Taking Scriptures all the way to Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula

By Leonid Shilov, Director of the Vladivostok branch of the Bible Society in Russia

A view of Kozyrevsk, one of the villages on the Kamchatka peninsula which received Bible Society in Russia Scriptures from a missionary team. In the background the Kamchatka volcanoes can be seen. Kozyrevsk, Russia. Photo: BSR-Vladivostok/Leonid Shilov (RUS02DJ-5.JPG)

KAMCHATKA, Russian Federation — Five members of a missionary trip to Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula travelled 1,000kms (620 miles) in April to distribute Scriptures supplied by the Bible Society in Russia (BSR).

The far-easterly volcanic region is sparsely populated, with most people living in the regional capital, Petropavlovsk. The villages visited by the missionary team are small, with limited facilities and high unemployment. Local people live mainly by traditional pursuits such as fishing and hunting, against the backdrop of the stunning volcanic landscape.

Children

In Mayskoe, which has only 270 inhabitants, a meeting organised by the missionary team, which was made up of Evgeny and Svetlana Kurkin and Sergei Linnikov of the mission To Russia With Hope, BSR Executive Director Anatoly Rudenko and Leonid Shilov, director of BSR’s Vladivostok branch, attracted mainly children and young people.

All those who attended received Scripture material, and around 30 copies were also donated to the local library. Tatiana Arefieva, the librarian, said that such material is particularly popular with children.

In the larger settlement of Kozyrevsk, the team handed Scriptures to the small evangelical church, while in Esso, which has around 2,500 inhabitants, contact was made with Alexei and Irina Solomin, who for the last eight years have been running a Christian children’s camp. This initiative, which began on a very small scale but is now establishing a permanent base, received more than 150 copies of Bible Stories and The Story of Jesus from the team, who also donated books to the local kindergarten and library and to Father Vladislav, a church leader.

Blessing

For the team members, being in Esso was a “real blessing”, especially when opportunities arose to discuss the potential for spreading the Gospel in the region.

Alexei and Irina Solomin moved to Esso 10 years ago and used all their means to spread the Gospel and establish a Christian children`s camp. They received Bible Society in Russia Scriptures from a missionary team. Esso, Russia. Photo: BSR-Vladivostok/Leonid Shilov (RUS02DJ-4.JPG)

Some 70 children at a boarding school in Anavgay, where around 600 people live, were thrilled to receive copies of a Children’s New Testament. As in other locations, material was also distributed to the local kindergarten and library. In Milkova, the team also visited female and teenage prisoners, giving them Bibles and supplying Scriptures for prison libraries.