(Caesar would've been proud.) The first leg took us to Lublin, where we stopped around 6:00 for lunch at Burger King. Most of us were in good spirits, but Bev was miserably sick.I was acquainted with a variety of Christian traditions, having been born into a Disciples of Christ family with Catholic relatives, and having attended Baptist churches in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Ohio. My time at Oklahoma Baptist University gave me a good grounding in world civilizations, worldviews, and church history. In the summer of 1995, I taught English in the Xinjiang region of China. And in 1992 my dad (director Randy Pope) had accompanied Don on a previous trip to Russia. This background was of great personal help throughout the mission.
Don's frequent reports of his trips and his helpful advice prepared the team in what for most was their first international ministry experience. Most of the choir numbers had already been performed several times, and we spent a great deal of extra time in rehearsal, especially learning hymns in Ukrainian.
It was particularly appropriate that the night before the trip, my family attended the premier of Independence Day, which for all its flaws did carry a message of international unity that helped set the tone for the trip.
Our family met the sound crew at the church at 11:30 to load equipment into the vans. Dad did some last-minute work on upcoming orders of service and spoke briefly with our church's new assistant director Steve Lamb. We proceeded to the airport at 1 pm, saying good-byes to church members and preparing to board the Continental plane with the mission team. When we were paged for boarding, the announcer referred to us as the "Victoria Livingston Ministry Team."
The plane left Dayton at 2:50, scheduled to arrive in Newark by 4:20. Storms arose over the east coast, forcing our plane to circle Jamestown, Ohio, for half an hour before proceeding to the alternate location of Richmond, Virgina. Continuing storms caused diversions to Washington, D.C., and finally to Philadelphia, where we landed to refuel at 6:15. We remained on the ground (and on the plane) for 100 minutes, during which time the flight attendants served us the remaining pretzels and drinks on board. Also during our stop, Rick and Sheila Ford and Kirk and Janet Hughes appointed themselves Encouragers. They wrote two songs parodying our situation (titles: "We'll Fly Away" and "We're Proud to Be Encouragers"). Janet suggested to Don that we each adopt prayer partners (by drawing their names) and give them gifts from time to time. As was revealed later, I drew Don's name, and Joy drew mine.
Our plane finally arrived in Newark at 8:30, over four hours late. Our connecting flight to Milan was long gone, so we bought dinner at the airport, and Continental Airlines put us up in hotels (us in Radisson, others in Holiday Inn). One notable incident at the airport: many of our group spotted Ivana Trump passing us in a club car while we were on a moving sidewalk.
Our scheduled day to tour Miland and/or Venice was instead spent in the US. We ate breakfast in our own hotels and had lunch together at the Radisson. At lunch, the Encouragers read a list of the top ten reasons to fly Continental Airlines (written in light of the previous day's delays). Reason #1 was "See half the continent in a 1 1/2-hour scheduled flight." Halfway through the reading, a man seated just to the right of the Encouragers noted that he was a pilot for Continental, but he recognized the humor of the list.
We stored our carry-on luggage at the airport and split up to explore for an hour. I joined Max and Joy in eating ice cream and fruit drinks. Max informed us of an outing some of the group had taken that morning. The walk, supposedly a half-block trip to a souvenir shop, turned out to be a mile along a highway and through gang territory to get to a gas station. Most of the group turned back at the sight of several Hispanic youths standing by a car that was blocking the sidewalk.
The choir held a rehearsal at an airport waiting area. Shortly afterward, we boarded an Alitalia flight to Milan. While boarding the flight, my dad was selected for a random luggage check. Behind him, as it was thought later, an employee apparently took all Max's tickets for the rest of the trip, rather than only one. (Max later found the rest of his tickets.) Our flight left at 6:40 pm and was scheduled to arrive in Milan the next morning at 8:00, actually a mere seven hours and twenty minutes later. As a result, we lost a night's sleep.
Many of our group attempted to nap while the onboard movie, Cutthroat Island, played in front of us. It was not a terrible movie, but you will not find it on my list of favorites. The flight gave us our first taste of "real" Italian food--that is, all of us except those who ordered steak. As Don put it, my dad's steak was so undercooked that it mooed when he cut into it. Oddly, there was an Australian crew aboard the Italian plane taking us Americans to the Ukraine.
We arrived in Milan as scheduled but with barely enough time to claim our luggage and take a 75-minute bus ride to another airport to catch our flight to Warsaw. Due to a bit of carelessness on the part of the luggage handlers, Don's keyboard fell on the runway as it was being loaded onto the plane. The only noticeable damage was that the middle "G" no longer worked. (Try playing any song without "G.") The relatively short flight lasted from 11:25 am to 1:05 pm.
Members of the Luts'k church, led by pastor Benjamin, met us at the airport, as did translators Lyuda and Mira. We loaded up and boarded a bus to Luts'k at 1:30. Our long bus ride was, as a whole, divided into three parts. (Caesar would've been proud.) The first leg took us to Lublin, where we stopped around 6:00 for lunch at Burger King. Most of us were in good spirits, but Bev was miserably sick.
The next leg took us to the Poland-Ukraine border, which the Ukrainians had taken six hours to cross. We got across in ninety minutes, but only after armed guards came onto the bus to check our passports. One guard took Kirk's passport, absentmindedly put it in his pocket, and left the bus. Pastor Benjamin stopped the bus and ran back to retrieve it, at great risk to himself. (You're NOT supposed to leave the bus between the borders!) The last leg of the trip was mostly without incident.
We arrived in Luts'k around midnight, and the bus dropped off team members as we reached each host home. Don was one of the first to leave the group. The last dozen of us were taken to the Luts'k church to wait for our hosts to pick us up. My parents and I were the last ones dropped off, at 1:45 Saturday morning. After 37 hours awake, we were ready for bed, but our hosts had a meal ready for us.
Our hosts' home was surrounded by a large garden, the source of most of their vegetables. Baby geese were kept in the front yard, and a dog and some chickens were out back. There was an upper level to the house, where the five children slept, and our room was off to the side. In our room were three single beds covered with comforters that had blankets inside. Across from the beds was a large bookcase of a type found in most master bedrooms there. On one wall was an ornate Turkish tapestry. (Remember that Turkey is just across the Black Sea from Ukraine.) The small size of the house and the simplicity of most of the furniture and appliances might give the impression to Americans that these were poor people, but they were actually quite well off for a Ukrainian family, and they did not lack anything they actually needed.
Basic Facts about the Trip (members, music, itinerary, etc.)
