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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Thanks to all your prayers my flight back to Minnesota was the way I like it–uneventful. My head is still spinning from the nine-hour time difference, but the last day’s event still stands in front of me as very nice finale to the whole trip. Not a large audience–maybe fifteen highschoolers and maybe fifteen teachers in the back rows. But the way they listened and the way they responded to the presentation was really impressive: engaged, focused, excited.

Their Physics Teacher said it the best: “What a wonderful experience! I almost felt like a little child again. You took me by the hand and lead through those times, places, facts and evidences… I was reading familiar Bible texts and stories–but they sounded very new to me! You have to come again and teach this class to the whole school! Please!”