The whole trip from Minnesota to Vladivostok went very smoothly, including the most worrisome part of it – the border crossing. My bus was only delayed by an hour-and-a-half which is considered to be “on time” by the Russian standards I am very familiar with. In fact, most of my first week went by “Russian style”: uncertainty, delays, endless “confirmations,” and last-minute cancelations.
[Read more…]2022 August: Russia’s Far East
Vladivostok is only (!) nine time zones away from Minnesota — if you travel West. Due to the sanctions, however, there are no flights into Russia from that direction at this point. My route, instead, will cross the eastern half of North America, the Atlantic Ocean, all of Europe, and almost all of Asia. A total of eighteen hours in flight plus seven hours on the bus–with multiple layovers–will bring me to my next destination: the Russian Far East.
I will then teach and preach at local parishes and be a keynote speaker for their week-long Regional Youth Conference. Schools will still be out of session, but teachers will already be coming back for conferences. I will catch four of them (conferences, not teachers) before I leave again, making my way back across two thirds of the globe.
2022 July. Germany
WER GOTT VERTRAUT HAT WOHL GEBAUT – said the note above the doors of the mid-fifteen century building at my first destination point, Blankenheim. I cannot agree more – indeed, “the one trusting in the Lord builds well.”
This formerly Russian-speaking evangelical church trusted God in allowing me to come and teach in their midst for two days, and these were exactly the words of their pastor after I was done: “You built and reinforced the walls of our faith, especially among the younger generation of believers.”
[Read more…]2022 July: Germany
There should be a shorter route from Frankfurt to Magdeburg, but the red line shows how I am planning to get there starting this Friday.
[Read more…]2022 February-March: Krasnoyarsk, Rostov Velikiy
Almost a full week in Krasnoyarsk flew by like just a couple of days – busy, busy, busy – with one or two presentations per day and a nice walk in the historic center of the city in the morning. This time, the Orthodox Diocese did not extend their blessing to my presentations, citing their circular letter which prohibited any gathering outside of the church calendar services due to another spike in COVID cases in the area. Evangelical churches, city libraries, professional (teachers’) groups, and private gatherings, however, easily filled my schedule.
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