Bike trip – August 8 – Chernyshevsk town

«Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee…» 

 We reached Chernyshevsk – 85 km. Half of the way was good. Other half was not so good. But we cherish hope that sometime this highway from Chita to Chelyabinsk will be nice. We do not know when it will happen. So we will continue to go along an earth-road. We see cars which go on the opposite side of the road. They are all dirty and it is impossible to guess their color. We anticipate what expects us further on.

Reaching Chernyshevsk we stopped at the gas station. We had a strong wish to continue our way to the next point – Zhireken town. We decided do in the following way – first to have lunch and time to check vehicles and bikes. Brothers Alexei Nozdrachev and Sergey Stepantsov will meet the Administration of the town and will give them the map of the Expedition with our route as well as the NTs.

The stop lasted for about 3 hours. We mended machines, and our Christian men Sergey and Alexei had a meeting with Administration workers.

In order to reach Zhireken town we had to travel more 40 km along a very good asphalt road. It was the last asphalt road on our way. It was not hard for bikers to cover this distance rather quickly. Zhireken is in a kilometer distance from the highway, which leads to Khabarovsk. We went straight to the town Administration. When we stopped kids encircled us as they wanted to see and touch our bikes. They liked everything and touched all parts of bikes. Yuri Golozubov, a biker, could hardly answer all their questions. Kids followed him and continued to ask many questions. There was no one yet anyone in the Administrative office.

We met Mrs. Tatyana Alexandrova who runs the recreation centre in Zhireken. She kindly welcomed us in the centre for rest. Conditions were very modest but good enough for minimal comfort. Administration people came at 17.00 p.m. and we received permission for the meeting at 19.00 p.m. We went along all town streets and invited people to the meeting with the help of a loudspeaker. We had some difficulties. When we switched on our music and sound equipment we found out that the voltage was too low. Administration invited an electrician to help us but nothing helped. But we had an unusual meeting with an electrician.

Anatoly, the electrician, appeared to be the Pastor of the local Evangelical church. When we came there we were sure that there was no Evangelical church exists there and neither Protestant believers. We were gladly surprised. On the other side not many people know about the existence of the Protestant church in the town though it exists for 10 years already. Anatoly invited all his church people to the meeting. We began our meeting without sound equipment. It was a good place for the meeting, surrounded by dwelling 5-story houses. About 100 people came. As usual we sang songs, shared our testimonies and preached. At the end of the meeting we asked brother Anatoly to pray for blessings on the town people and Administration. Not less than 50 kids were there.

Marina and Kate managed to cope with all of them very skillfully. They always have many interesting things to offer kids. After the meeting our talks with people continued. We feel it is not a less meaningful part of such meetings. People usually have questions and not all people are indifferent to the issues of faith. Alexei Nozdrachev had a very interesting conversation with a young man. The young man passed by and heard singing and saw gathered people. He was in low moods. He had personal problems – a quarrel with a beloved lady and other misfortunes. He found himself in a deep depression and he did not want to live. He was planning a suicide. And there he met Christians. The talk with a Christian man helped him to come into himself and look at his circumstances in a sober way.  As usual we gave out many Christian books and NTs. We gave Bibles to the local church people and Evangecubes and wished them to be active evangelists.

Next day the road was waiting for us. It was not covered with asphalt. When the meeting and talks with people were over brothers began to prepare new bikes for the trip, the bikes designed for poor roads. They are twice as heavier, and not as quick as bikes for highway. But they are safer and it will be easier for bikers to cover poor parts of the road. We went to bed late at night.