Gospel Expedition

“When I begin my day I hear your voice” are the words from a song by Denis Bernaz, which all Christian youth in Russia know well. Early on Friday we heard the noise of plates and the voices of Christian sisters in the kitchen of the church. So we had to get up earlier than planned. We had breakfast and began to get ready for a long day as a very poor road awaited us. We were to cover 150 km to the next town - Ksenievsky.

We started at 7:00 a.m. from Aksionovo-Zilovsk. One car went forward to meet the town administration to discuss opportunities for evangelism and shelter, as there is no church in Ksenievsky.

The Lord blessed us with nice weather — the warm sun and cool breeze helped us. The federal highway became very poor, with wet sand, many chuckholes, ditches, and puddles after the rain. We had to use all our strength to cycle along. The road went over steep mountain slopes. After 50 kilometers, we stopped and saw a wonderful view — mountain creeks, tall pine trees, bare rocks and clean air. We were overwhelmed with it despite all the hardships on our way, and our weariness.

After the next 20 kilometers we stopped again. We were amazed and rejoiced. We saw lots of blueberries in the forest. We ran to the forest and ate a lot of these wonderful berries, which have a lot of vitamins. The quality, size and taste of the berries made us feel happy! After 30 minutes in the forest, we heard our truck engine start and the command of our leader . . . “Saddle up!” Again the dirty road and wonderful wild nature greeted us.

When we reached the 100 km mark, we met our men who returned from the visit to Ksenievsky. They told us about the situation. The village was 40 km from the highway, but they could not get there because of the poor condition of the road after the rain. They had to drop into the neighboring village of Sbega. But there was no shelter there because of an ongoing local sports exhibition.

We were very tired, but had to answer a very important question. Are we to cover the other 100 km to Kluchevskoy, or are we to stop and stay in our tents in a wet Siberian forest? Vladimir Skovpen was firm in his decision — we are to continue on our way. We thought the same, but if we were to do this, we would need some food and there was no place to buy it. We again sent our car forward to get fuel. After eating some more berries — blueberries and red huckleberries — we headed further. After 20 km, we met our car bringing back food, and sisters prepared a wonderful lunch for us.

Winding Down a Long Day

It was getting dark. It was 6 p.m. and we still had 60 km more to travel. The Lord is mighty and great, and we continued on our way. We met many obstacles on our way there — puddles, ditches and road signs announcing a detour. Not far away from us, we saw workers who were engaged in road construction, and we heard the explosions intended to create gravel and clear the road. We continued our way surrounded by unusual beauty — two beautiful clear rainbows and an orange sky with clouds. We stopped and took pictures, then had a little rest.

When it became completely dark, our vehicles lit our way. At first we stopped at the wrong village, but God helped us to find our brothers and sisters in Christ, who anxiously awaited us on the road. A nice dinner was waiting for us. The distance we covered was 208 kilometers, which meant 11 hours of cycling.

We planned to rest in Kluchevsky. Now we will have 3 days of rest and participation in the Sunday worship service, plus an evangelistic meeting in the local square. Praise God!

P.S. As members of the Expedition are not accustomed to local conditions, they become ill from time to time. They often feel sick. Please, pray for us!

Boris Yurchenko,
Belgorod