How in the world have I ended up going to Finland? I just cannot say “no” to a child when her mom wrote to me:
“Christina is in the sixth grade and they have a class on Religion. Christina has had conversations with several of her classmates about God and faith. Many of them have asked her things like, ‘Doesn’t science prove that God doesn’t exist?’ and so on, even though they have chosen to be in the ‘Christian’ religion class. I asked the teacher about you visiting the class as a guest speaker. She has agreed to the idea.”
Seriously, my four days in Helsinki had already been booked with events and presentations arranged by an American missionary couple I met earlier in Russia. That one particular morning just “happened” to be free.
After teaching and sharing in both Russian-speaking and English-speaking audiences in Finland, I will travel to St. Petersburg for four days of teachers’ conferences and university lectures there, and then I’m off to Kaliningrad for mostly Orthodox Church trainings and outreaches. My initial plan for this trip also included a visit to Karelia, which would have been a logical extension of the Northern Russia route if you look on the map. Apparently, the Holy Spirit’s geography is different from ours as I kept receiving persistent calls from ministries and churches in Northern Caucasus to partner with them in their outreaches in the predominantly Muslim regions of the country. I have been preparing for this opportunity in the course of the whole last year!
The final week of this trip will be one of trainings and outreaches in Moscow with a quick one-day travel to Bryansk.
As always, I will be focusing on my three target audiences: teachers, students and clergy/lay leaders in Evangelical, Orthodox, and secular settings. Please pray for me as I travel and for my family back in MN, ND, and UT.
