Gospel Expedition

Ministers from Spiritual Revival Baptist Church met us 10 km outside of Tyumen, along with two police cars. Traffic was stopped especially for the Expedition. I do not know how many police officers were on the roads that day, but our cyclists could not travel faster than 30k/h. We were rather tired as we had already traveled 210 km. The road was not even all the time, but still it was a road. We’ve been warned that later on, the Expedition will encounter real problems with the quality of the roads on which we’ll be traveling.

At Tyumen, we are changing our team of cyclists. Alexander, Michael, Dmitry, Alexei and Pavel, as well as Marina and Christina, our children’s workers, are to go home. The new team had arrived, but there were tears in our eyes and a reluctance to go back home. Almost all the members of the previous team were willing to continue the ministry, but the new, fresh team had arrived, and they were full of strength and passion to start their portion of the trip as quickly as possible. They are not yet aware of all the hardships and weariness lying ahead. They did not know the rules of cycling, but they attentively listened to Vladimir Skovpen, our coach, a leader and a counselor – which means they will succeed.

Better Weather for 200 Kids

The weather was not nice in Tyumen, alternating between hot sun and rain. Mud and puddles of water covered the ground in the place where we had planned two-day festival for the teams. But the church members who had organized it were confident the event would happen, and it did. God intervened and ordered the rain to stop, causing the sun to shine brightly. This created a pleasant atmosphere for the evangelization. At 6 p.m. sharp, the leaders of the children’s program introduced the Expedition and announced the beginning of the competitions. More than 200 kids visited the festival. They took part in the games and came to know about the Word of God. At the end of the festival, all the children received copies of the Path magazine, and competition winners received diplomas and children’s Bible story books.

Mary and Vera’s Story

As an aside to the event, 14-year-olds Mary and Vera have never heard about Christian believers. One day when passing by the church, they noticed a banner where they read about the Festival. Their team lost but the girls wanted to have the children’s Bible story books. They came up and begged us to give them the books, and I asked them, “Why do you need a Bible for?” To my surprise, Mary replied, “Why? But this is the Word of God! Don’t you know about it?!” But how did the girls come to know about the Bible being God’s Word?

We began to talk and I found out that Mary’s mother works in the Tyumen post office. Someone gave her mother, Olga, a copy of The Path, and she in turn gave it to her daughter. After Mary read the magazine, she found out that the Bible is the Word of God. The magazines, which we send from Vladikavkaz all over Russia, tell of the grace of God and that it is present here, even in remote Tyumen. The girls returned back home with colorful children’s Bible story books, magazines, and other gifts from the Expedition team. Please pray for Mary and Vera, and their mother!

Piotr Lunichkin