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Missionary, Daughter, Jailed in Visa Mixup
BELARUS (February 9, 2006) - Leonid Regheta thought he was going to a family
wedding. Instead, he went to jail in the former Soviet republic of
Belarus. But all the while, he says, God was at work.
On Sunday, January 29, Regheta and his wife, Leanna, both Evangelical
Covenant Church project missionaries to Russia, were traveling from
their home in St. Petersburg, Russia, to Berdichev, Ukraine, for a
cousin's wedding. Unbeknownst to them, the train on which they were
traveling passed across the border of Belarus.
While Leanna, a Russian citizen, was allowed entry, Leonid and their
toddler daughter, Linnea, who are U.S. citizens, were detained for not
having a valid transit visa. They were taken to a border crossing jail,
located in a sparsely populated area not far from the site of the
Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Despite frigid temperatures, the only heat
in the jail cell came from a barely functional radiator that had been
torn off the wall.
"My calls to (the) border guards for better treatment went unanswered,"
Regheta says. "At one point, they accused the United States of not
treating Belarus properly, so they didn't feel compelled to assist us -
American citizens - in any way, either. I demanded to see their
commanding officer, but his answer was similar. In fact, he told us he
was 'no Jesus Christ to help us.' "
The Reghetas were eventually released and told they had to travel to
Minsk, the capital of Belarus, to resolve their visa problem. "After
traveling the whole night . . . on a car, train and bus, my very
pregnant wife, our Linnea, and I made it to the visa services office in
Minsk," Regheta says, where they were nearly arrested before their visas
were finally granted - at a cost of $380.
They then bought tickets for a flight from Minsk to Kiev. After spending
the night in the airport, they flew to Kiev and then drove another four
hours before arriving safe, but weary, at their family's home in Berdichev.
While there, word of their troubles in Belarus spread among local
Christians and Regheta was invited to speak to a city-wide gathering of
pastors. "I had the very unique opportunity to address them and discuss
with them the Covenant's work in Russia, Ukraine and Moldova," he says.
Nine pastors there, he says, were interested in learning more about the
Covenant work in Russia.
He added, "I am sure I wouldn't have had that opportunity had we not
experienced the hardships of Belarus."
Rather than risk a return journey through Belarus, the Reghetas flew
home to St. Petersburg, where they arrived safely this past weekend.
"There were no problems once we landed in Russia," he says, "other than
dealing with minus 22 Celsius temperatures."
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
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