Lakshmikanthapur

Every morning here starts with buying fresh food needed for that coming day. Yuriy and Palash walk to the nearest Flee market place around 6:30 – 7:00 AM. Dark time accordingly is between 5:30 PM and 5:30 AM.

We have different kind of fresh fish almost every day and lots of local fruits and vegetables we never heard about.
Also, we have fresh ripe bananas. People pick them every day for the Flee market.

Our hosting family takes good care of us and Palash cooks for us delicious meal.

Our village Gopalnagar has electricity but it’s shutting down many times every single day and at night time (no any predictable schedule for energy saving plan!)

No air conditioners here with hot weather (95 F) in October and no rain! Rain season just stopped and, so far, grass and leaves are still green.

Rickshaw!

On Saturday, our friends Palash and Natasha led a small group in a nearby village Lakshmikanthapur. They rented rickshaw with a driver and took us with them (up to 10 miles to drive in 30-40 min). The road condition was so-so, but for the next day it was even worst.

Arts craft! She is using a knife to split bamboo.

Guys are making bamboo rugs.

Palash and Natasha are doing Bible study (First steps) on weekly basis.

Twenty-three adults and teenagers actively participated in discussions; kids were quietly listening.

The topic of that day was Hebr. 5: 11-14 and leaders encouraged people to read Bible every day and to grow with the Word of God.

Only a few adults are able to read due to the literacy. People at that village decided to get together during the week at homes of the “readers” and listen to.

We prayed with one lady so she would be able to read and share the Word with her family.

Rice straw for animals and for roof

India welcomes us

We came to Delhi airport at 3:00 in the morning! It took us 6 hours to fly from Moscow to Delhi. Our next flight was local and took only 2 hours to Calcutta airport. At 8 AM our friends Palash and Natasha met us at the airport. We were happy to see their smiling faces! People here speak Bengal but we don't. The only way to communicate - through our friends! They are glad to help us and meet our needs. They welcomed us to stay with them for 11 days so we would be able to see North Eastern India as is.

It’s HOT! Really hot! As steam sauna. It’s hard for us after ministering in Russia, especially, Siberia, for 2 month. We got adjusted to the cool weather.

We spent 2 hours of our connection time between flights in Delhi with one Russian lady nonspeaking English and helped her to go through the custom and to find a local flight to Indore city. She was happy to get help from Russian speaking people. She was traveling to India by herself for the first time (normally, she would go with her daughter or son-in-law who live in Indore, India). Ludmila went to the Orthodox Church before her trip and prayed for help on her journey. Normally, she was going to the church once a year or so. Praise God we were able to witness her about Jesus. We recommended her reading the Bible and visiting churches on regular basis. She was exited and promised to start reading New Testament right away at her daughter place. Also, she was planning to find churches and visit them (Evangelical, Baptist, or Pentecostal churches – it doesn’t matter!) That lady got very good experience with us and was ready to make a next step! Praise God! We pray so she would follow Jesus and were able to find her home church when she will be back to Russia, Kazan city.

Our friends live 50 miles from Calcutta and we drove 3 hours by car to their village Gopalnagar.
Lots of traffic on the road and lots of animals! The roads are narrow: it's not easy at all to pass any other vehicle.

This kind of road is in a big city Calcutta, and after that .... it hard to imagine.

New blocks of Calcutta
All kind of transportation share the same road

Calcutta's view


Would you like to take a ride on ricksha?

This type of transport is most reliable and usable at this area


We are heading a small village. On the picture above, you can see the rice fields.

At market place! Fresh bananas almost everywhere!

Village life style. Jungles area. People made a space capable to live in.

Clay houses with the rice straw roof are common at this area

People are collecting water at the rain season and can use it in many ways: for fish, laundry, bath, etc - multipurpose water reservoir.

Next to the clay house you can see new style of building made from the clay bricks.


The rice field as well! Rice is the most important food in India!

Heading India

We enjoy our last days in Russia and are getting ready for our next trip to India, for the first time!
We had a blessed time here in Russia and are excited and looking forward to see what God is doing in India. Please expect our next post from India.

The weather here in Nizhny Novgorod is cool and a little bit rainy....

We took a walk nearby Kremlin

The main temple of Russian Orthodox church in Nizhny Novgorod - the oldest one in the city.

We enjoy fellowship and delicious meal with our friends!

So nice and romantic to walk and listen to the wispering of yellow leaves!
In about 36 hours, everything around us should get green color! We are heading India! We don't need our warm clothes there - the temperature in India is around 28-35 C (approx. 80-90 F)

One of the three

Nizhny Novgorod is one of the three biggest cities in Russia. The city was closed to foreigners throughout the Soviet times due to its military significance. The famous MIG fighter jets are made here as well as submarines. A small town close to Nizhny Novgorod serves as the Russian Federal Nuclear Research Center. This is where the first Russian atomic bomb was designed. This land needs a lot of prayer for healing.

Across the train station: a large shopping center "Respublika"


Toward the Kremlin

The combination of old and new construction

On the Oka river. It's cloudy and the temperature is around 50 during the day and 40 in the morning! You can see and feel Fall.

October 2nd - our last Sunday service in Russia at this trip. We already have been here for 2 month since the beginning of August. We ministered in many churches: 11 in Siberia and 3 in Nizhny Novgorod. Also, we visited and ministered in 5 Drug Rehabs. God's word is still changing people's hearts! Praise God! Beside speaking and teaching, we did lots of consulting - personal meetings with people. They shared their needs and we prayed together. People had marriage issues - God used us to bring peace and love to families - many broken hearts got healed!

Worship team. This church is renting a conference room at old building of the research institut.

We stayed at Oleg's home. On the picture below, Oleg is next to Yuriy. We had delisious tea with Pastor Alexander and his wife Olga: nice time of fellowship! Alexander visited the United States in 2009 for the International Leadership conference in Columbia, SC.

In a couple days, we'll leave Russia but our hearts stay with people we met there. We are thankful to God for the privilege to serve people in Russia. We would love to come back soon.