Lena and I just returned from our insanely intense 2-week recruiting trip across Ukraine. This is the first time we drove. What a difference! No crammed mini buses, no trains, to buses, no sleeping in trainstations, wonderful! Just a lengthy argument with the border guard (which was not helped by having just finished a liter of Mountain Dew) and another lengthy conversation with some traffic policemen a week later. Oh, and perhaps a couple of speeding tickets in Poland which is loaded with photoradar and cameras. Overall it was uneventful transportation though.
It was a farewell trip as well to many friends across the country. There were quite a few tears shed from us, from teachers, from directors, some students... overall, it was very emotional. Once again though, we appear to have excellent students applying for the university and we just accepted our first student. A young man from L'viv who is full of expression and was quite upset to discover that we were leaving at the end of the semester. Our tv interview with the vice mayor of Cherkassy region (central region of Ukraine). My job was easy, just sit there and try to look pretty while Lena spoke. I say I performed rather well and Lena was magnificent. Her composure and interaction was absolutely superb. She has quit a bit of charisma that keeps developing.
We are now back in Klaipeda. I am back teaching classes and Lena is back in the office preparing for another trip. She is about to go on a longer trip that neither one of us is excited about. She will be in Moscow for a few days, then a week in Odessa, followed by a week in Chisinau, Moldova where she will hook up with another coworker. 2 1/2 weeks away. We are not looking forward to this. Please pray for us, and especially for Lena as she will be on her own for 1 1/2 weeks. It will be difficult.

I'm digging into my new teaching position and am absolutely loving it. I have 40 students total and am teaching several of them more than one class. 40 students from I believe 8 countries, over 60% of the students are international which makes for absolutely fascinating class dynamics. They are bright, hungry, and eyes are wide-eyed open soaking in the material, their new surroundings, and anticipating future prospects and fulfilling their potential.
Married life is simply wonderful. We do have plenty of cultural differences to overcome but we are doing it patiently, thoughtfully, and intentionally while we learn from one another. We help each other with our daily life and dream and plan with each other our future life. I have never been this disciplined and organized before, a change I've sorely needed and now not only does my wife assist me in accomplishing this, she unintentionally motivates me to improve several areas of my life. The changes I'm going through are healthy (if not necessarily easy) and love and appreciate her every day.

A crazy month and a half seems to be winding down to a peaceful, sustained joy. After teaching at the Summer Language Institute, having my parents here for a month, then the rest of my family for a whole week, then getting married and going on a wonderful honeymoon, the pace of life has subsided and I am able to enjoy married life with my wife. It is an adjustment being here now without my family, oh, and also being married.
There are also some work changes happening. In light of how well admissions is going now, and my need there therefore subsiding, I will be working in a new program at LCC that is in need of help. I will be teaching in our new Intensive English Program. This program is designed for students who want to be at LCC and have great academics and most are strong Christians, but they do not have the English ability. I will be teaching them to prepare them for university studies. I, and my wife, recruited most of these students and so I am looking forward to the opportunity to ensuring they take another important step in getting ready for university. However, I will not be completely leaving the admissions office, I will still be able to take a 2-week recruiting trip in October to Ukraine and probably another short trip during the semester. I am eager to get to know students here a little more personally and spend time with the community here.
Lena and I are looking into the future after December and are wondering where God will take us. Please pray for us as we seek God's guidance. And please pray for our marriage as we begin a new venture.
I should also be updating this blog more often since I won't be traveling to all ends of europe anymore, so my dear friends back at CRWM will have a little more to read and report on in the Missionaries updates :).

Last week I said good-bye to a group of teenage Ukrainians that were here for about 2 weeks. They sat in on some classes here at the university and I gave them additional English lessons as well, in addition to showing them around town. They also gave many of us here the pleasure of a Ukrainian culture night with traditional dancing and singing in their traditional costumes. We were all duly impressed.
The summer is beginning to come out in full force now. The next couple of months are so brilliant that it makes up for the rest of the year weatherwise... almost. I just hope all this sunshine will be present on the big wedding day, just over three weeks away.

