Greetings from Riga, Latvia where I am having a presentation every day, and all of them – through a translator. Having had some translator’s experience myself I feel so much for them. Last night, I finished the FaithSearch Discovery Part II at Matthew’s Baptist Church at around 10pm. However, I could not say I was tired after I saw how really tired my interpreter was, after helping me to keep the audience completely captivated by the presentation for almost three hours! God bless her heart! Please pray for Ilga [eel-ga] as she is going to bear with me at least two more times in the next four days.

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Ready for a Lithuanian joke? Here it goes:

-Why have you built only one room in your house?
-Because there was no point of building less.

My days in Lithuania were very much like this: puzzling, curious, fun, quick and paradoxical. This small country (less than 1/3 of MN by land) with ages of its own history also caries many signs and imprints of its neighbors: Poland, Germany, Russia, Latvia, Belarus… It was only logical for it to house the Lithuanian International University with its student body as culturally diverse as this part of the world itself. After presenting a 40 minute “teaser” for the FaithSearch Discovery at their chapel in English, I had a full house for a 3.5 hour presentation attended by both the students (extra credit for the Theology majors) and faculty (one said: “I just realized that I can still be taught a thing or two”). They simply didn’t want to go home and kept asking questions after questions after questions. Praise the Lord for their searching minds and hearts!
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Greetings from Amsterdam – two thirds of the way to Vilnius, Lithuania, my end-flight destination today!

I am very excited about my teaching schedule for the next three weeks. As always, it includes some familiar places (like Riga, Moscow, St. Petersburg) as well as some completely new territories (like Lithuania). As always, some teaching will happen in churches and seminaries and some – in secular schools, universities, teachers conferences.

Please, keep me in your prayers through the end of this month: 

• Praise the Lord for all the supporters, prayer warriors, partners and co-workers who made this trip possible!
• Praise Him for opening many new doors of opportunity to preach the Gospel with evidence in the Russian-speaking countries, communities and educational institutions!
• Pray for the Holy Spirit to prepare the ears, the minds and the hearts of my audiences to receive the Good News of Jesus Christ!
• Pray travel mercies for the flights, transfers, connections, lodging arrangements, safety and, yes, that my luggage does not decide to travel by itself like it did before.
• Pray for my family back in Minnesota: finances, appliances, cars, etc., etc. that that have a bad habit of running out or breaking as soon as I leave home.

Please pray with me for the next teaching trip to Lithuania, Latvia and Russia:

• Praise the Lord for the generous hearts that provided funds for this trip!
• Praise Him for opening many new doors of opportunity to preach the Gospel with evidence in the Russian-speaking countries, communities and educational institutions!
• Pray for the Holy Spirit to prepare the ears, the minds and the heart of these audiences to receive the truth of God!
• Pray for the logistics of the trip: scheduling, contacts, transportation and safety.
• Pray for the Lord’s provision to sustain me and my family as I am serving His cause in Russia.

“Go and make disciples…” There is only so much one person can do–even the fastest one and even with the strongest voice. Now imagine my frustration when I almost completely lost my voice due to a cold in the middle of the trip. Imagine also how I felt when my train car was found to have a faulty wheel and was detached from the rest of the train, causing a major delay in my schedule. In those moments especially, how can I even think of making any noticeable ministry effect in the country that stretches over thousands of miles, with a population counted in millions? Yet, Jesus said: “Go!” and so I did. Why? Because the “make disciples” part puts the whole task in a totally new perspective: I only have to make as many disciples as He sends my way, and they in turn will take care of the rest of it.

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