Greetings from Kyiv, Ukraine!
I arrived on schedule and with all bags! It is always a great relief to see the checked bags come through the conveyor. After a seemingly endless travel and all of the woes associated with such–cramped seating, stuffy air, cramped leg muscles, indefinable “food” in plastic trays, etc it was wonderful to get out!
Now I’m clawing my way through the fog of jet-lag.
Upon arrival at the Borispol airport we were hit with a cold blustery wind. I had left Little Rock in heat and humidity so it was really a change to feel the cold and immediately don the jacket!
My first day in Kyiv was spent going to different meetings regarding a group of containers that have been “stuck” for some time. The reason for this problem is the consignee. He was one that we had never used but was referred to us by those I thought had wisdom. An operating principle I have always used in agreeing to work with consignees is that they are put through a validation process and proven to be reliable. Because of the one asking us to use this consignee I made an exception and that has proven to be one of those “lessons learned in the school of hard knocks.” During this trip I have scheduled significant time slots to deal with this issue!
Yesterday in Ukraine was “Faith, Hope, and Love Day.” So the custom is that on such “name days” you are to greet everyone with the name day and especially are you to send greetings to those who are named with the name of that day. So faith is “Vera” and love is “Luba” and hope is “Nadia.” I was standing at a coffee shop and waiting for my order and a pleasant young lady came up to me and said, “Today is faith, hope and love day. Has anyone greeted you yet?”
Last night the group from Hillsboro arrived. They boarded the night train to Ivano-Frankivsk and will be busy with various actions until they leave to conduct a family retreat in Yarmanche. I and Ron Swang will be joining them soon as we both have various tasks that need attention before we join the main group.
Pray for our efforts!
John L. Kachelman, Jr.
Kyiv, Ukraine
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