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We are in Nizhneudinsk town, Irkutsk region. 200 km of the highway М53 are behind us. 40 km of them went along «gravel» road. Some parts of the «road» demanded great efforts from our side. Here is our goal – the town Nizhneudinsk! Upon arrival at the town, talking with journalists of the local TV Company, I found out the following: we arrived not at the town, but at the village Nizhneudinsk. The town lost its status in 2006 and now local budget does not receive additional 300 million rubles. Limited financing will create new social problems. We will not be surprised that Nizhneudinsk will soon disappear from the map of Russia. Only during last 15 years 11000 villages and 290 towns disappeared in the lands of Siberia. The reasons why the town lost its status are not known to its inhabitants.
Our Expedition arrived at Nizhneudinsk town with the only one purpose – to proclaim Good News to the inhabitants of the town. Local ECB church after receiving permission for evangelization began to diligently give out invitations to the event. About 150 persons came to the meeting in the Central park with the members of the bike trip. It is important to note that inhabitants of Nizhneudinsk listened to the singing of the team «Eden’s heaven» with special attention as well as to the testimony about limitless love of God. Several persons responded to the altar call. Local Evangelical Christians-Baptists church’s Pastor prayed for them and invited them to come to the church. All repented people received the Bibles.
On the 23rd of July 2007 inhabitants of Nizhneudinsk town, who came to the local park, received the Holy Scriptures. We have fulfilled our mission! The NTs were given out and people heard about Christ! There is a chance for Nizhneudinsk town to become a town again! But… Only 150 people attended the meeting. Others are perhaps satisfied with the village status of this place.
P.S. On one of the spring days in 1648 one could hear the sound of exes, cutting trees for the first prison-fort – Udinsky prison appeared on the taiga river bank. Regiments of Mongols intruded into this place through Sayan Mountains caravan track, robbed local people and threatened neighboring lands. But the fort appeared on their way and indigenous people who lived in west Baikal area received protection and support. Thanks to it the process of joining of local lands to the Russian State was facilitated. Relations between the indigenous people and Russians were not always peaceful. From the very beginning of the arrival there Krasnoyarsk Kazaks had constant conflicts with Buriat people who opposed newcomers in their lands. In 1700 Udinsky prison was named Nizhneudinsk prison – a small Russian village near the Uda River.
In early XVIII century Nizhneudinsk town went beyond the boundaries of the fort walls and its population grew. But it developed very slowly and in the middle of XVIII century there were only a dozen of houses. Nizhneudinsk remained for a while a craft and agricultural village not having economic and geographical conditions like other Siberian prisons-forts, which became large industrial centers.
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