I might have sliced my trip schedule too thin–I am having one or two presentations every day and no time to keep keep up with my travel blog…
I did my first presentation in Kaunas: full classroom with many extra chairs brought in–half high-schoolers, half teachers, half (third half?) parish members and clergy. “It was very powerful! We felt like one community united by one truth of Christ. These facts and this evidence will stay in our memory for a long time thanks for your very skillful and creative presentation. And your CDs are the most generous gift we ever received in our hands,” said a Teacher-Parishioner.
Fr. Nikolay and I, with two local teachers, left Kaunas early the next morning for Klaipeda, for a two-day Christian Teacher’s Conference. My class again was packed. I should have become used to it by now, but I haven’t. They only agreed to leave the class (after the two-hour-long presentation and an hour-long discussion) when I promised to continue it around the banquet table.
All in all I spent six-and-a-half hours with this group today. An Orthodox priest said: “This material is so universal! Everybody needs to see it. I will make sure that everybody in our church and our city will.” A teacher said: “What a assurance in faith! What a comfort! What an joy–to travel with you on this journey of discovery. Thank you especially for not making it too safe for us, but taking us on really difficult routes. How exciting! I look forward to taking my students on this journey next semester–as soon as feel comfortable to teach the Discovery Seminar in my classroom.”
My three days in Belarus (“the last dictatorship in Eastern Europe”) blessed me with audiences you will rarely see anywhere else. These people knew the cost of professing their faith in the state where atheism is the state religion.
I arrived in Kiev yesterday afternoon and spent the rest of the day with an audience of about 120 students, clergy and city intelligentsia, leading them through the path of FaithSearch Discovery. 
“Thank you for equipping us with this tool in our own language–it will be used effectively and frequently in our classrooms, parishes, families, small groups, camps, etc.,” said an Orthodox Priest.
Thank you for keeping me in your prayers. I will make every effort to keep you posted on my journey and add some photos to the story. Many blessings!
