Providence

Minsk, Belarus – Friday, March 6, 2009 – 10:07pm local time

 

There is nothing quite like a brisk walk of a couple of miles in the cold winter air with ice and snow drifts all around.  When I think of Minsk in the wintertime, I expect snow and ice.  It was quite the delight to land yesterday and see the snow piled up on the sides of the icy sidewalks.  I just love winter, so it was a special treat to get out and walk about a circuit downtown from our hotel and back.  Bruce and I decided being cooped up in the hotel room after a day of seminars just wouldn’t do.  The temperature was about 30 degrees, but with gloves and hat it was perfect!

 

Our first day of seminars went very well.  The attendees were somewhat fewer in number than in the fall, but today is a work day after all.  Tomorrow will certainly have more people in attendance.  Today’s topics were political theology of the historical reformers (Luther, Calvin, Anabaptists, etc.) and Christian roots of western law.  Fascinating stuff for a guy like me!  Tomorrow we’ll have more of the same along with a Q&A time and my session on biblical economics and the current global crisis.  I was very blessed with the chance for somewhat of a dry run at that at dinner tonight.  We ate as a group with our interpreters, B&B (no names for security), and a couple of others from the seminars.  Our conversation was wide ranging, but our hosts had some very stimulating questions about pastoral involvement in politics, illegal immigration in America, President Obama and his policies, economics, etc.  It gave me a chance to run through much of what I’ve been trying to pull together for my session tomorrow, and I feel much more comfortable with what is important to them now.  It’s fine to bring our ideas of what we should teach, but it is so much more satisfying to know that we are speaking to what they want to know.  The Lord is good in allowing our team times like these when we can bounce around ideas in an informal setting before presenting them to the whole in our seminars.  Thank you for your prayers on our behalf.  God is here and clearly directing us.

 

One bit of especially good news as I sign off.  Our luggage arrived on the afternoon flight from Frankfurt!  We got word in mid-afternoon that it had arrived at the airport, and, sure enough, two suitcases were waiting for us at the reception desk of the hotel.  Fantastic!  I was not looking forward to wearing the same clothes for the fourth day in a row, nor were my teammates looking forward to that unfortunate occurrence either.  Prayers answered all around.

 

More to come.

 

Scott