A Child is Born or Feeling a Little Lighter in Madrid

The blessed day has finally arrived. Oh, the wonder of the miracle of life--an occassion full of promise. What will become of this child?

On the one hand, there is hope that this little angel, who has just come from the presence of He who created all things, will find a path that will lead to joy in this life. A life full of service and benefit for his/her family and his/her fellowman. On the otherhand, there is another creature, with the same promise, who makes his/her way a path of destruction, who finds pleasure in preying upon the weak and the innocent. A person one who has mastered his/her craft, not without much study and practice. "Here a little, there a little, always willing to lighten your load," so the song goes (Master of the House from Les Miserables). One of the lowliest creatures in all humankind...the pickpocket.

This freak of human nature found his or her way onto the Metro in Madrid and despite precautions taken to zip up every pocket, an innocent was victimized. It was 9:00. The next stop was the airport terminal. What was not apparent to the victim at the time, was a sharp little bend in the track, that could be counted on to throw the unsuspecting passenger off balance. A circumstance that surely many have fallen victim to in the past. A nudge, at this instance, would not only go unquestioned; it would be expected. It was the perfect trap.

In an instant she found herself with an unquestionable confirmation that her passport had been taken, causing an unexpected nauseous feeling deep in the pit of her stomach. She dared not submit to what she was thinking about. Surely, she had misplaced it. But the zipper that had been secured just moments before, was now completely open. There could be no doubt; her passport was gone, along with her new Russian Visa, a credit card and 1,000 roubles. It was the beginning of what would turn out to be quite a trying day.

Immediately we set off for the U.S. Embassy to try to obtain an emergency passport. Uncle Sam came through in flying colors. Eight-two euros and three hours later we were on our way to the travel agency to see if we could not pursuade the agency to call up all of their powers of persuation to get the Russian Embassy to re-issue the visa, based on the former Letter of Invitation (LOI). The first word uttered from the agent's mouth, in his primitive English and a shake of his head, was "difficult." We pressed further and with the help of our office staff (who translated our case over the phone from Moscow/he was Russian speaking), he called his contact at the Embassy. When we heard words like Harashow and Ladna, even Chris and I knew we were making progress. Despite having a typed message on the new passport, explaining that the passport had been re-issued due to theft, we were instructed to go to the police station and obtain a more official affidavit. We hoped and got a purple stamp. (You know how the Russians like stamps.) We were back with our documents by 4:30 and we were told to return with 330 euros at 18:00. We had a quick bite of pizza with the Rees' and returned to claim Chris' passport with the new visa at the appointed hour. Now, we only needed new plane reservations and a driver in Moscow. Two phone calls later and the arrangements had been made. It was a team effort and there were a lot of prayers, and by 8:00 this morning, despite the obstacles, we were home, once again, in Moscow!!

Just a couple of months, prior to this incident, a couple who also lost one of their passports, were stuck in Spain for 20+ days, not because of the passport, but because their LOI didn't get processed correctly. It normally takes 3 to 4 weeks to obtain a Letter of Invitation, which would have been a disaster in our case, since we are just in the midst of organizing the Mission Presidents' Seminar, among a few other important items. For us, there was no guarantee that they would process the LOI twice!

We felt very blessed and are very happy to be home (in Moscow!!)

I will post tomorrow about the fun part of our trip...daytripping in Toledo.