Archives for 2011

Greetings from Moscow, the most beautiful city in the world!

Oh, maybe not necessarily in early April when the snow is still seen here and there, when the people are confused about what clothes to put on in the morning and the only bright color on the street are the freshly and brightly painted fences all over the city. Even the Kremlin wall looks like it has just been painted over.

My first two presentations here were also very much “colored” – by the upcoming Easter! What are we about to celebrate: a beautiful dream? an ancient myth? or maybe a nice folklore tradition? I had a chance to present the evidence for the historic event of the life of Jesus to the students and teachers at the St. John the Theologian Gymnasia (High School) and to the open audience at the Pokrovskie Vorota Center (Catholic resource center). Both audiences emphasized the need for this material especially now when Easter spirit is in the air.

I am leaving for Bryansk tonight. It is a day earlier than planned but is necessary for me to help with my father-in-law’s funeral. Please continue praying for my family back in MN.

Let me share just a couple of stories from the last few days in Latvia.

First, please see the Certificate of Recognition they gave me at the end of the Teachers’ Conference on Sunday. I accepted it on your behalf, my dear supporters, prayer warriors and, of course, the FaithSearch team. However, the real recognition came in a day later when I talked to Dzintars and his wife Ina who translated the FaithSearch Discovery presentation into Latvian. Dzintars called to tell me that the Surprised by Faith book translation is also finished and he is talking to a local Christian book publisher about printing it even this year. He also shared what happened yesterday at the school where Ina is a teacher.

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Greetings from Riga, Latvia where I am having a presentation every day, and all of them – through a translator. Having had some translator’s experience myself I feel so much for them. Last night, I finished the FaithSearch Discovery Part II at Matthew’s Baptist Church at around 10pm. However, I could not say I was tired after I saw how really tired my interpreter was, after helping me to keep the audience completely captivated by the presentation for almost three hours! God bless her heart! Please pray for Ilga [eel-ga] as she is going to bear with me at least two more times in the next four days.

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Ready for a Lithuanian joke? Here it goes:

-Why have you built only one room in your house?
-Because there was no point of building less.

My days in Lithuania were very much like this: puzzling, curious, fun, quick and paradoxical. This small country (less than 1/3 of MN by land) with ages of its own history also caries many signs and imprints of its neighbors: Poland, Germany, Russia, Latvia, Belarus… It was only logical for it to house the Lithuanian International University with its student body as culturally diverse as this part of the world itself. After presenting a 40 minute “teaser” for the FaithSearch Discovery at their chapel in English, I had a full house for a 3.5 hour presentation attended by both the students (extra credit for the Theology majors) and faculty (one said: “I just realized that I can still be taught a thing or two”). They simply didn’t want to go home and kept asking questions after questions after questions. Praise the Lord for their searching minds and hearts!
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Greetings from Amsterdam – two thirds of the way to Vilnius, Lithuania, my end-flight destination today!

I am very excited about my teaching schedule for the next three weeks. As always, it includes some familiar places (like Riga, Moscow, St. Petersburg) as well as some completely new territories (like Lithuania). As always, some teaching will happen in churches and seminaries and some – in secular schools, universities, teachers conferences.

Please, keep me in your prayers through the end of this month: 

• Praise the Lord for all the supporters, prayer warriors, partners and co-workers who made this trip possible!
• Praise Him for opening many new doors of opportunity to preach the Gospel with evidence in the Russian-speaking countries, communities and educational institutions!
• Pray for the Holy Spirit to prepare the ears, the minds and the hearts of my audiences to receive the Good News of Jesus Christ!
• Pray travel mercies for the flights, transfers, connections, lodging arrangements, safety and, yes, that my luggage does not decide to travel by itself like it did before.
• Pray for my family back in Minnesota: finances, appliances, cars, etc., etc. that that have a bad habit of running out or breaking as soon as I leave home.