Gospel Expedition

Barabinsk is a town with 30,000 inhabitants. It is the administrative center of the Barabinsk district in Russia’s Novosibirsk region, approximately 300 km west of Novosibirsk. We arrived there July 12th, met by men from the Novosibirsk church. The church had authorized these men to organize an evangelistic meeting.

After a 10-minute drive through town, a car full of local men stopped abruptly in front of us, which was very dangerous for the cyclists. Driving our vehicle, Gennady had to put on the brakes and escaped the collision, but the cyclists were unable to stop so quickly. But thanks to the low speed, the clash was light. The cyclists were a bit shaken up, but that was all. Two minutes later, we had forgotten about the incident.

After lunch, the cyclists went to the sauna while others stayed in the church yard to pray for the evangelization. At 5:30 that evening, we encountered our only problem. A lady, whose face told us that she had drunk too much, threw an egg at the girls, but failed to hit her target. Perhaps it was the only egg in her apartment. Anyway the bombardment stopped and never resumed. The “fighter� against “sectarians� was afraid to throw empty bottles at us, as this is a criminal act.

We prayed all together for the evangelization. I believed with assurance that at least one person would receive the Lord at the meeting. As it turned out, five persons received the Lord. One of them is 23-year-old Aliona. She is a single lady, whom no one needs. She had a daughter. She smokes a lot and drinks some alcohol, as do all her acquaintances. She heard the Gospel at the age of 14, but did not decide to live according to the Gospel. After prayer Aliona decided to become a real Christian, and attend the church regularly.