After all was said and done—with delayed flights and an unscheduled overnight stay in Tokyo—it did not take that much less time flying over the Pacific Ocean than it would have over the Atlantic. Praise the Lord, I still made it to Kamchatka on time—two hours before I was scheduled to speak at the Conference opening ceremony. I am glad they let me change my clothes right in the City Hall Director’s office, as all other speakers kindly looked the other way. I am also glad my laptop battery lasted through my whole presentation and died seconds after I finished (there were no electric outlets anywhere near the lectern to plug it in). After spending the whole night changing planes in the Vladivostok airport and then in flight to Petropavlovsk (loosing two time zones in the process), I was too tired and very disoriented to realize how low the battery charge was. Praise the Lord for taking care of these little things for me when I am not able to!

I am also grateful to Him for my hosts here! I have a very comfortable private “cell” to stay in their church-house, with three meals provided and somebody always willing to give me a ride to my next venue—whether the State University, the Teacher’s Continuing Training Center, the Medical College, Army base, or Penitentiary Department, etc., etc.

Speaking of which, I just cannot believe how interested and engaged my audience was—prison guards, security officers, and other penitentiary staff—when I presented FaithSearch Discovery at their training conference! My hosts were extremely worried and warned me many times about this “tough crowd”: that they might be difficult and even offensive to the message of God’s love and mercy.

I was reminded that what they see everyday does not necessarily represent the best of humanity but that most of them are well trained professionals and officers who value professionalism in others very highly. That turned out to be the key. My appeal to their rationality and logical thinking got them on the track of making discoveries—step by step, one after another. “Tough crowd,” eh? If God is for us, who can be against us?

My last two days in Kamchatka were divided among an Evangelical church, a Medical college, a military base and an Orthodox group—totally different audiences within fifty miles around Petropavlovsk. There was, however, also something the same in the audience each time: a sense of surprise and joy of discovering a new and important aspect of life: life with God. The title of one of C.S. Lewis’ books which contained these two words kept coming back to me as I looked in the eyes of the people in the audience: cadets and officers; students and teachers; lay leaders and clergy.

Praise God, who is able still to surprise us—and those who hear His Gospel—with His joy and with faith in His truth! 

It felt almost like traveling in a time machine when my plane landed in Murmansk. Most of the city center architecture goes back to Stalin’s times, which is characterized by a contrast of the grandeur of the main street fronts and wooden barracks of the back streets. Both are still very much present here, as well as a good measure of pride for the heroic past of this land during and after the WWII.

It sure takes some special human character to live in this land of forty-days-long polar nights, high humidity, and almost constant oceanic winds. The city itself is squeezed in what looks like a canyon made by the mouth of the Kola River, but is in fact a long and deep Barents Sea harbor.
So far, I have been presenting twice a day, every day while I am here. I did not plan that, but each presentation opens yet another opportunity – participants would come up to me after the event and invite me to teach at their own place: a church, a school, a conference, etc. – sometimes on that very same day! Grabbing a snack on the go and having only one normal meal per day has become a pattern here. My hosts at Pilgrimage Center of St. Tikhon always leave some great food for me on the stove and I absolutely love their cuisine, which consists of the whole variety of fresh fish products.

My absolute favorite audience so far was a class of fifth-year History students at Murmansk Arctic State University. They were so confident that they know it all and that nothing would ever make them even consider changing their firm atheist/gnostic positions. It was so much fun to see their faces, their eyes, and even their postures gradually change in the course of the presentation! I wish I had taken more pictures during the whole event. Their professor later shared with me how much her students liked the presentation, which connected so many dots in their understanding of history and in their own lives: They knew History very well but now they also understand it once its key event takes its proper place and significance. Of course, she said, they were “too cool” to tell me about it but they liked the presentation very much and would like me to come back sometime soon for more conversation and Q&A.
I am leaving Murmansk tonight for the last four days of presentations in and around Moscow before heading back to MN. A memorial to the American and British convoys of the WWII times in one of the central parks of this city made me feel a little homesick.

No time for jetlag! I started my first FaithSearch Discovery presentation only four hours after landing in Moscow. Needless to say, I was dead tired afterwards, and immediately fell asleep in the car that drove me to my place of rest. I still feel sorry for the driver who was trying to keep me awake by his stories and inquiries – I was only able to nod in agreement.

Most of my days in Moscow on the first week consisted of a couple-of-hours-long train ride to Kolomna, Dmirov, Chekhov, or some other town within a 100 km radius of the city;  a three-to-four-hour-long presentation; and then train ride back. The fall colors were streaming in front of my window from left to right, and then from right to left. My hosts would usually meet me at the station, take me to a café for lunch, and then bring me to the “House of Culture” or a conference hall right before the presentation. They showed their hospitality by trying to put me on the earliest train back to Moscow straight from the event. The assumption was always that there is not much to see in their small town and that I would rather spend the evening in Moscow. Only once was I able to arrive to their place (Dmitrov) early and to enjoy walking the old streets and to do some sightseeing on my own before they plugged me into their program.

So far my audiences in Moscow have been mostly seminarians, clergy, and lay leaders. Thanks to the Moscow Region (oblast) Orthodox Church networking, I was speaking at their deanery conferences almost every day.

I am in St. Petersburg now and my days are mostly devoted to training school teachers as I am catching them on their fall school break. In both cities, the weather has been very unusual for this time of year – sunny and warm! The windows in my classrooms are usually open wide and I’ve just made a notice that instead of the crows and pigeons of Moscow, I see and hear seagulls under the skies of St. Petersburg. Three more days in St. Pete and I off for Murmansk with its Arctic climate and natural habitat. What kind of birds do they have over there?