Starting Points

Whew, where to start.
In February, I went to visit Frieda from Mission Russia, in Pretoria. I got back to Johannesburg energized and filled with energy and anticipation for Russia.

Over the next few weeks I finalized my budgets for studies and arranged an appointment with my boss (and good friend) Deon Kruger, to discuss the budgets and discuss confirmation of the proposed support from the company.We had a great meeting and he confirmed a figure of support for 12 months, that the company would pay me the support in the form of a basic salary while I study in Russia. This support would provide me with an ongoing job which I believe is good for visa purposes.

He indicated that he could use my services for as long as I could give him before I go to Russia. I told him I was adamant that I wanted to leave in July for Russia, and he said that the offer of ongoing employment is open for as long as I require (how privileged am I to have such awesome friends and support (only God can do this)).Within a couple of days though, there was a new announcement on the website of the organization I wanted to study through indicating that tuition fees for Russian studies at almost all Russian Universities were to increase by over $3000 per annum (on top of the existing fee structures), so I had to rework my budgets, and I realized that if I went in July, I would struggle to survive with the living expenses I envisage if I am to study full-time.

So I did lots of soul-searching and lots and lots of reworking of figures etc. and eventually realized that I could not leave in July, and would have to postpone my studies by 6 months. On reworking the costs to this new scenario, I realized that if I worked for the additional 6 months, I could go to Russia for a year with an income equivalent to 80% of my current salary, so I ate humble pie and went and told my boss I would be available to work at MGM until the end of 2008.

I was unbelieveably depressed about this at the time, but also realized that God must have had some reasons for this.I have since done further investigation and have been in touch with Irkutsk State Linguistic University directly (yes, Irkutsk... still on my heart) and have found that if I deal with them directly I can study Russian and another subject called "Siberian Studies" full time at a much reduced rate than if I went through the original organization I was planning to go with. They have advised me that all lectures are in Russian though, so have advised that I should study Russian a bit before I go (am currently in touch with a contact from the Russian Embassy in Pretoria who is hopefully going to put me in touch with a tutor ASAP). They advise that if I do not know Russian, that I join their classes during the September semester and that if I am able to speak some Russian, I could consider the January Semester...

...whew big decisions, as I might need to go back to Deon and ask to leave in September... all a bit up in the air... need to pray about this.Have a lot of thinking to do and re-working of all the figures and options to see when I can go... and need to consider so many things:
* need to ensure my dog is looked after
* need to ensure my clients are comfortable
* need to ensure my flatlet is either sub-let or cleared out
* need to consider my church's welfare too...

I'm really the only person leading worship there right now (other than the pastor who is fulfilling all other roles, a big burden on his shoulders)Would really appreciate your prayers on this, as it would be truly a miracle to get to go to Russia this year (or even the beginning of next year) but I would be pained to further delay the trip to September next year...Hope this gives you insight to my changing struggles.

Paul