John Zaitseff’s First E-Mail About Russia and Ukraine 2005

From:	John Zaitseff <`J.Zaitseff@zap.org.au`>
To:	Many interested readers around the world
Date:	Friday, 1st July 2005 at 13:19:03 AEST

Subject:	Going to Russia and Ukraine in July and August

I promised that I would write to you about going to Russia, and so I am. I will be travelling to Russia and Ukraine this year, departing on Sunday 17th July and returning to Australia on Friday 2nd September.

I will be working for about three weeks with a team of Australians from a Christian missions organisation called Love for Kids Russia. This will be in a children’s camp not far from Tula, itself around 200km south of Moscow. We will be working as camp counsellors, showing in practical ways what it means to be a Christian and, particularly, that God loves them.

After the children’s camp, I plan to travel to Ukraine and spend some time being with Pastor Vladimir Franchuk, as well as travelling around the country. Finally, I would like to spend a couple of days in Beijing on my return journey.

My itinerary is currently something like this:

Sun 17/7/05	Fly out on Air China flight CA176 at 11:20am. Feel free to see me off, at around 8:30am!
Mon 18/7/05	Arrive in Moscow with the Australian team
Tue 19/7/05	Day in Moscow
Wed 20/7/05	Travel with the team to the children’s camp near Tula
Wed 20/7/05 to Sun 7/8/05	Working in the children’s camp
Mon 8/8/05	Back in Moscow. The rest of the team are flying back out to Australia on this day.
Tue 9/8/05	Travel to Mariupol, Ukraine
Wed 10/8/05 to Fri 26/8/05	Travel around Ukraine, hopefully at least to Kyiv (Kiev), Mariupol, Sevastopol, Yalta, Odesa (Odessa), possibly to Lviv and the Carpathian Mountains to the west of Ukraine
Fri 26/8/05	Travel to Moscow
Mon 29/8/05	Fly out from Moscow to Beijing
Tue 30/8/05 to Thu 1/9/05	Sightseeing in Beijing
Thu 1/9/05	Fly out of Beijing at 6pm
Fri 2/9/05	Arrive in Sydney on Air China flight CA175 at 9:55am

It will be the first time for me in both Ukraine and China, so it’s all quite exciting! I would appreciate it if you could keep me in your prayers. In particular:

that our team would work well together, and be effective in showing God’s love in actual fact,
that we would be kept safe and sound, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually,
that I would have God’s specific guidance while I travel, so that I am useful in His work; particularly for “God-appointments”,
that we/I say the right things at the right times to the right people in the right way!

Please note that I most likely will not be able to receive e-mail while travelling, so if you would like to send me something, please do so before I leave on the 17th. I look forward to hearing from you.

I very much look forward to sharing the amazing things God will do through us on my return (Lord willing, of course!). Until then,

All the very best,

John Zaitseff