Our Stuff Arrived!

Well it is here and we got it! Somehow I couldn’t help thinking about all the hoopla as Geraldo Rivera and the TV crews covered the opening up of the famous “Al Capone’s caves” in Chicago. What I remembered of course is that they did not find any old skeletons - literal or figurative - anything to bring back memories of Al’s glory days. In fact they found nothing!! As we heard the reports of the Russian customs officials opening it at their Finland border, I thought of Geraldo’s red faced surprise. Every report of the collapse of Russia’s economy conjured up images of our precious stuff in some open air market in the tundra. Then the less than honorable customs people here held the container in their possession for a month. Sorry to say my faith in man was not what should have been, I was thinking the worst.

I am glad to say I was wrong! It’s all safe and accounted for. It couldn’t have been a worse day to open the container. It is 20 degrees below Celsius - can’t do the math into Fahrenheit. We had to dig away a snow drift which blocked the doors. The seminary heating system is not working. So at least there was no shocking temperature change for our bodies as we carried things from the container into the building - from  freezing outside to freezing inside! But all complaining aside, we thank God for getting our stuff across the many miles. Take a look at you map and trace it - Hilo, to LA, to Finland (via Panama Canal I suppose), then to Almaty by railroad. It’s really quite amazing.

Then there’s the irony of asking, “Why did I bring this!” Which is a question we’re not asking too much because after having been here last summer we were able to know what we would need most. And the beds? Yes, the beds are here and God willing tonight I will get to try it. Actually the boys got to try theirs last night. It was easier to transport the singles in our seminary van to our apt. Besides we felt they needed a special treat because when I got home last night and took the elevator up to our 11th floor apt. I heard shouting come from the other shaft. There’s 2 elevators. You got it, all three of them had been stuck in that elevator for over an hour. Thank God I was able to get the building foreman and get them out in about 15 minutes. What an experience for them. I’m glad they were all three together. It was definitely a bonding brotherly experience.

We’ll that is our big news for now. Gotta get back to unpacking our boxes.