The academic year is over, exams are finished, graduation has come and gone, and there is peace and quiet in the halls of LCC! Board meetings also have come, and gone. Graduation was beautiful and went off wonderfully. It was our first graduating class with a significant amount of international students and it showed from the applause of the parents in the audience from Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, and a family even made it up from Macedonia. It was wonderful for me to see these parents here as many of them have assisted and hosted me during my travels. These were brave parents who trusted LCC with their children to educate them and develop their character and faith.

As our recruiting is wrapping up for next year we are comparing notes with academics. We are still short professors for next year, which means we don't even have the professors to give insane schedules, like we normally do. I'm hoping it all gets worked out by the end of the summer, somehow.

And speaking of the summer, boy it is shaping out to be gorgeous! The sun waking me up way too early in the morning and keeping me awake late at night, wonderful. There is a renewed bubbling on the streets and beaches here in Klaipeda. And of course, the wedding is coming up. Plans are going ok so far but the paper work for marrying a Ukrainian to an American in Lithuania is a nightmare. But the reward is well worth it.

I'm off to what I hope is my last trip of the year. I'm heading down to Croatia for a few days for a conference at a seminary on Christianity's role in business. I'm going more or less to make contacts and meet a few students, but somehow I've been placed on a discussion panel for this topic. Needless to say I quickly gathered some reading material together to look over during my 6 hour layover in Frankfurt. Here goes.

I recently went on a trip to northeast Estonia, to the city of Narva. It is on the Russian border and only 150 km away from St. Petersburg. The city itself was a step back into Soviet days (though the rest of Estonia has progressed extensively). The fascinating part is that the city itself is split into two: half in Estonia, and the other half in Russia seperated by a river. In the center of the city there are two large castles facing each other, one on either side of the river. One castle being Russian, and the castle in Estonia being Swedish (dating centuries back when Sweden controlled the land). It is the only place in the world where there are two opposing castles so close together. It was quite impressive. It was also interesting to visit the Baltic Sea on the north side of the Baltics, and so close to St. Petersburg. There was an entirely different feeling to the Sea. It was more remote with a sense of hidden history. The city itself was 96 % Russian, even though it is in Estonia (Estonia and Russia do not get along, but Estonia also has a large Russian minority which creates interesting dynamics). I traveled again with a colleague of mine, Viktorija. We visited a couple of schools in Narva (and a couple of students are coming to our Summer Language Institute this summer, they will be our first Estonian students). We also visited a Christian Youth Conference nearby. The church we spoke in has a strong outreach program in the area of the city we were at, where over 80% of the population is living on social welfare. I honestly thought we had accidently driven into a deserted city. It was wonderful to attend the youth conference as it is an encouragement to the youth, parents, and church.

Now I'm back in the office, trying not to go insane as the weather is becoming quite nice and the beaches and sea are glittering and the forest is buzzing with life. I just want to get outside!

It certainly has been ages since I have written here. The first bit of news is that I'm engaged! I'll be getting married July 27 right here in Klaipeda, Lithuania. The wonderful bride-to-be is Olena Poplavska from Zhytomyr, Ukraine. The whole family is planning on making it on out for the big day so this is going to be a summer to remember. Olena and I are planning on staying in Klaipeda until December, 2008, after which we will venture on to a new venue.
The season of traveling has been over for a month and a half or so. However, I did spend a week in Hungary for a conference and a day in Prague on the return trip. What beautiful cities! The year is wrapping up and our admissions office is assessing the past year. Our assessment is that we are eagerly anticipating next year's class. What a great group of kids! Possibly the best class we've had in a while (on paper at least). After interviewing a few dozen of them face to face I'm also excited by the characters that will be coming as well. We will probably have a record number of students coming from Ukraine, and from more cities, in addition to the large amounts of students from Belarus and Moldova. This is our second year in a row where the incoming class seems to be exceptional academically, has a high level of English fluency, and containing such impressive personalities. So we are excited and are eagerly waiting to hear feedback from the professors once the school year begins since they will be the ones to really determine these things.
Klaipeda, and Lithuania, is entering its most beautiful time of year with the days becoming long, the beaches are warming up, the sea is shining brighter, and of course people are smiling more.