As promised, I would like to add a few closing thoughts and remarks to my blog. First, thanks to all of you who have faithfully read and dropped me lines on the site. Some of the comments really lifted me up when I was a bit down. I only hope that my comments were worthwhile reading. I have never considered myself a great writer. This is sort of sad since I very well may be teaching English by the end of the year.
Concerning my return, it has been difficult coming home. After an experience like this, it is hard to know where home is anymore. It is also hard to have to come home and face the hard decisions I have to make. Having been a student off and on for a long time, life as a none student is a lot to swallow, although I must say I am very ready to work. And then there is the hard decision to leave Dallas.
Concerning Russia in general, colloquially speaking, it is a cool place. The language barrier and cultural differences are at times annoying, especially Moscow in general, but I found that in many ways I like life over in that part of the world. I like the simplicity of life. Although Moscow is a bustling city of more than 15 million, I never felt the stress of life while there that I do here in America. I had no car (for those of you who don't know, I do not like driving.), I had few possessions, I did not always have access to a computer, food was cheaper, etc. These were the things that made life in Kazakstan great almost 6 years ago and still make life great in that part of the world today.
As far as the church is concerned in the former USSR, although there are more freedoms to worship there than before the collapse, and although there has been lots of missionary activity, there is still lots to be done and lots of folks that have no clue what Christianity really is and what it means. I would encourage all to pray for the church in this part of the world. Things are cushier, but still difficult, especially if you are a protestant pastor trying to open a church. The powers that be still resist the church due to old Soviet hang ups and Eastern "Orthodox" influences on the government and Eastern European society in general. One church that I went to for a bit moved 3 times over the course of 4 months and was expecting to move again when I left. They are currently meeting on Saturdays instead of Sundays due to the fact that they have to share a building with a couple of other churches who have first pick for Sunday service times. Needless to say, this change has reduced attendance by half due to schedule conflicts with many of the parishioners.
I don't know what more to say other than this. I don't know if this will be the end of my blog since I am interested in finding work over there for a little while, but that is in God's hands at the end of the day. So I am here for now and life in the wild wild east continues without me. Would you believe that it is a chore for me to re-adjust to life in the more stable West? Maybe moving so much all of my life makes it hard for me to plant my roots. I don't know.

Alright, I know that I am bad. Sorry to all of those who faithfully have been reading my blog. I have not been to an internet cafe in a while since the semester has ended. I definitely have a lot to say and little time, so I will probably wrap up this blog in a couple of sittings.
I am due to get on a plane to the States in about 50 hours. I can not believe my time here is almost through. On the one hand I feel like I have been here for a very long time. On the other hand, time has flown by.
Since my last blog I have celebrated Christmas and New Years, been stopped and fined by Russian customs, gone to Kazakstan, and done a good share of socializing with some great friends. The Russian customs incident was a fiasco that almost prevented me from going to Kazakstan. I showed up at the terminal entrance and did not have my visa extention in my passport (it turns out I had the document in my passport carrier, but was not told by the university really what the document was for). I put it in my passport necklace and forgot about it. All that the customs officer saw in my passport was my expired visa. Needless to say, they did not let me leave the country and slapped a 60 dollar fine on me for not having the document. I was able to change my flight to leave the same time the next day and made it to Aktau. I did not get to see some of my closest friends since they had apparently gone out of town. I did manage to hunt down my old host family and their relatives with whom I often hung out. It was a great surprise and blessing. It turns out that the family's oldest son is here in Moscow studying. I went and spent the evening with him last night. all of this really made my hard work studying this language worth while. I know that I will always correspond with them.
Okay faithful fans, I will wrap my thoughts reflections up next time. Getting ready the leave the Wild Wild East...