The Committee sat round the table. It was time to fix the programme for East European Day 2000. The theme for the day was ‘conversion’, and we needed a brother to tell the story of how he came to find the truth. Of course, we said, let’s ask Edward V. from Briansk! He’s just the man!

So, in due course, Brother Edward arrived at Heathrow on the arm of a charming air hostess. We steered him to the car and set off up the M1 motorway, the speed, the road noises and the smooth surface unfamiliar but intriguing, for Edward has not been able to see since he was a boy of seven. That evening he went to Northampton Bible study class, with a warm welcome from the brothers and sisters who had heard about him many times, but now could meet him for themselves. Soon he was tucking in to huge dinners, learning to shop at the supermarket, and sleeping soundly under a soft duvet, as if he had been doing it all his life.

Saturday dawned damp but bright, and we threaded through the villages to a large school on the outskirts of Birmingham, where 150 brothers and sisters had assembled to discuss the work of preaching in the lands of the former Soviet empire. One of them, Richard Virgin, had travelled specially from Wales to meet Edward, and was thrilled when he recognised his voice, six years after the first Yelets Bible school.

After a devotional introduction and a thoughtful talk by Bro John Roberts, it was time for Edward to make his debut. Seated high on the platform, Bro David Pearce asked him about his childhood in Soviet Russia, his attitude to religion, and how he came to find the truth. To a hushed audience, Edward explained how he wanted to learn English, and Bro Victor Sluczewski, who taught in the same college, had sent for Christadelphian Braille papers to give him practice. Reading the papers, he began to argue with Victor about believing in God, scornful that such an intelligent man should be so deluded, but slowly the Bible was doing its work, and in 1994 Victor persuaded him to come to Yelets to meet some English (and Scottish!) Christadelphians. After that, Edward came back each autumn to Yelets, to listen to talks about the Bible.

One evening in 1998, he sat listening to three English brothers singing from their hymn book. The hymn was “Abide with me”. It speaks of God’s presence bringing comfort, even in times of darkness and danger. Like a bolt of lightning, Edward said, he suddenly realised that those words did not apply to him, for he was not yet baptised. Now, more than anything in the world, he wanted to join himself to the Lord Jesus, and make a new start. He already had a good knowledge of the Bible doctrines, and after an interview we decided there was no reason why he should not be baptised. Followed by Oxana Sidorova, he was immersed in the bath of the Sanatorium, and went home to Briansk rejoicing.

Looking back, Edward was painfully aware now of the many young people he had turned away from God, as he gave his lectures on the glorious history of Communist Russia. But now there was his family to encourage, and to his great joy, elder daughter Ludmila came with him to the Bible schools, and was eventually baptised at Yelets in September 2000. There was a spontaneous round of applause as the conversation with Bro David came to an end. Later, Edward spoke of the value of the Bible schools as an aid to fellowship, and concluded the day with a moving prayer, asking for the Kingdom to come, when the blind will see, and we shall be together with our Lord for ever.

The rest of his stay in England passed quickly, with the Breaking of Bread on Sunday, and Bible studies on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. During the day Edward kept fit by walks round the village, and swimming at the Health Club pool, where he enthused over the warm water and the bubbling jacussi bath. Always keen on history, he went to the Rugby Museum to put his fingers in the inscription ‘Constantine’ on a Roman milestone, and handle a tile from a 3^rd Century roof. Meeting Bro David’s grandchildren from school, he felt the letters ‘V R’ and the royal crown on a Victorian post box. The local church impressed him with its ancient tomb stones, and the sound of the magnificent pipe organ. At home, he liked nothing better than to curl up on an armchair with the cat on his lap and hifi headphones over his ears, listening to a classical concert. We were sad when the time came for him to return to Heathrow, where he was shepherded to the Aeroflot jumbo jet, and so to Moscow, where Bro Victor and Iain and Anna MacDonald were waiting to welcome him back to his native land. 'Увидимся!' - we said.