Only a few short hours and I will be back home in MN! Amsterdam airport provided a nice brief transition time to begin an adjusting process–back to normal life. No more sleeping in overnight trains or busses; no more running around unfamiliar cities in search of unknown places; no need to always remember to introduce yourself several times a day to dozens and hundred of complete strangers…
Which task this time around was not as simple as it might seem. For some of my audiences (like churches, Bible schools, regional Christian Teachers’ Associations, etc.) I was known as an American missionary of FaithSearch International presenting the “FaithSearch Discovery” event.
For Public Schools and Pedagogical universities I was wearing a completely different hat–a Teacher-Researcher and a Ph.D. aspirant with the Moscow State Pedagogical University. They would have never have allowed an American missionary into their classrooms and instead of FaithSearch Discovery, I teach them the class on the “Rational and Historic Foundations of the Christian Faith.” The only difference between the two being that for the church audiences I speak in the first person (Why we believe in Christ…) while the secular audience hear me speaking in the third person (Why Christians believe in Him…).
In my third “avatar,” I was wearing yet another hat as a co-author of the Public Schools curriculum and the textbook on the “Intro to the Christian Culture.” To those teachers audiences I presented the same topic in the second person–Why you, teachers, need to know what the Christian faith is based on…
Did I ever get confused? Of course, I did. During my last presentation in the city of Tula (a.k.a. Russian Arsenal-City) I caught myself switching to the first person when I was already well on the way giving teachers my personal testimony. Luckily nobody seemed to mind but I do need to be more careful, not to allow myself to be so carried away by the enthusiasm of the event participants. One hat at a time, Oleg.
I especially have to remind myself of this once my plane lands in Minnesota, when I will again be with my wife and family! …For the next six weeks, before the next trip to Russia at the end of March.
