Nizhny Novgorod

Five hours by flight from Krasnoyarsk city to Moscow and 7 hours by train to Nizhny Novgorod. Our friend met us at the train station around 11 PM and brought to his home. We stay here for about 2 weeks.

Nizhny Novgorod is one of the three biggest cities in Russia. The majority of the people live in 5-9 story apartment buildings and most all use public transportation. Most people have a private phone line, cell phones, and access to the Internet. Nizhny Novgorod preserved a great deal of historic treasures and was included by UNESCO into the list of the 100 cities in the world reflecting the heritage of the world culture. With its 14 universities and approximately 100 research institutions, Nizhny Novgorod is one of the key scientific centers of Europe.

Last Saturday we ministered at Messianic church: they are renting a conference room at the hotel. Pastor Evgeny knows us from the last year and invited us this year. Some people remember us and were glad to hear fresh God'd word again. We prayed blessings for Russia and Israil.

Pastor Evgeny from Messianic church

On Sunday, we ministered at Pentacostal church. On the picture above, we can see a team of evengelism: they just came from a small village and gave their testimonies. Each of them was excited about what was done. Everyone was happy that he/she participated and could see many people who were hungry for God. They brought the word of salvation and healing.

The church building is under construction: it's almost done. On the picture belowe, we can see the same room a year ago: no windows yet, etc. A big progress compare with the last year! In a couple month, the church is planning to finish and dedicate their building to the Lord!


The church building from the outside. It's still under construction. Praise God, they have their own building and a place for worship! Many other churches do not have their own building and are experiencing huge problems with renting...

The city of Nizhny Novgorod has its own Kremlin! We visited it this year as well.


The view where two rivers come together: Volga and Oka. This place is called Strelka.
In previous centuries, Nizhny Novgorod was a commercial center of Russia, located at the strategic confluence of the Oka and Volga rivers. There was an old phrase: "Moscow is Russia's heart, St. Petersburg its head, and Nizhny Novgorod its pocket." Today, Nizhny Novgorod is one of the chief industrial cities of the Russian Federation.

Krasnoyarsk region

Ust-Kut city has a small airport. To fly to Moscow, we should go by train 21-24 hours to Krasnoyarsk city. We spent one night at Pastor Vladimir and Zhanna place and ministered on Sunday service at their church in a small village approx. 25 km (15 miles) from the city. To rent a building in a big city is very expensive aspecially for the small church. This church found another solution: they decided to move to the small village. They are renting a bus every Sunday to bring people to the church servises .


On the picture above, we are with Pastor Vladimir and his wife Zhanna and their 2 children (they also have 2 teenagers). The couple on the right are leaders of Rehab center (drug and alcohol rehab center).

A view of Krasnoyarsk city through the window on the balcony.
At Krasnoyarsk train station.

We visited another Rehab center in Sayanogorsk. That center has a big farm. You can see potatoes and lots of canned tomatoes and pickles. September is a canning time! People are getting ready for the long cold winter!

Garage and a storage room for the fresh and canned vegetables

Real farm with many pigs... The leaders of rehab want to exchange pigs for the tractor: they need it for their farm!

In a future, people in Rehab are planning to get bees and honey!
At Abakan train station! Olga's relatives came to say " Hello"

Ust-Kut

On the background is a banner for the street evangelism: Young people for God. Ust-Kut church had a big event for Christ, for the healthy life style, against drugs and alcohol.

Last days in Ust-Kut, Irkutsk region... Our family and friends with us on the train station

Wishing us a safe trip. We are going to the West and heading Krasnoyarsk city.

With Konstantin and Anya's family!

Kids are growing fast! Grandchildren are growing even faster!

Dasha is already 10 month! She walks preatty well.

Happy grandparents! We enjoy our short time with children and grandchildren!



So far, we had a privilege to minister in two churches in Ust-Kut city. For the first time, pastors from those two churches got together and prayed together! Praise God! It's a good sign for us. We prayed for the unity between pastors.

From the very top, we could see and bless our city again. We planted our first church here back to 1991. The top of the hill was our prayer room for the city for many years.

The beautiful view of the city from the hill



Yuriy & Olga on the rocky top!

The middle of September... The color of leaves had been changed from green to yellow.
The temperature in the morning up to 35-40 F (+3, +6 C) and a little bit higher during the day

Drug Rehab center

We had a Bible study and prayer for everyone.


We had diner together, here is small kitchen with minimum convenience.


They have a small farm.

Kirensk

With this boat we reached Kirensk in 5 hours.

Kirensk! Praise God we could make our trip to Kirensk!
We were dreaming and praying for the opportunity to minister on that land! That place is hard to reach: no reliable transportation, no bus, no train. The only way to go from Ust-Kut by boat a couple times a week (there could be cancellation due to the weather condition or to the boat condition). We were planning to go one Friday by boat at 4:00 pm but that schedule had been changed on that day due to the weather condition: the boat left at 3:00 pm. We arrived to the River station after 3:00 pm and it was too late! We should wait till the next Friday!

The train station is across the River station. We decided to change our direction and go by train to other small village - the train was ready to leave in 2 min. We made it! We ministered in 2 small villages during the week.
Next week, finally, we came to Kirensk, by boat, then we used ferry. The spiritual atmosphere was heavy: suicide, sexual abuse, alcohol and drugs, and ... One missionary family from Ust-Kut city came to Kirens a year ago and planted a church in Kirensk. They have a small group and are taiking care for people's needs. They were happy to have us with them for a few days! We glad that could come to Kirensk and pray there.

On our way back, we waited for a boat from 9:00 am till 11:00 am due to fog. It was cold: the temperature outside was 27 F (-3C), frost. We got cold waiting outside for more than 2 hours.

The beautiful view on river Lena. We were going from Ust-Kut city to Kirensk down the river 5 hours by boat


People there have kitchen gardens and they grow chicken. A few fresh eggs every day! It's nice to have some food when there is no food delivery due to the river condition.

We are with Pastors family. Anatoly and Katerina have 3 children-students. Their elementary school is a pretty close to their house (about 10-15 min by foot). The High school is located on the other side of the river. There is a problem with a ferry in October and May.

Welcome to Kirensk!
The view of Kirensk from the top: two rivers come together at Kirensk city (Lena and Kirenga). Kirenga cares her water extremely fast! You can see an island.



Kirensk is old city with only a few Christians.

Picture with a small group of new Christians. Recently they baptized 4 new Christians.

Prayer time
Anatoly and Katerina came to Kirensk a year ago. This is their prayer place where they together with new Christians pray for the city. From this point, from a small hill they can see the city.