Gospel Expedition

We resumed our trip at 7 the next morning accompanied by the police car that was escorting us. We had enough time to cover 155 kilometers, but our cyclists wheeled along quickly and we covered the first 100 km in 2-1/2 hours. We stopped to have lunch and took an hour. We have not had such a long rest for many days during the Expedition.

We arrived at the road inspection station 30 minutes earlier. Two escorting cars were waiting for us there along with a representative of the town administration. We turned into the town of Lesozavodsk from the main highway. Unfortunately the escorting cars can not always protect us from incidents, but God is able to do it always.

After we had went about 5 kilometers, we saw a car coming up to us quickly and the driver signaled us to stop. The police car was first in line and stopped abruptly, then the car with the administrative officer also stopped. We had to slam on the brakes in order to escape a collision. No one was injured, praise God.

We found out that a Christian man from the local church was driving that car, hurrying to give us a Russian flag. The one we had before was stolen from our car, so ge bought one and gave it to us. After this small incident we continued on our way. We finally met a minibus belonging to the local TV channel, and they accompanied us to the church house, where they interviewed members of the Expedition.

The service began in the concert hall later that evening. I was surprised at the kind attitude of the town administration to believers. There are seven churches of various Christian denominations in the town in addition to our UECB group, which has not yet been registered as a local church. The administration helped our church with the advertisement and the stage. Administrative representatives came to the meeting and greeted members of the Expedition with kind words.

Reaching More Children

The service was held in a usual way. Perhaps that day the children’s ministry was even more successful than usual. There were more kids in the square than adults. Our children’s workers, Kate and Marina were shouting out with joy.

Our kind “Sharik” (brother Pavel dressed in a dog costume) invited kids to come. He had a very difficult task — to teach kids to become kind and obedient, to learn to be honest and friendly. Puppets Vitiok and Natasha constantly argued with each other. Once the kind puppy Sharik heard their shouts and told them about God, and how he began to attend the church and it made him a really good dog. He stopped robbing the neighboring dog Tuzik of bones, and learned to forgive everyone. Puppets Vitiok and Natasha also wanted to go to the church and read the Gospel. Such a simple story attracted not only kids, but also their parents who stood and listened.

It was interesting to observe two young mothers, who at first listened to the children’s program and then hurried up to the place where the service for adults was held on the other side of the square. After the puppet show, Kate and Marina organized a competition for kids with the balloons, and even young girls took part in the game. A caretaker from the local orphanage came up to our girls, and asked for the words of the children’s Christian songs, which she liked so much. Now kids in the orphanage will sing Christian songs. May God bless them to receive Him and not just sing, but to know Him as their Heavenly Father.

After the service, we picked up our sound equipment and went to have dinner in the house of a Christian brother. Tomorrow is another day.