After 3 INTERESTING days on the Train from Moscow, and after sleeping in 197 different positions in a bed that is designed to be exactly 15cm shorter than anyone sleeping in it, we arrived in Krasnoyarsk (Красноярск).
What a joy to meet up with a host of Russian friends - with most of whom we had but facebook or email contact for a decade! And even more joy to see that God has been working mightily in this place, and that He is truly busy bringing His church closer to Him. Glory!
A hectic pace, though, from the moment we stepped out onto the platform - that very morning Oleg and Ksenia took the group on a quick tour of the city, after which we had a lengthy planning meeting at the church, to discuss the programme for the next couple of weeks.
1. Our group will take part in a Christian Arts Festival from 13-16 July, on the banks of the Yenisei River - an annual event attended by about 1500 believers from across the region. We'll sing, we'll dance - just smile and wave, boys!
2. After the festival, we'll whizz off to the church's camp site to do some very needed building and repair work. The fact that this church managed to buy a site of their own is a miracle in itself. Praise God!
3. Some of the group will then form part of the staff at a children's camp at the same site, from 21-30 July. The rest of the group will most probably depart for Dobinino (a town about 1 1/2 hour from Kras) to where another SA missionary, Ernst Toerien, hosts some more camps for orphans and street children. Much work, few workers.
This programme does not allow for much time and opportunity to blog and email, so we wanted to keep you all adrift of what's happening. Please pray for and with us in this time of being almost incommunicado - we need your support.
Also please pray with us about our onward travels to Beijing - only 1st class tickets left on the Trans-Sib, so way out of our budget. As of yet, we are walking to China! But, as one in the team said it, the Holy Spirit is the best travel agent there is!!
Пака друзя!!
Don + Hanna