If you are traveling with us on a winter mission trip you will want to
read our
winter travel information .
Nothing ever goes as planned in Eastern Europe BE FLEXIBLE.
Understand that you go as
a servant and so you must carry with you a servant's heart. This alone will make you
stand out as a true Christian.
Bring a Bible.
We will be staying in one
or two rented apartments for the two weeks we are in Russia. This is paid for from
you housing deposit.
Bring all of your prescription
medicines. Bring an extra supply, just in case.
Clothing
Do not bring
brightly colored clothes, expensive jewelry nor expensive looking jewelry. This will
make you stand out as a foreigner. For clothing try to pick muted colors. Both men
and women should bring a pair of hiking boots or tennis shoes. Bring a light-weight
sweater.
Clothing For Women
Women must wear ankle-length
skirts while ministering. The wearing of skirts is a Russian custom that we must honor
in order to avoid offending the non-believers. Non-believers watch foreign Christians
and judge them based on their own Russian culture. A plain black or dark colored wrap
skirt works well, for example. Bring jeans or slacks to wear while working in the Vacation
Bible School (VBS). Do not bring sleveless blouses.
Clothing For Men
Bring jeans or dark slacks.
Do not bring kacky slacks these will make you stand out. Bring T-shirts or other casual
shirts (polo or button down).
Luggage
When
we travel to Russia we take the maximum amount of luggage, which is four checked
pieces per person. Instead of traditional luggage, we use Rubbermaid containers which
are the maximum size the airlines will allow on European travel. Each person will
be responsible for four containers. The
airlines will allow you to check two pieces of luggage at no charge. You may also
check two additional pieces of luggage (for a total of four), which are counted as
excess luggage. Because two of the four containers count as excess pieces we must
pay $100 each, for the two excess pieces. Four in the Fire Ministries, Inc. will
pay the excess baggage fees from your travel deposits. We use the excess bags to
transport medical supplies, toys, candy, Bibles, tracts, books and videos.
You
may bring two suitcases to Atlanta as well as a carry on piece of luggage. You will
transfer the contents of your suitcases into the containers and the remaining space
will be used to pack the containers with the medical supplies, toys, candy, etc.
This allows us to maximize the amount of humanitarian relief supplies we can take
with us. Do not worry, you will not be solely responsible for physically carrying
the luggage. Our friends in the US will help us get to the airport and our Russian
friends will meet us at the airport and will help carry our luggage.
You might be
asking, "Why not just ship the stuff ahead of time?" Well, we would, except
that the Russian government can, and has held up separate shipments for periods as
long as one year. To avoid this, we take with us everything we will need.
Money In Russia
It
is illegal to use US dollars in Russia. When you exchange dollars for rubles, the
exchange rate is different if your money is written on, torn or has bank stamps on
it. When I was in Russia in January of 2000, the official exchange rate was 27-28
rubles to the dollar. However, if I had attempted to exchange old dollars that were
soiled in some way, I would have only received about 22 rubles for each dollar.
Why is this?
You and I know that dollars are dollars, but in Russia, a dirty dollar is worth less.
The reason is that if a naive tourist travels to Russia with "dirty" money
and attempts to exchange it, the exchangers can make more profit by refusing to give
the full exchange rate. In other words, there is no legitimate reason for lowering
the exchange rate, except for greed on the part of the exchangers.
With that in
mind, only take with you the new type of $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100 dollar bills. Make
sure there are absolutely no pen or pencil marks on the money. Make sure there are
no bank stamps or anything else on the money.
Credit Cards in Russia
Do
not assume you will be able to use credit cards. While in Moscow, you may be able
to use a credit card at a hotel, if you are a guest, but since we will not be staying
in a hotel while in Russia, credit cards are worthless. You will want to take one
or two credit cards with you for use in Amsterdam, Netherlands. If you have an ATM/Debit
card those can be used in Moscow to obtain money.
The content you find here is excerpted from our
Russia Mission Trip Survival Guide.
For a good understanding of our trips please read the Survival Guide in its
entirety. Actually reading the Survival Guide is a requirement to go on our
trips. The best time to read it is as you are deciding whether to go to
Russia with us.
Other Pages of Interest
You
can read about our
future trips .