C.B.M. VISIT TO TOMSK AND CHELIABINSK
After a smooth flight from England, we arrived over Moscow at five a.m. in a heavy snowstorm. The pilot circled for three quarters of an hour, trying to land. Eventually he gave up, and we were diverted 300 miles to the east, to an airport at a city called Novgorod. 
By the time we eventually returned to Moscow, the plane was five hours behind schedule. Not surprisingly, by this time Bro Gennady, who held my ticket for the plane to Tomsk, was no longer at the rendezvous. However, by late afternoon and after a lot of unexpected Russian practice and prayers and expense on taxis I caught up with him, and with the vital ticket, set off for Siberia. After resting in Tomsk to catch up with the time change (it is 7 hours ahead of England), it was time to meet the eight brothers and sisters, plus Bro Igor Podgaisky, who had arrived at Tomsk by train. We had a total of three long studies over the weekend, looking at the end of Ezekiel and the story of Elijah, plus a Breaking of Bread. Eugene, Luba, Dima, Natasha, Stas, Eugene 2 and Renat were all in good spirits, and it was good to meet our charming new sister Ksenya. The temperature, to everyone’s surprise, was an unseasonable +7 degrees – not very different from London!
On Monday afternoon Igor and I bussed for four hours to Novosibirsk through Siberian plains with scattered wooden hamlets, and the sun sank early. The timetables and clocks in the huge railway station still tick to Moscow time – a heritage of ‘the Soviet period’. It has to be said that Russian trains always run on time. In fact, public transport leaves Britain standing, if that is the right expression! We set off on the train for Cheliabinsk. The 27 hour journey was enlivened by a long discussion in Russian with a Moslem family from Uzbekistan, who lived on a farm in a traditional patriarchal society. We chatted for hours about their way of life, moral standards and the impact of their religion.
Cheliabinsk was considerably cooler than Tomsk (-7 daytime), but we had a warm welcome from the Belyaeva family, who live in two rooms in a student block attached to the college where Elena works. Again we fitted in three talks in the three days, on the subject of Christian marriage (by request from Igor and Lenka, who are engaged to be married next year), plus a Breaking of Bread. Elena and Alexanders’ son Sasha was there for all the talks. His older brother, another Igor, put in an appearance at tea. We managed to have our visa stamped at the Malaxete Hotel, after rides in trolley buses (every seat has a little hot air heater underneath), and a lot of sliding about on pavements caked in ice. One afternoon we paid a visit to Grandma (Babushka) Lidya, where we supped green tea with strawberry jam. She was orphaned at 7, and has spent most of her life in the city, far from green fields. At 2.30a.m. that night my hostel bed collapsed as loose boards slipped from under the mattress, and a rising wind sighed through cracks in the window, inexpertly plugged by some hapless student before me. I borrowed extra bedding from an empty bed.
Our fellowship around the scriptures and God’s promises was something to treasure. Too soon it was time to leave, and after yet another aerial chicken breakfast on the way to Moscow, and a quiet day in the capital with Brethren Igor S and Gennady, the evening flight left (on time) for Heathrow and the damp fields of home.
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