Gospel Expedition

During the summer in Siberia, the temperature is hot — above 28 degrees Centigrade. The level of humidity here is very high because of swamps and natural evaporation. It is stuffy in the car. Our average speed is 25 - 30 k/h as in previous days. We want to go out and stretch our muscles, but 10-minute stops are possible only on the command of Vladimir Skovpen. We are forbidden even to dream about any stops until we cover the next 100 km.

After 210 kilometers, we arrived in Ishim town at 5 p.m. Despite some small incidents — several punctures of wheels and two cyclists falling — we kept the pace of the trip. Dr. Levon Sarkisov is one of the members of our team. He is from Krasnodar and is a quick helper in troubles. He serves here in the Expedition as a general practitioner, traumatologist and otolaryngologist. Though Levon is a dentist, he fulfills his new responsibilities very well.

During the worship service held in the churchyard, three persons with tears in their eyes asked God to forgive them. Even for the sake of these people we were to cover such a hard way. Heavens and its inhabitants rejoiced on the 8th of July, and we did too.

Pray for Nikolai

After a worship service, a 56-year-old man asked me to talk to him. His name was Nikolai, and he had been drinking. He lives next to the church, but had attended tonight for the first time in his life. Nikolai said frankly that he is an unbeliever. But at the same time he spoke about himself as an Orthodox believer.

Nikolai is a Russian man. According to his strong belief, all Russians are to be Orthodox. He is not afraid of death, because he believes that when he passes away, he will dissolve into Brahman (a Hindu god). He read about it in a book and liked the idea. Nikolai wears a small cross on his chest. He says the cross helped him several times to escape troubles, so he advises all his acquaintances to wear such an object.

Nikolai regularly drinks alcohol, but does not think he is an alcoholic. He loves to drink vodka. But when he can not afford to buy it, he drinks anything containing alcohol.

He does not attend an Orthodox church because he does not see any sense in it. One can pray at home, and what for? Nikolai loves to read, especially fantasy. He does not understand the Bible. When we gave him the children’s Bible story book, he promised to read it as soon as he finished reading the next fantasy novel. What an example of someone who desperately needs the Lord?