Yeah read right - I got the visa today!! No hassles. Hardly a wait. But I'll get to that in a bit!
The morning started early once again - I wanted to get the visa thing done and over with! So I went downtown to where I understood I could find the particular bank I had to pay the fee at for my Ukrainian visa. The procedure is to pay at the said bank by presenting them the bill from the embassy. On the bill is written all the bank account information for the Ukrainina embassy. Then I would get a reciept from them, and then submit that reciept at the embassy to get my passport back, visa and all. But first of all, all the trains and subway trains were SLOW today. At each connection, I had to wait at least 10 minutes, and even when I got on them, they drove way slower than usual. Not sure why. So I went downtown to where my map said I could find the bank I needed. I got there only to find that this location was only their offices. No tellers. So then I rushed a way's accross town to another branch. This one had tellers. I made the payment, and headed on to the embassy, several blocks away.
At first when I came into the embassy, there were many people standing around the outside doors. They were the overflow line! I thought, 'wow, how long will I have to be here in this line up?' But then one person entered and asked, 'Who here is last in line for window number 2?' Thinking back to the other day I remembered that I was in line 4: the visa line. So then I asked everyone there in Russian, 'Is anyone here in line for window number 4?' One lady replied, 'Nobody here needs a visa; you should just be able to go right in! ' So I went in, told the guard what I was there for, and I onlz had to wait for two people in front of me. They were both helped really quickly, and when I submitted the reciept from the bank, the man left the window, and 30 seconds later had my passport in hand. With a smile he said, 'Das vidanya' ('Goodbye' in Russian).
As I received the passport, I looked over the visa inside for any possible mistakes. Under 'Visa Type' was written 'P'. I thought, OH NO!!!!' This is because I have always had 'Private visas' in the past. They have given me nothing but trouble. It's why I am stuck out of Ukraine! I figured, 'Well, I gave them the invitation letter which clearly stated that I am going to be in Ukraine for religious matters, so it must be right.' Then I realised: I read it in English!! 'P' in Russian is actually the letter 'R'!! This means I did indeed get the 'Religious visa' as requested. You don't know how the 'P' in my visa scared me. I almost P'd my pants! :) But now I know for certain that all is well with that!! Praise the Lord!!
I'll be flying out to Kiev tomorrow morning! Please pray for my safe travels, and that the customs agents don't give me any hassles! Thanks so much for following me on my travels! God bless!
That is so Good, Curtis. Our God is so good and so many of our prayers have been answered. You must be a kindred spirit - I would have made the same P=R mistake and felt the panic welling up inside. So glad that you have your visa, it is the correct visa. You are home fee now. Blessings as you hug those kids.
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