"Home"

Every two years, as the days of my home assignment draw to a close, I get hit by a rather strange nostalgia - "this will be the last free continental breakfast I'll eat in two years;" "time to stop expecting strangers to make conversation;" "I wonder if it will get over 80 degrees in St. Petersburg in the next 12 months?" These little things that pull me back to my home country, it seems to me, are part of my coping mechanism - they help distract me from the hardest thing about going back to Russia - people. While I'm quite blessed by those with whom I have a chance to serve, our travels this summer helped me realize once again the great group of friends and supporters we are leaving behind, both among those whom we saw and those whom we did not. If you are reading this from the U.S., know just how much I appreciate you. If you are reading this from Russia, know that, even if I might seem a little homesick for the next couple of weeks, I really do consider my life here as my call. I feel privileged to be even a very little part of all of your lives.

Visits to Sponsoring Congregations

In July, Natasha, Matvey, Martin and I visited congregations throughout the great state of Montana (and its not-so-shabby neighbors, Idaho and Wyoming) as part of our "home assignment" for ministry with Global Mission of the ELCA.

View Summer 2009 in a larger map

If all goes well, here you'll be able to see a map of where we've been so far.

After that I'll be going to Missiouri and California to visit great sponsoring congregations there.