My wife and I noticed that spring break for her teaching job coincided with our daughter’s break from graduate school. So we packed up the car and headed to Denton, Texas. While there (it was a WONDERFUL time, by the way) we drove a bit deeper into the heart of Texas, all the way to Corpus Christi, on the Gulf Coast.
Archives for March 2014
2014 January-February teaching trip to Ukraine and Russia: Moscow, Kirov
The second part of the trip, in Russia, was a little more comfortable but just as intensive as the first ten days in Ukraine. I got used to rest and sleep on the train but not on a minivan that is shaking and jumping for six hours on icy and bumpy highways.
Most of my presentations in Moscow on this trip happened to be in the Orthodox Churches and at Catechism Classes and were received by these communities with great interest and appreciation. “I have to be honest with you – we have been given today much, much more than we expected. This is something we will all remember and will be using in our classes and Sunday schools” – said Fr. Aleksander. From some experience, I can tell how hard it is to surprise a Moscovite but his feedback showed that our material can do if that.
In Kirov, a large provincial city an overnight train away from Moscow, on the other hand, they do not see many visiting speakers and they wanted to take a full advantage of my two days there. Right off the train terminal, I was taken to the Central City Library, and then – to the Orthodox Seminary, and then – to the Youth Discussion Club! They brought me back to my hotel room half past midnight and woke me up at 7:30 am on the next morning – it was already time to go to the city-wide History Teachers’ Conference! There, at least, I didn’t have to worry about time as they gave me a full day to present the historic, archeological and paleographical evidence for validity of the Gospel in every detail. This was an opportunity I was looking for for some time – to try some of my most recently added teaching material on the audience of professionals and skeptics. And many in my audience were initially very skeptical and even suspicious of what this half-Russian, half-American, half-teacher and half preacher is going to present. Praise the Lord for giving the right words and right answers to their questions and inquires! Many of them expressed their gratitude and how challenged they were in their beliefs by the facts and the evidence they saw for the first time in their life.
I am now back in Minnesota, recovered from a bad cold I picked up on my last day in Moscow and already preparing for my next teaching trip in April.
2014 January-February teaching trip to Ukraine and Russia: Moscow, Kirov
The second part of the trip, in Russia, was a little more comfortable but just as intensive as the first ten days in Ukraine. I got used to rest and sleep on the train but not on a minivan that is shaking and jumping for six hours on icy and bumpy highways.
Most of my presentations in Moscow on this trip happened to be in the Orthodox Churches and at Catechism Classes and were received by these communities with great interest and appreciation. “I have to be honest with you – we have been given today much, much more than we expected. This is something we will all remember and will be using in our classes and Sunday schools” – said Fr. Aleksander. From some experience, I can tell how hard it is to surprise a Moscovite but his feedback showed that our material can do if that.
In Kirov, a large provincial city an overnight train away from Moscow, on the other hand, they do not see many visiting speakers and they wanted to take a full advantage of my two days there. Right off the train terminal, I was taken to the Central City Library, and then – to the Orthodox Seminary, and then – to the Youth Discussion Club! They brought me back to my hotel room half past midnight and woke me up at 7:30 am on the next morning – it was already time to go to the city-wide History Teachers’ Conference! There, at least, I didn’t have to worry about time as they gave me a full day to present the historic, archeological and paleographical evidence for validity of the Gospel in every detail. This was an opportunity I was looking for for some time – to try some of my most recently added teaching material on the audience of professionals and skeptics. And many in my audience were initially very skeptical and even suspicious of what this half-Russian, half-American, half-teacher and half preacher is going to present. Praise the Lord for giving the right words and right answers to their questions and inquires! Many of them expressed their gratitude and how challenged they were in their beliefs by the facts and the evidence they saw for the first time in their life.
I am now back in Minnesota, recovered from a bad cold I picked up on my last day in Moscow and already preparing for my next teaching trip in April.
2013 Benefit Dinner Video
After nearly a year of schedule juggling and mid-stream retooling, I finally finished editing the video from the 2013 Benefit Dinner and Silent Auction.
The annual event was held on 27 April 2013, at Grace Church in Eden Prairie, MN. This year’s gathering featured the return of international award-winning illusionist Adrian Van Vactor (Web site), and was hosted by emcee Dr. Irv Woolf, director of the National Coalition for Purity (Web site).