For some reason, I thought my summer trip would be a little more relaxed and not as densely packed as my usual ones during the academic year. After all, there are no class schedules to fit in, and no teachers’ conferences to get to on time. It almost sounded like a vacation: youth camp in Izhevsk; church camp in Yekaterinburg; Sunday School teachers’ training in Kazan.

From experience I also knew that about 10% of those will be cancelled at the last moment for some completely unpredictable reason—like a pastor’s vacation, a state holiday, or some other annual event nobody thought of before. Each trip schedule is  a l w a y s  tentative and is subject to change and adjustment, right up to the last moment. I constantly have to keep confirming each event up to the very day, even (especially?) when it was scheduled to happen six months before.

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My train is heading North-East, full of happy people, returning from their vacations in the Sothern parts of Russia. They must have gotten used to hotter days and nobody minds the heat and lack of air conditioning in the compartments. Well, it will only be one short night. It will actually be even shorter due to the one hour time zone difference between Izhevsk and Yekaterinburg.

Back in Izhevsk I spent two days in the youth camp of about 120 youth and young adults sleeping in a tent and teaching under a tent (made of a parachute with slight modifications). My worries about being able to keeping their attention for two days of two-hour presentations turned out to be completely unsubstantiated. Both sessions were received very well and were followed by dozens of questions and comments showing how interested and how engaged they were all the time. [Read more…]

My train is heading North-East, full of happy people, returning from their vacations in the Sothern parts of Russia. They must have gotten used to hotter days and nobody minds the heat and lack of air conditioning in the compartments. Well, it will only be one short night. It will actually be even shorter due to the one hour time zone difference between Izhevsk and Yekaterinburg.

Back in Izhevsk I spent two days in the youth camp of about 120 youth and young adults sleeping in a tent and teaching under a tent (made of a parachute with slight modifications). My worries about being able to keeping their attention for two days of two-hour presentations turned out to be completely unsubstantiated. Both sessions were received very well and were followed by dozens of questions and comments showing how interested and how engaged they were all the time. [Read more…]

Summer time! No school!

Naturally, most of my presentations on this upcoming trip will not be happening in schools or universities but at churches, Bible camps, conferences, etc. Making people to sit through a three hour lecture in this time of the year presents a very special challenge for me. Please pray for the the weather to be just right – not to cancel any of my outdoor presentations and yet not to be too much of a distraction and temptation for my audiences. Please also pray travel mercies for me and safe stay for my family back home.

Summer time! No school!

Naturally, most of my presentations on this upcoming trip will not be happening in schools or universities but at churches, Bible camps, conferences, etc. Making people to sit through a three hour lecture in this time of the year presents a very special challenge for me. Please pray for the the weather to be just right – not to cancel any of my outdoor presentations and yet not to be too much of a distraction and temptation for my audiences. Please also pray travel mercies for me and safe stay for my family back home.