February 27, 2006
Dear Friends:
Zdrastvite! (How are you doing?)
Warm greetings from snow-covered St. Petersburg, Russia! This
winter has been unusually long and cold. We had some days of minus
32 degrees Celsius. In this part of European Russia, it was one
of the coldest in 30 years. Our car was frozen and the engine
did not start one morning when Joe was rushing to the seminary.
We called our car service center to see if something was wrong
with our car. They said that it is quite normal for a car not
to start in that kind of cold weather. Their advice was to keep
the engine running every six hours. Now it came back to normal
temperature—average -5 to -8 Celsius. The rising temperature
means snow, though. Yet, people nowadays say, “Vesna skoro!”
meaning “Spring will come soon!”
At the seminary we are now finishing the second trimester. There
will be a week of final exams beginning March 13. Then there will
be a five-week break during Lent and Easter before the opening
of the last trimester on April 24. During this break, Joe will
teach a special two-week course for the extension program students.
We are expecting 23 to 25 students. They are lay leaders from
various Lutheran congregations in Russia and other countries in
the former Soviet Union.
We’ll offer a course on Baptism and Christian funerals
from a practical theological perspective, and a course on the
Old Testament called “Life, death, and resurrection in the
Old Testament—Judaism and Christianity.” After six
years, when the students complete their studies, they are eligible
for the diploma work and graduation exams.
|
