Gospel Expedition

All members of the bike trip were rather tired by now. At their last forces they conquered the bald peaks, speeding 10 km per hour. Leaving Mariinsk at 6:00 in the morning, our team arrived at Achinsk at 2:40 p.m. The history of Achinsk goes back to feudal times, when in 1683 the first prison-fortress was built on the bank of the Chulym River among the taiga forests. It defended the Russian border from Turkic invaders. The town of Achinsk continues to develop and preserve its ancient traditions. [Continue reading Limited Ministry in Achinsk …]

Mariinsk is named for the wife of Russian Tsar Alexander II. His wife Maria had never been to this place. Once the Tsar visited the village located on the bank of the Kiya River. The local merchants asked him to give their village the status of a town and to call it after his own name. The Tsar granted town status as requested, and asked the local merchants to give this town the name of his wife. [Continue reading Hope for the Addicted …]

Leaving the Novosibirsk region, the Expedition crossed the border into the Kemerovo region. We were accompanied by the usual police cars along with Rev. Pavel Bak, the regional pastor for Kemerovo. The Kemerovo region is located in western Siberia. Roads there are not bad, but long grades up and down made our cyclists weary. One cyclist fell on one of the uphill grades. Though Yaroslav assured us that he fell asleep while cycling, it seemed to us that he lost consciousness for a moment. After we rendered first aid to him, we continued our trip. [Continue reading Siberia’s “Switzerland” …]

We see a long line of vehicles behind us. We see cars stoping by the waysides. We are “full ownersâ€? of the highway. Accompanied by police cars, we enter the city of Novosibirsk. We are allowed to ignore traffic lights and traffic rules, and continue on our way. [Continue reading Novosibirsk — The Center of Siberia …]

The Expedition arrived today at the town of Kargat, population 11,000. The town is located by the Kargat River, 180 km from Novosibirsk. About 80 persons (including kids) attended the evangelistic meeting organized by the church. “Kargat” is a Turkish-language word meaning boulder, or a heap of boulders. No one knows about the origin of the name of the town and river, and we did not see any big stones in the town. But we met boulders of sin of unbelief. [Continue reading Please Pray for Us! …]