Well...family and friends, the day has arrived! I will be flying out of Detroit, Michigan, tonight at 6:15 p.m. to embark on the adventure of my lifetime! I will be flying for the first time in my life, and my destination is Moscow, Russia! While there for 10 months, I will be teaching 5th grade at Hinkson Christian Academy, a small K-12 school founded in 1991 by Campus Crusade for Christ. My class will be composed of students from many different nationalities, with most of them being missionaries' kids (75%) and the other 25% being diplomats' or businessmen's kids. I am thrilled about what the Lord has for me!

I will be going to Moscow as a tentmaker missionary through the Mission Corps division of the Nazarene Church, which is the volunteer missionary organization within World Mission. I am so thankful for all of the prayers and support (encouragement and financial) that the body of Christ has so graciously poured out to me. Thank you, Central Church of the Nazarene, for sending me off with a tangible sense of God's great love!

This blog site will be my primary means of communicating all of my Moscow happenings during the school year. The format will be random, which is very much akin to my personality. Postings will include many of my thoughts, summaries of the work I'll be doing, prayers to Jesus, praise reports, prayer requests, and pictures. Feel free to check it out at any time! You can post comments directly on this site, and anytime you'd like to e-mail me, feel free to do that as well. However, I must admit that I will be so busy in the year ahead that I can't guarantee I will be able to reply to your e-mails in a timely fashion or at all. But don't let that keep you from sending messages my way!

On this day of my departure, I'm very much at peace. I am reminded of Jesus' words: "Peace be with you" (Luke 24:36). Isoos samnoy. Jesus is with me. I go in the confidence of His Spirit, and I realize that since this trip is for His glory, all the pressure is on Him to do the work through me. My duty is to obey, and that is what I intend to do. It's a whole lot easier following someone to a destination than it is to blaze the trail yourself. I'm thankful to be following Jesus!