The Catholic Youth Conference “octave” (eight days) in Ussuriysk exceeded all my expectations and nearly drowned my energy resources. At first, they had only asked me to be their keynote speaker with one or two teaching sessions per day. And, of course, to lead the small group discussion session on each day’s topic. And, if I don’t mind, please also teach a Bible Class in the afternoon. And, to fill in for the leader of one of the three Creative Groups, who was responsible for the final overview article on the Conference in their diocese’ newspaper.
Add to this the daily Mass and the three prayer times – Morning, Evening and the Adoration – and you will understand why the days were flying like minutes! Luckily, being an extrovert, I am not drained but, instead, energized from my audiences, my roommates, and my meal table partners. It was only on my train from Ussuriysk to Khabarovsk that I felt how completely out of juice and in need of a break I was.
However, my teaching schedule only allowed for a break later in the afternoon and my Teaching Conference session started at 10 am, as planned by my ministry partners at ISP (International School Project). They were also responsible for two more of those conferences in my last couple of days in the Russian Far East. At both of them, public and private school teachers challenged me with lots of questions of a pedagogical nature as well as ones about faith in God. Their own testimonies, in turn, taught me a lot about how to best share your faith in the public arena and among “open audiences”.
The trip back to Minnesota was super long. At times I was not sure I would make the connections due to extra delays at the passport control and customs at the border. Praise the Lord, I crossed the fifteen time zones in less than a day with no complications!
