The weather in St. Petersburg these days is authentically Dostoyevsky style. Short and gloomy daylight hours combined with chilling and wet winds blowing from the Baltic Sea make one want to stay indoors with a cup of hot tea rather than crossing the city on public transportation. I truly admire my seminary students and my public-school teachers who bravely overcome all the elements in order to be in my classroom for a couple of hours of presentation and discussion on the topic of Christian Faith and Biblical History!
As a special bonus, I also was granted the privilege of teaching three fourth-graders’ classes, back-to-back this morning, using the textbook I had written for Russian schools almost ten years ago. What a joy to see the Bible stories come alive in the classroom and to help the kids appreciate their own cultural reflection of Christian faith – in language, arts and history!
I will be teaching my classes in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Kursk for the next three weeks, returning home right before Christmas. The true and joyful meaning of this wonderful holiday serves as a perfect leitmotif for my lectures and seminars, especially, in contrast to the harsh realities of life. I feel blessed and honored to be the ambassador of good news of Christ to my dear countrymen.
