Gospel Expedition

New day, new city, new acquaintances. We asked God’s blessings and headed for Ioshkar-Ola, which means “Beautiful City.” It’s the capital city of the Mari-El Republic. As we drew near, we met the leader of a bicycling school and his students. He gladly showed us the photos about his former cycling adventures when he traveled to Vladivostok on his bike. We were glad to see pictures of the roads on which we’d have to travel.

They accompanied us to the place where our evangelization was planned. It was a very beautiful place with a nice park, a river and a lot of young people. Vladimir Skovpen met a young man who had devoted his youth to the sport of cycling. After his army service, (he came back as an invalid from Chechnya, being wounded there many times) he had looked and failed to find peace for his soul and drinks alcohol now. But he wants to find peace. We pray that the seeds of God’s Word that we planted will bring forth fruit.

Going Out Where the Unbelievers Are

We presented our usual program, but what was different about this meeting was that most listeners there were Christian brothers and sisters. The unbelievers were just passing by. This was better, because it urged the cyclists to take New Testaments into their hands and go out to reach them. We gave out more than 250 Gospels. Talking one on one with them gave us an opportunity to answer personal questions people had. The Mari-El region is full of paganism. Please pray for this republic in a special way.