My ten-days-long stay in Moscow is almost over and I am taking a bullet-train back to St. Petersburg tomorrow night. Only three out of my seven events here were held in front of live audiences. The live events were also broadcast live to those who couldn’t (or wouldn’t) come for the risk of the pandemic. Most were wearing masks and even gloves, trying to keep a safe, sanitary distance between themselves.

It has been almost two full weeks on the road but it felt just like a couple of days! You know your life is exciting and eventful when “time flies like an arrow.”

Every trip is different. Some of the, however, are “differenter” than all of them. At least four times today I have heard or read that these are unprecedented times. I would agree. Conducting one of my four yearly teaching trips to Russia right now should qualify it for being the “differentest” one–so far.

All of my presentations for this trip have now canceled or switched to online starting on this Friday. I am doing my last presentation at Volokolamsk Diocese missions conference tonight and going straight to the airport from there in the morning.

By grace of God so far, only three out of thirty-one events on my schedule have been either canceled or reset to the online/webinar format due to the coronavirus quarantine. Interestingly, the people in Kuzbass where I was teaching during my first week were not as concerned about it as Moscovites are. All my trainings in Kemerovo and in Novokuznetsk went as scheduled and the audiences were always full and engaged in the topic we were discussing – the historic foundations of Christian faith.