Friday Night

Front of Church; Housing units


Enjoying the park; Enjoying the park


At first there was just one, now several more friends joined in.

Well it’s the end of Friday so that means the end of the class. All the students handed in their pre-class written assignments by Tuesday morning and Irina and I read and graded them all by Wednesday night so all that was left for the students was the final EXAM.
All the students were great all week long. I know I’ve said this before, but it’s true. It was only my second time here, but they really made me feel at ease in class. And Irina was a great translator.
This morning at 8:30 we started the class off by looking at pictures of MCC, the buildings, and the people in the worship team. In class we already looked at what our planning meets look like with all the weeks of planning on the white board, and all the people around the table. After we finished with those slides they took about a 30 minute break. When they came back it was time for the exam. So we finished up by lunch, 13:00, that’s 1:00 for all you back in the states. After lunch Irina and I finished grading the papers around 3:00. she also helped me get my excel spreadsheet working so now all I have to do is put the grades in and it will automatically add them up and give a grade when all the grades are entered. Did I mention how great Irina is!!! This afternoon she left here to take a bus home. The bus left Minsk at 5:30 and she wasn't going to get home for another 6 hours. And she left her two little children home for the whole week!
Leonid and Tatyana his wife took me out for dinner. It was nice just to get out for dinner. The food at the seminary was good and so was the restaurant we went to.
Now I’m in my room relaxing and looking out the window at the grassy park between us and the river. Lot’s of people just walking, laying around in groups, talking and just relaxing in the cool of the evening. It’s still very light out and people take advantage of the daylight in the summer time I’m told.
It's very quiet here in the seminary tonight. I guess it's like the bible colleges in the states, almost everyone either goes home or goes to their ministry for the weekend.
Tomorrow I will leave Minsk at 17:25 (5:25) and be home in Austria by 18:30 (6:30). Home for a night before I take off for Moldova and another week of teaching on a subject that I love! Did I tell you how much I love this job? MCC and TCMI are a great combination for me and Pam.

John