Day 7. I am in Serpukhov, 101 km south of Moscow, teaching in schools and training teachers. In Stalin’s times, dissidents and political opposition members were not allowed to reside within a 100 km radius of Moscow, which seems to have left a lasting effect on the city, in the form of an inquisitory and even skeptical mindset of its inhabitants.
Highschoolers were bombarding me with questions that sound more like demands:
- “What can you tell us about incarnation?”
- “Where’s evidence for the first thirty years of Jesus’ life?”
- “Tell us about the Dead Sea Scrolls!”
I could barely move forward with my presentation before I was interrupted again and again with more of their inquiries. It shows me how truly interested they are in matters of faith and how confused many of them are by the media and culture. We only managed to get through the first three of ten “FaithSearch Discovery” points. I will surely need to come back to Serpukhov again in May, hopefully to finish my presentation. Luckily, I am partnering here with very able and inspired ministry partners, both clergy and lay leaders, who will also continue answering the kids’ questions. The town itself is centuries old and beautiful, with many preserved and restored Orthodox churches and two monasteries, one of them hosting a Christian school where I had the honor to teach.
My first few days in and near Moscow were also filled with exciting teaching opportunities: a seminar to the Volunteers’ Association “Karitas”; two Teachers’ Conferences on the “62 Arguments for the Existence of God”; and an adult Sunday school class on the “Historic Foundations of Faith.”
My classrooms are always full, and my classroom time always extends way longer than planned.
I was blessed with three days of sunshine, although the snow piles are still high and the nights are cold. While in Moscow, I am staying in a friend’s brand-new apartment with no furniture, sleeping on the floor on a triple-folded blanket I borrowed from another friend. Most of my out-of-town teaching event schedule allows me to accept the local hosts’ invitation to stay at their place overnight, and so far I only used my “base residence” twice.
