Written by Holly
Dealing with foreign currency always presents an interesting challenge. While we had prepaid most of our costs, there were a few things we had to pay in person in Russia-- including our meals and accommodations at the Camp in Voronezh. We were originally told that we should be prepared to pay in rubles, and given the lousy exchange rate if you buy rubles from the USA, I figured I would bring my ATM cards and withdraw the funds in Russia. I alerted my banks to the trip, checked my daily limits, and brought a total of four debit cards for four separate accounts so that we would have plenty of back-up options.
Despite this preparedness -- all four of my bank accounts were frozen. {sigh} I wasn't sweating yet. I figured we would get to camp, I'd call my banks and get things straight, and then withdraw the funds on Saturday when we went into town. We arrived at the camp and our friends notified us of a change in our plans: we would not be going back into town on Saturday. I shared our financial situation and they said, "Oh, paying in dollars would actually be better."
If I had known that, I would have brought dollars with me! But I didn't. I still called my banks and had everything unfrozen, but we weren't anywhere near an ATM. Now, the organizers at the camp are friends and certainly would have given us the grace to get the funds on Sunday - but I wanted that to be a last resort. (Funny note - at the ATM in Russia, I could choose to withdraw dollars or rubles!)
I sat down with VIP, shared the situation and said, "Does anyone have any dollars we can borrow to pay this bill?"
The singers immediately jumped in to help. I have $22 dollars! I have $100 dollars! I have $16 dollars! By the time we all emptied our pockets, we had enough to pay the bill. We wrote down all the singers' names so that I could repay the kids.
It felt like such a disciple moment! I had this wonderful image of the disciples pooling their funds and sharing what they had. It was truly a God-inspired moment, and I was grateful to the singers for their generosity and help.
Dealing with foreign currency always presents an interesting challenge. While we had prepaid most of our costs, there were a few things we had to pay in person in Russia-- including our meals and accommodations at the Camp in Voronezh. We were originally told that we should be prepared to pay in rubles, and given the lousy exchange rate if you buy rubles from the USA, I figured I would bring my ATM cards and withdraw the funds in Russia. I alerted my banks to the trip, checked my daily limits, and brought a total of four debit cards for four separate accounts so that we would have plenty of back-up options.
Despite this preparedness -- all four of my bank accounts were frozen. {sigh} I wasn't sweating yet. I figured we would get to camp, I'd call my banks and get things straight, and then withdraw the funds on Saturday when we went into town. We arrived at the camp and our friends notified us of a change in our plans: we would not be going back into town on Saturday. I shared our financial situation and they said, "Oh, paying in dollars would actually be better."
If I had known that, I would have brought dollars with me! But I didn't. I still called my banks and had everything unfrozen, but we weren't anywhere near an ATM. Now, the organizers at the camp are friends and certainly would have given us the grace to get the funds on Sunday - but I wanted that to be a last resort. (Funny note - at the ATM in Russia, I could choose to withdraw dollars or rubles!)
I sat down with VIP, shared the situation and said, "Does anyone have any dollars we can borrow to pay this bill?"
The singers immediately jumped in to help. I have $22 dollars! I have $100 dollars! I have $16 dollars! By the time we all emptied our pockets, we had enough to pay the bill. We wrote down all the singers' names so that I could repay the kids.
It felt like such a disciple moment! I had this wonderful image of the disciples pooling their funds and sharing what they had. It was truly a God-inspired moment, and I was grateful to the singers for their generosity and help.