[CONTENTS] [Belarus 11th - 17th October 2000]
Western Siberia 21st October - 3rd November 2000
We met Brother Kevin Rawlings at Moscow airport on Saturday and took the overnight train to Kazan where in August we had met with 15 of the brothers and sisters.
We were keen to find out whether they had managed to stick to their ambitious decision to meet together every week. Sister Ludmilla whose flat we had met in had been ill in hospital for some weeks but the brothers and sisters had managed to meet together just a few times. They had not had a regular venue and they had not all managed to come each time – but they had at least met! On Sunday we held a breaking of bread with a few of them and on Monday we visited Sister Ludmilla in hospital where the doctors don’t really know what is wrong with her. We also met the other Ludmilla, this one very cheerful and lively, and, with her, visited 89 year old Brother Rodion. We managed to find time before our train to get to see a young brother whose flat we were told had recently been destroyed by fire. We were glad to establish that the story had grown in the telling. He told us that he was fine and that the fire had been contained in his grandmother’s room.
We had to waste the next day travelling because we were trying to get so far so we didn’t meet the small group of 5 in Talitsa until Wednesday 25th. We were impressed by their dedication to sound doctrine and to preaching. The elder of the two brothers (another Alexandr) had hired a large, old and extremely cold cinema for two evenings and advertised some talks with very long titles. Amongst a few others, these talks were attended by five leaders from the Russian Orthodox, Baptist, and Pentecostal churches who had come prepared with an endless flow of questions which inevitably ended around the subject of the Trinity. Of course, they were united against us. The discussion was heated but Alexandr joined in with some quick answers to their arguments and at the end of the second evening we were pleased to have two ladies giving their names and addresses to receive correspondence.
We then had three enjoyable days with the B-s also visiting an elderly baptised couple nearby and then moved on to Ust-Katav which is a beautiful town in the Ural mountains made even prettier by the snow. There are four sisters there – three generations in one family plus one other. We just spent one day with them then we waited for the 4am train back to Moscow.
[CONTENTS] [Belarus 11th - 17th October 2000]
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