The Longest Day!

Good morning! This is Pastor Andrea, writing from the church office at the Lutheran Cathedral of Sts Peter and Paul in Moscow. Our hosts here are Dietrich and Tatiana Brauer and their son Artur (nearly 3 years old). We're staying with them in their apartment located next door to the church.

We finally arrived last night at about 10:00 pm, several hours later than we had expected. Our intinerary (Minneapolis to Chicago to Warsaw to Moscow) hit its first glitch when we arrived at Chicago and realized that our Warsaw flight was delayed. The connection there was already going to be a close call, and we realized several things quickly: 1. Our decision to leave our cell phones at home or in the car may have been shortsighted. 2. There are no pay phones in the International terminal at O'Hare. 3. You can't get online without your own laptop. Argh!! There was nothing we could really do about it until we found out how things worked out in Warsaw, though. After a 2 hour delay in Chicago, we ended up making a Moscow flight 4 hours later than planned. Lots of waiting in the airports!!!!

Pastor Todd has now added a new life skill: learning how to use a Polish pay phone. Many adventures with figuring out the system of phone cards, etc. Another friendly American was willing to help us along and gave us a few minutes on her calling card, which was very kind.

Today's plan is to go on a walking tour of the area with a member of the congregation. The church is located just a few minutes from the Kremlin and Red Square, and we expect to also see the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the largest Orthodox church in the world. Should be a great day!