So, I took the 7:15am bus out of Krivoy Rog, and arrived in Odessa at 4:00pm! The bus had a VERY poor heater, and so my feet were frozen for the whole length of the trip. It was SO LONG!! So when I got to the bus depot in Odessa, I immediately went to the ticket counter to purchase the ticket for the second half of my trip to Chisinau, Moldova. I asked the lady there if I could get on the soonest bus that AVOIDED the disputed state of Prinistrovia (a militant separist state in Moldova that is run by a very real Soviet government). She told me that the only bus like that to leave that day would leave at 10:15pm and arrive in Chisinau at 3:00am!! This meant 6 hours of waiting time in Odessa, and then a 5 hour bus ride into the night! Being that I had no other choice, I took the ticket.

It didn't take long for the bus to reach the border. The difference here is that when you cross the border, you first go through an "exit customs check" (in this case Ukrainian), and then an "entrance customs check" (in this case the Moldovan.) So, a customs guard came onto the bus and took all our passports and took them into the office to check and stamp. Sure enough, I get summoned into the office to be questioned. First off they ask me if I know the rules of how long I can stay in country before needing registration or before having to leave the country (which is my case). I told them it was 3 months, and that very day came to 3 months, so I thought I was technically safe. Well, they corrected me and said the rule is 90 days. My 3 months added up to 92 days. "You must pay a fine no lower than the equivilant of $50," the guard said. Then he seemed to threaten to deport me for a while. Perhaps it was only talk to scare me. I still don't know. But then he went on to ask what I do in Ukraine. I told him of our ministry, that I am a missionary, and that we help the children in the orphanages. The three guards in the room looked at one another and spoke in hushed tones. "He helps our children!" I heard one say. The lead officer then turns to me. "You're forgiven," he said, "You can return to your bus." I was a bit dumbfounded. I stared at him with a bit of shock. "You can go," another guard repeated, this time in English. I finally processed in my head what was going on. "Thank you so much," I said as I turned and left the room.

Entering Moldova was no problem. I got to Chisinau at 4:30am and hired a taxi to take me to some missionary friends' apartment. Since being here I have made several friends with the American missionaries here in town. Their ministry is very amazing, and I have great admiration for their work. I honestly feel at home here, and that they have been my friends for a long, long time. Yesterday one of the girls here brought in a stray kitten from outside. They went out and bought flea killer and we operated on the cat. I helped! We removed some 50 fleas off the poor thing, and she is looking so much better! Who would have thought I would come to Ukraine to clean a cat of fleas!

I will head on back to Ukraine tomorrow. I just hope and pray that the border guards don't give me trouble on the way back in. :)