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Saturday, July 08, 2006

I'm Home from Russia, y'all

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.

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4 comments:

VirginiaLutherans said...

Welcome back. I am glad to hear it went well, and I am sure there will be many posts to fill us in. ;-)

Darrell said...

Wendy's uncle Henry has made several trips to Russia and eastern Europe. The stories he's told me are fascinating. He actually gave me a piece of the Berlin Wall; a chunk of concrete about the size of my thumb that's one of my prized material possessions. Anyway, glad you got back safely and only a "teensy" bit tuckered out. ;) I look forward to hearing more about the trip.

Anonymous said...

Dear Pastor,
Happy to have you back and thankful that the mission trip was a success. It makes me smile to hear about all of the "seeds" that were planted in the hearts of the people you met. Looking forward to hearing more about your experience.

Anonymous said...

Hello, Pastor!

A hardy "welcome back" from everyone here at the Stanis household.

We praise the Lord for the success of your trip and the continued good health of you and your family.

Perhaps, we can get together some time soon (at your convenience) to get the particulars on your seminar on "Suffering".

As I mentioned to you in an earlier blog, I learned quite a bit about the role of suffering in the lives of Christians from leading a Bible study on it over a period of several weeks.

I would enjoy your analysis very much.

Once again, welcome back.

Thanks for all you have done for us.

Paul

New Curriculum at Concordia Theological Seminary