Gospel Expedition

Thus far, our Expedition has never met such tests as we are now. We can’t believe this is called a “federal highway,” the M53. There is no road. We are heading toward Irkutsk. We see a lot of road signs along the “highway.” The speed limit here is 40 km/h. The next road sign we see — “Passing Forbidden.” We think the highway engineers must be joking. Our speed is 5 km/h, and no drivers ever attempt to pass other cars. We kept cycling on to Taishet.

The distance from Kansk and Taishet is 180 km. Taishet was founded in 1897 as a small village. It is located on the bank of the Taishetka River. The name comes from the local Ket language . . . “taâ€?, which means “coldâ€?, and “shetâ€?, which means “river.” Taishet became a town in 1938. Its population in 2000 was 42,300. Drug addiction and alcoholism are two basic troubles in Taishet. The UECB church in town has a rehab centre. Mrs. Helen Kovolenko, Taishet’s mayor, is very friendly toward evangelicals and is grateful for the social work of the church.

Rev. Sergei Tokarev, the pastor of the local church, met us at the entrance to Taishet. We had an evangelistic service in the downtown area on July 22. We gave out New Testaments and the copies of Faith and Life magazine. We gave the children the Path magazines, along with balloons and candy.

The ECB church in Taishet was well-prepared for our visit. Christian are anxious about the life of their co-citizens and used the ministry opportunities we provided 100%! We thank you, dear Pastor Sergei, for your sensitivity and attention to us. God acts through such humble and simple people as you are!

An Interesting Church History

There are 22 members in the Taishet church, and most of them are young people. The church has been there since 1938, when the first baptism was performed. Denis Bondar founded the church. In 1948 he passed away to be with the Lord. A year after his death, the church people received a notice addressed to him with a request to come to the police office. They were very much surprised as their pastor had gone to be with the Lord, so they didn’t take the notice seriously. Five days later, the police came to the late pastor’s house to make a house-check. They asked his widow, Anastasia, “Where is your husband?” She replied, “He does not live with us.” Bewildered, one of the officers said, “But Baptists do not divorce!.” Then Anastasia reminded them that her husband had been with the Lord for more than a year. Some people who were present there in her house that day knew about the death of her husband. It remained a secret why the officers had come to arrest someone who had died.

Next we head to Nizhneudinsk. Local residents have warned us – there is no road. What we had experienced thus far was nothing compared to what lay ahead.