Institute of Theology and Christian Ministry

Ken’s students at the Institute of Theology and Christian Ministry were really stellar. They studied hard (Ken joked that the only language they had in common was Biblical Greek!), and they have such good, encouraging hearts. It’s uplifting to see (mostly) first-generation Christians, people who have chosen to study more, often against the understanding and wishes of their families and people around them. They love being together, which is a good thing, because their dorm situation here at the University of St. Petersburg is that they have a floor of a large dormitory designated for the Institute students, so they can’t really get away from each other. As the Dean of Students put it, it’s a real “laboratory of love.”

They love Ken, and Ken loves them. He plans to return as often as can be arranged to teach another course or two (this year he taught Mark, Greek, and the Thessalonian letters; last year was Greco-Roman Backgrounds, his specialty). They gave us some lovely parting gifts at a little party on the last day, including our favorites, which were T-shirts with pics of them together with Ken on them and singing us some songs in Russian. 'Til we meet again, St. Petersburg! We’ve had a lovely trip. SpaSEE-buh!

Church in Russia

For those of you who know us from Minter Lane, you know that we have an ever-so-slight punctuality problem. Well, not so attending church services Sunday here in St. Petersburg! Apparently, all it takes is for us to be on time—or even early—is the following:
(1) live about 30 feet from the church building;
(2) don’t have any clean clothes to change into;
(3) don’t have any make-up to put on (Karen) or don’t have a razor to shave with (Ken).
So that’s a good plan for us to enact when we return home. Don’t be surprised if we wear 3-day old clothes and come looking like the natural beings God made us!

Services were wonderful. The people who spoke were passionate, heartfelt, and kind. We had a translator named Natasha, a kind student at the Institute who did a beautiful job of filling us in on the actual words that the folks spoke. But we could tell anyway about the joy these Christians felt regarding their being together.
Perhaps my favorite thing was when a man called Alexei blessed the children, who knew to come to the front with him, before they went off for “children’s church” during the sermon. This is apparently done every week; he spoke to them directly first, and then he got down on one knee and prayed for the Lord to watch over them now and for always, for their lesson (that they were about to learn) to mean something to them and to bless them, for them to grow up to be faithful examples of believers in the days to come. It didn’t come across in any way as a “token” reminder that children are important; it came across—to me anyway—as I think Jesus would have been with the children whom he so loved. I was moved.

And our clothes arrived toward the end of services; who says that the prayers of righteous people don’t availeth much?!