I was lucky this time! Only on my first day in Chita was the temperature near -26°F. It quickly rose to a much more enjoyable -9°F for most of the rest of the week. Surrounded and protected from the winds by rather steep hills, the city was bathed in sunshine with very little snow on the ground. It was not always easy to tell it from the ground due to its grayish color. The city is heated by coal and huge plumes of smoke from the power stations are seen reaching the skies for kilometers around. My hosts from the local Diocese made sure I had at least one presentation outside the city – in colleges, military bases, and monasteries – for the opportunity to enjoy fresh air and deep spiritual conversation on the road.

Two days of intensive networking and PR at the National Orthodox Church forum yielded dozens of new contacts from all around the country for future ministry partnership. My two next teaching trips’ schedules filled in just a few hours! It was also great to reconnect with some good old friends and to share many blessed memories of working together in the fields of the Lord. By the way, one of them reminded me that we first introduced the “FaithSearch Discovery” in Russia in 2006 – twenty years ago!

“Somewhere over the Mediterranean” …or the Black Sea – depending on which route my plane from Istanbul to Moscow has chosen to fly around the war zone in Ukraine. It is hard to say from looking out the window. Instead of the usual three-hour flight, it will be a five-hour one. All in all, I will have spent fully sixteen hours in the air by the time my A321 lands in Sheremetyevo airport. Plus, there were two, two-hour layovers and a nine time zone difference… you do the math and try to imagine what is happening now in my poor disoriented mind. Luckily, some good ministry friends, living not far from the airport, graciously agreed to stay up late and to host me for the first night on the ground.

I am on the flight from Astana back to Almaty to transfer to Istanbul, to Paris and to MSP, with four to five hours layovers on each stop.

Counting back, the last two days in Northern Kazakhstan were the coldest (up to -20 C) and the most ministry-intensive. Three presentations yesterday kept me busy and plenty warm at the Shanyrak Evangelical Church, during an online class at Belgorod Seminary (from my cell) and at the Uspenskiy Cathedral Educational Center in the evening. Not seeing much of the city is totally fine with me, knowing that both churches want me back again soon for a longer and expanded training sessions at some nicer part of the year.

Crossing the “continental divide” four times in one day is my all-times record! I left Europe in the morning and took a picture of the border to Asia at around noon time… only to cross another one twenty minutes later. The first one turned out to date back to the year 1838, whereas the second was recent and more geographically accurate. Locals only accept the old marker and my driver categorically rejected the idea of stopping at the second one for pictures. Later that evening we passed them again in reverse order on our way back to Yekaterinburg.