A major cancellation of the whole city-segment of my trip arrived on a very short notice. I was not going to Nizhniy Novgorod because three things happened on the same week: the local university dean passed away; the provost of the seminary resigned; and my host/facilitator got stuck 2,000 miles away on a family vacation with a broken car. Once again, I was reminded that in Russia your arrangements and schedules only hold as long as the people you set them up with.

Three extra days in St. Petersburg were not too difficult to fill thanks to the local ministry partners and, because most of the schools were open for in-person classes. An International Academy with students from fifteen different countries allowed me to teach a lesson on the Validity of the Bible in their IT department’s graphic design class. After a great discussion on the subject matter we had in class, each of them will also have to develop their own design of the PowerPoint® presentation of the topic. I am looking forward to applying some of their ideas in my future events!

As always, the last days of the trip were most intense in teaching and travel. I had to literally run from one to another of my teachers’ conferences in different ends of Samara and in St. Petersburg. I was truly blessed by their interest in and in their response to the material, which keeps arriving to me in their E-mails and their facilitators’ feedback. Nearly one third of my next trip to Russia is already filled with follow-up events in and around the cities I taught in this time.