Crossing the “continental divide” four times in one day is my all-times record! I left Europe in the morning and took a picture of the border to Asia at around noon time… only to cross another one twenty minutes later. The first one turned out to date back to the year 1838, whereas the second was recent and more geographically accurate. Locals only accept the old marker and my driver categorically rejected the idea of stopping at the second one for pictures. Later that evening we passed them again in reverse order on our way back to Yekaterinburg.
This intercontinental trip was totally worth it – for delivering the good news of the Gospel to about 250-300 high schoolers and then again (in the training format) to about twenty public school teachers. One of them blessed my heart in a special way by sharing her classroom experience of teaching fourth-graders with my textbook on the “Intro to the Chistian Culture” for twelve years. She will now be also integrating the “Historic Foundation of Christian Faith” material into her lessons and sharing it with other schoolteachers in the district.
Back in Yekaterinburg for the next four days, I presented on a number of topics to a variety of audiences: medical and pedagogy students and faculty; parishioners and clergy; rehab center residents; and to a broad national TV audience. My dear and super kind hostesses at the Novo-Tikhvin Convent got used to serving me breakfast early before the sunrise, and then just leaving the dinner on the table for my late-night arrival.
On my last four days, I had to take care of my own meals, with my venues spread out hundreds of kilometers from each other around the Southern Urals region. Teachers’ conferences and public schools/colleges lectures were scheduled so tightly that my drivers have to break the speed limit constantly. Praise God, due to the unusually warm December the roads are still clear from snow. Besides, arriving to your class thirty minutes late in Russia is not even considered to be running behind schedule. I feel awful but my hosts don’t seem to mind.
