Bike trip – August 10 – Aksionovo

«When I begin my day I hear you voice…» are the words from the song by Denis Bernaz, which all Christian youth in Russia knows well. Early on Friday we heard the noise of plates and voices of Christian sisters in the kitchen in the church house. So we had to get up earlier than we planned. At 06:00 a.m. we had breakfast and began to get ready for a long way as very poor road expected us. We were to cover 150 to the next point - Ksenievsky.

 

We started at 07:00 a.m. from Aksionovo-Zilovsk. One car went forward to meet the local Administration and discuss an opportunity of evangelization. There is no church in Ksenievsky, so we planned to ask the Administration about the opportunity of evangelization and a shelter for night, the way we did in Zhireken. The Lord blessed us with nice weather – warm sun and cool wind helped us. The federal highway became very poor – wet sand, many pits and ditches and puddles after the rain. We had to use all our forces to wheel.

The way went through mountainous road with climbs and slopes, hills and mountains. After 50 kilometers we had a stop and saw a wonderful view – mountain creeks, high larches, bare rocks and clean air – we were overwhelmed with it despite all possible hardships on our way and our weariness. After next 20 kilometers we stopped again. We were amazed and rejoiced – we saw lots of blueberry in the forest. We ran to the forest and eat a lot of these wonderful berries. A lot of vitamins. The quality, size and taste of berries made us feel happy! After 30 minutes in the forest we heard the noise of the engine of our truck and the command of our leader: «Saddle up!!!».

Again dirty road and wonderful wild nature around. The Lord can miraculously combine pleasant and useful things. When we reached the mark 100 km we met our men who returned from the visit to Ksenievsky. They told us about the situation. The village was in 40 from the highway, but they could not get there because of  poor road after the rain. They had to drop into the neighboring village Sbega. But there was held a local sport competition and it was impossible to find shelter there. We were very tired. We had to answer a very important question: «Are we to cover other 100 km to Kluchevskoy or we are to stop and stay in the tents in a wet Siberian forest?»

Vladimir Skovpen was firm in his decision – we are to continue our way. We though the same. But if we go we need some food. There was no place to buy food. We again sent our car forward to get us «fuel». After eating some more berries – blueberries and red huckleberry - we headed further. After 20 km we met our car with food and sisters prepared a wonderful lunch for us.

 

It was getting dark. It was 18:00 p.m. and we were still to go 60 km more. The Lord is mighty and great – and we continued our way. We met many obstacles on our way there – puddles, ditches and road signs - «By-pass». Not far away from us we saw workers who built the road and the noise of explosions – in such a way workers get 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 and had a little rest.

 

When it became completely dark light of the Jeep and KAMAZ (our Arch) helped us to go. At first we dropped into a wrong village. But them God helped us to find our brothers and sisters in Christ, who anxiously expected us on the road and a nice dinner was waiting for us. The whole distance we covered was 208 kilometers, which means 11 hours of wheeling and 15 hours of trip on the whole from the start. At 00:30 we went to sleep.

 

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

 

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

Boris Yurchenko,