Archives for July 2024

“This (historic evidence for Christian faith) was exactly what our youth needed to hear and to see today. Frankly, their parents seem to have enjoyed it just as much. Thank you for making this long trip to Izhevsk this summer. We’ll be counting on you for the next year family camp with your “63 Arguments for the Existence of God” – these were the last words I heard earlier today from the camp leader as I was leaving it for the airport. My clothes still smelling of campfire and my memories still full of the remarks and inquiries from the presentation I finished this morning, I am now waiting for my first flight (out of four) on my way back to Minnesota.

Math, Russian style. My Moscow event hosts at Favor (Mount Tabor) Center closed online registration when it reached 150 for the hall which seats 80, and then looked truly disappointed when only 40 or so people showed up. I was not – this is pretty normal for: 1) free registration; and 2) summertime. For the upcoming two sessions, however, administrators want to make registrants to pay a nominal fee of 300 rubles (~$3.50) and, I was told, are already way overbooked. Also, they gave me exactly ninety minutes but then simply added another hour – upon the audience demand. I was happy to oblige, but my poor feet were shaking after the forty-eight-hour trip from Minnesota, including two mostly sleepless nights and crossing eight time zones. That trip was extended by an unexpected five hours of standing in the line at the border crossing from Estonia over the Narva River bridge. Admiring two gorgeous Middle Age castles on both sides of the border partially sweetened the delay and the frustration from missing my train.