I will be traveling through seven countries and ministering in five of them on this trip, not counting the United States. As always, this wasn’t something I planned intentionally, and I certainly didn’t set out to break any personal records (although I probably will). I simply responded to invitations from my ministry partners until my three-week summer schedule was filled to the brim. Of course, not every invitation from conferences, camps, and other events made it into my itinerary—only those that met my two simple conditions: 1) they had to be logistically reasonable (no gaps, no overlaps, and practical travel connections), and 2) they had to provide a full-time daily schedule (at least one event or session each day).
I will first fly to Vilnius, Lithuania, only to take a bus to Minsk, Belarus, and then a train to Moscow… just to catch a flight to Irkutsk in Siberia, which is thirteen time zones away from Minnesota. This year, the Youth and Family Christian Festival “Bratya” (“Brothers”) chose the shores of Lake Baikal as its location. A sheet stretched between the trees will serve as a screen for my evening presentations, but I am afraid the morning sessions will have no visuals because of the direct sunlight.
I was invited to my second camp, on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan, on the very last day of last year’s week-long Christian conference, “Sobriety, Family, Health.” They were even willing to adjust this year’s dates to fit my busy summer schedule.
Then comes a quick three-day stop in Astana, Kazakhstan, for two church conferences and three sermons shared between Orthodox and Evangelical Christian communities. After that, I will be off to the third great lake of this journey—the Caspian Sea. It will be my first time in Baku, Azerbaijan, and I have high hopes for this visit because of the strong interest shown by local pastors and Christian communities in future cooperation and partnership in Christian education and evangelism.
Back in Minsk, while waiting for my return bus, I managed to arrange an evening session with a small Christian community which I befriended during my last visit. This time, they know what to expect and will be inviting their non-believing, agnostic, and skeptical friends to join our class.
Thank you, my dear friends, for your thoughts and prayers as I embark on my “Three Great Lakes” journey!
