Bible School in Kazan (Russia) January 2005
In the beautiful Krutushka Sanatorium in Tatarstan, the Brothers and
Sisters of Eastern Europe gathered together. Here 56 people from seven
countries gathered together to grow closer to God. The love of brothers
and sisters was clear. I arrived in Kazan a day early, because of how
the train timetable was. But in a strange town, I wasn’t alone. In fact
six others arrived earlier too. And we were welcomed to the home of
Sister Ludmila Kuritsyna. We were so grateful for her hospitality to
us.
Kazan Bible School
Receiving-in of the six new members
Brother Viktor Filatov had arranged everything and hired a bus to
transport us from the city to the Sanatorium. We settled in and then we
had the talks in a special lecture room. It was really convenient. So
we studied the Bible together in a very nice cosy atmosphere.
With great interest we listened to the speakers, Brothers Bruce
Parker from USA, David Bushell from England, Michael Floyd from South
Africa and our brother Duncan Heaster. In the evenings, the brothers
told us about the lives of other brothers and sisters in many places,
like England, South Africa and Bosnia. We watched pictures and movies
about those places.
Six men and women, who had truly learnt of the truth and accepted
Christ in their hearts and confessed this in interview, were baptized.
For the first time, they took the symbols of our Lord’s sacrifice, the
bread and wine. Brothers and sisters, these are like new-born babies.
They have joined our Christadelphian family. Love, care, constant
attention and patience must surround them. They are to grow up in the
faith with us their older brothers and sisters. To celebrate this great
event, we made a small concert, and in the evening, a ‘sweet table’.
There was lots to do in the free time. There was a lot of snow, to
make snowmen, and also there were skis to go skiing. The spiritual
atmosphere, the feeling that we were being built up in your faith, the
great weather and pretty countryside, these things will remain in our
memories even more than the many photographs that were taken.
We realized that those who organized this gathering worked very hard
for us. But their reward was that they helped us to come nearer to the
Kingdom of God and His righteousness. So finally on 10th January the
bus came to take us back to the city, from where one by one we got our
trains home, to different parts of the earth. There were many tears as
we said goodbye. From all my heart I want to thank our Heavenly Father
and our Lord Jesus Christ, as well as the lecturers, those who gave
money for this, the organizers, for allowing us this great opportunity
to meet together, to feel our unity as brothers and sisters, to
encourage each other as true brothers, and to grow in our understanding
of God’s word.
Above: young Brethren and Sisters and Sis Vanessa Floyd
congratulating our aged Russian Sister on giving an excellent confesson
of faith. Below: two newly baptised, David and Michael, and by himself
Bro Michael Floyd from sunny South Africa who could easily be mistaken
for a Russian!.
Sis. Ludmila (Poltava, Ukraine)
