Back from Belarus for a week and am getting ready to leave for Kazakhstan in a couple of days. My first time to central Asia and I am really excited. It is a shorter trip, only two weeks (including a week in Kyrgyzstan), which will be refreshing. I am also going with a colleague which will also make the trip less stressful and significantly easier, what a change from my previous trips. In Belarus I had former students keeping excellent care of me (I love looking in the past and seeing how the Lord looks at the future), and now a colleague, brilliant.
This last trip was extremely successful both in terms of the number of students who are interested in LCC and more important in the quality of the students. These students are dense in integrity and perspective. And with most being poor and living under adverse politics, they exhibit a lot of courage, ambition, persistence, and intelligence in reaching an academic level and English proficiency that many wealthier students acquire through special schools, tutors, and other resources. Interacting with these students is such a pleasure and honor. Our whole admissions staff is also extremely pleased to hear that the university's professors are absolutely amazed with this year's first year students. We knew they were amazing but it is warming to hear this perception is being reinforced in the classroom.