My Catechism training classes in Moscow coincided with the V-Day parade rehearsals, and the subway crowd was brightly colored with military uniforms. This kid looked tired as his mom was apparently taking him home after a long day of marching.

This is my first time in the Stavropol Region of Russia, and I am learning so much about its history and its present. The name of the city is very telling: it means “City of the Cross.” What a blessed location for Christian ministry! The local Diocese set me up for at least two teaching sessions each day and is graciously handling my lodging and transportation. At least, that was the plan.

Four days into my trip, I have already had six teaching sessions. I am preparing for one more event tonight at the Theological School in Minsk, Belarus. So far, most of my audiences were university (or university-age) students – local and international. Most of them have no or very little church background; but they are very eager to learn and to ask questions “about gods.” I had fun adjusting my message to be clear and relevant to an IT student from China, a medical student from Zimbabwe, a linguistics student from Belarus, and a law student from India at the same time. Luckily, most of them already spoke pretty good Russian and I only occasionally had to help my interpreters with certain theological or cultural terms and concepts. Working in small groups truly helped deepen their understanding of Christian teaching and the place Christ needs to take in their life.

An overnight train will bring me to Moscow tomorrow morning for two presentations almost back-to-back: at the University of Culture (outreach) and the Synodal Missions Department (training). I am still not certain where I will be staying for the next four days before taking off for Stavropol in Southern Russia. The first ten days of May are traditionally spent in “dachas” (cabins) and I am pretty sure some of my friends will offer their empty homes for my lodging.

I hope and pray that the oil storage fire in Tuapse will be put out by the time I arrive to the area, or, at least, the wind does not change and will blow away from where I will be traveling and teaching for the last week of the trip. My audiences in the region (Stavropolye and Northern Caucasus) are expected to be very diverse: from clergy to military, from schoolkids to university faculty and from parishioners to general audiences.

I was lucky this time! Only on my first day in Chita was the temperature near -26°F. It quickly rose to a much more enjoyable -9°F for most of the rest of the week. Surrounded and protected from the winds by rather steep hills, the city was bathed in sunshine with very little snow on the ground. It was not always easy to tell it from the ground due to its grayish color. The city is heated by coal and huge plumes of smoke from the power stations are seen reaching the skies for kilometers around. My hosts from the local Diocese made sure I had at least one presentation outside the city – in colleges, military bases, and monasteries – for the opportunity to enjoy fresh air and deep spiritual conversation on the road.

Two days of intensive networking and PR at the National Orthodox Church forum yielded dozens of new contacts from all around the country for future ministry partnership. My two next teaching trips’ schedules filled in just a few hours! It was also great to reconnect with some good old friends and to share many blessed memories of working together in the fields of the Lord. By the way, one of them reminded me that we first introduced the “FaithSearch Discovery” in Russia in 2006 – twenty years ago!

“Somewhere over the Mediterranean” …or the Black Sea – depending on which route my plane from Istanbul to Moscow has chosen to fly around the war zone in Ukraine. It is hard to say from looking out the window. Instead of the usual three-hour flight, it will be a five-hour one. All in all, I will have spent fully sixteen hours in the air by the time my A321 lands in Sheremetyevo airport. Plus, there were two, two-hour layovers and a nine time zone difference… you do the math and try to imagine what is happening now in my poor disoriented mind. Luckily, some good ministry friends, living not far from the airport, graciously agreed to stay up late and to host me for the first night on the ground.