Kazakh Bible School 2009

Fruit stall in Omsk

It was his first trip to East Europe, and David Simpson, our guest speaker, was not sure what to expect in faraway Siberia, land of reindeer and permafrost. To avoid problems with the Kazakh authorities, we had arranged to hold the annual Bible School in Omsk, just across the border in Russia. We flew via Vienna to Moscow Domodedovo, and then overnight to Omsk, changing our clocks to six hours ahead of London.

Once at the Rainbow Sanatorium, the time shot past in a blur of Bible talks and dinners. We did the daily Bible readings early, before breakfast, forty of us packed tightly into one bedroom. Then it was cooked breakfast, after which we held two talks before and two talks after lunch. David Simpson tackled the Epistle to the Galatians, while David Pearce ran through the building of the Second Temple. Meanwhile a team of helpers kept the children busy with lessons on Joseph, building a brightly coloured wall display of posters. We sang a Russian hymn at the start of each session.

Spring sunshine had brought the forest trees to the point of bud-burst, but it was still below freezing at night, and some days a sharp wind blew from the north. We had warned David to bring warm clothes, even though it was May.

We had a tight schedule arranging interviews during the afternoon breaks for the people who had asked to be baptised during the weekend. We agreed that Larissa from Omsk and Evgenii from Kokchetau were both ready to be immersed. The Sanatorium has a superb heated swimming pool, so the brothers and sisters resorted there at nine on Sunday morning to witness this deeply moving event, after which our new brother and sister were welcomed into fellowship at the Breaking of Bread.

The weekend came to an end on Sunday afternoon as the ancient bus lumbered noisily away down the dusty road to town, and we had time to relax and pack our bags ready for a 4 am start for the airport next morning. It had been a happy Bible School, with many new faces appearing alongside the regular attendees. David’s comment was "Amazing!"

David Pearce

Information about Kazakhstan