City of Romance  

Both Elina and Irina originally sent their photos, bio information and letters to City of Romance. In 1995, Elina was among the inaugural group of lovely women to grace the web pages of an upstart company that would quickly grow to one of the largest and most successful international picture personals and romance tour companies in the world.

Needless to say, Elina immediately caught the attention of Ron. As one of the founding members of AFA, Ron was not shy about getting that first letter on its way to Elina. "I am the perfect example of persistence paying off. I was the one who called her regularly. I was the one who actually went there to finally meet her. Elina received many letters from many very nice men but I was the one who persisted and followed through."

Elina is obviously grateful for Ron's persistence. "I liked him very much but I wasn't sure. It means so much to a woman that a man cares enough that she can hear his voice. That she can have the chance to meet him." Business called and Ron was off to Russia to establish our St. Petersburg operations and Elina soon became his chief assistant and office manager of the new St. Petersburg office. Ron and Elina spent more than a year together in St. Petersburg developing the business and coordinating our tours.

After a job well done and obtaining a fiancee visa for Elina, they returned to Phoenix in October of 1997 to move on to new frontiers and carry out their long awaited marriage plans. There was, however, more than one set of marriage plans brewing in the office.

Irina sent her letters and photos off to City of Romance in October 1996. It arrived at our offices in early November. "A friend of mine who had met (and ultimately married) a Dutch man through City of Romance convinced me to send this. I really did not know what to expect," Irina said.Rob is the Graphics and Production Coordinator at AFA and one of his responsibilities is to open and process the many profiles of lovely women that arrive at our offices every day.

Out of all the thousands of beautiful women AFA represents on their pages, this one was special. "She (Irina) had the prettiest smile and the brightest and most hopeful eyes I had ever seen in a woman." Literally hearing a "WOW!" from across the room, Rosemary Agee (our Data Input Manager) asked for an explanation of this comment.After getting this and inspecting the catalyst of the more subtle "Man!" that soon followed, she suggested to Rob that he should write Irina a letter. In other words...use our service! Rob remarks, "I still haven't paid the $9.00 for her address. I guess maybe I should."

"Rob, however, was a little shy about mixing his business life with his personal life. "I felt like the employee who smuggles a few office supplies home now and then. Like I was cheating the company." So Rob initially ignored Rosemary's suggestion and Irina's photos and letter were sent off to the normal processing channels. However, after a few weeks of thought and regular peeks at Irina's file, a letter was soon on its way to Russia by early December.

When I saw the letter in my mailbox I turned to little Gleb (her son) and said...This could be from your future Papa, Irina jokes in retrospect. Little did she realize that it was!"We always encourage our clients to send several letters initially. Not just one.

So I had convinced myself not to expect anything or get my hopes up," Rob reflects. "I had volunteered for Christmas duty that year and when I arrived at the office I noticed a fax in the fax machine that I didn't immediately pay attention to. When I finally did, I was shocked to find out that it was from Irina. She had just received my letter and wish me a merry Christmas." Indeed it was.