The Burr in the Burgh

Thanks to everyone who remembered me in your prayers while I was traversing across Siberia for the past three weeks. I visited 8 cities, went through 11 different airports (half of them twice), 4 different train stations, and slept in at least 10 different beds. I literally flew and trained around the globe. I left going west and never stopped going west until I landed again in Chicago 3 weeks later.

I got home yesterday (about 7 p.m. Eastern time), a teensy bit tuckered out. The photo you see here is me at Red Square in Moscow on our last day in Russia. Notice on the left the famous onion domes of St. Basil's Cathedral. And to the right, the ziggurat thingy in front of the clock tower, is V. Lenin's tomb.

The trip consisted of three main stops in order to participate in theological seminars for laity and clergy alike. The local Lutheran congregations have used these seminars quite successfully as opportunities first to further catechise their parishoners and secondly as means for outreach and evangelization. I had two sets of lectures at each stop: Christian Ethics and The Meaning of Suffering.

We began in the far east of Russia at Petropavlovsk in Kamchatka. The second seminar was held at a spa resort (not as fancy by Western standards as it might sound) in the woods outside of Chita. And lastly at St. Luke's parish in Abekhan. There is too much to say to go into any length about the trip here in a single post.

I'll just say that it was an excellent mission trip. The people were wonderful and responded favorably to the seminars. I enjoyed very much getting to know these fine Russian Lutheran Christians.