A Report from Ishimbai
by Curtis Smith
 07 Dec 2007

Population:  Ishimbay (Ishimbai):  about 100,000 according to the mayor. 

Industry:  Mineral mining, in the vicinity are petroleum refineries, and agriculture.
The symbol of Ishimbai is a statue of a man mining minerals. 

Location:  About 100 miles south of Ufa.

I have just returned from a mission trip to Bashkiria. I had the privilege of working with and getting to know Christians in this distant land.  They are warm, loving, and deeply love the Lord.  The pastor is now a very dear friend, my interpreter was excellent and devoted to the Lord, and the members of the church became so close that leaving was a very difficult task.  How I wish I could have stayed with them!

Curtis Smith

 I also met non-believers, Muslims and atheists.  They were always kind, sometimes open to the presentation of the gospel, but sometimes their minds and hearts were closed

One atheist is a friend of one of the brothers in the Church in Ishimbai.  The believer had begun a journey in search of God together with his atheist friend.  Fanous found God through his faith in Jesus Christ, but his dear friend Marat continues to search.  Sometimes the voice of a stranger is listened to while the voice of a friend is minimized.  For this reason Fanous asked me to speak with his atheist friend.  Marat is very intelligent and well studied in many subjects.  He understands intellect and emotion, but doesn't understand faith.  He was very warm and open to discussion, but still seeks God on his own terms.  It was in discussions like this one with Marat that God reminded me that my job was only to present the Truth.  It is the Holy Spirit who convicts of the righteousness of Jesus and our own unrighteousness.  Marat has now heard the truth from me and from his friend.  He truly is seeking God, and I trust the Holy Spirit to bring him to knowledge of the one Truth that he seeks.

The Bashkir map on the map page, shows  Ishimbai. Unfortunately, all the cities are in Russian.  Ufa is just to the north of center of the map, where most all roads converge.  Ishimbai is due south of Ufa (it starts with a letter that looks like a backward 'N', followed by what looks like a small 'w'. The map at the bottom of the map page has the city names in English transliteration.

Bashkiria is the older way of saying Bashkortostan.  Kolhoz is the English transliteration for the Russian word 'collective', in the sense of a collective farm where multiple families live and tend the land in exchange for a portion of the crops.  Kolhoz is a generic word and doesn't refer to a specific town.

I also had the privilege of speaking with the mayor of Ishimbai.  He was very kind and welcoming.  When he saw me later on the street in the city, he rushed over to greet me again.  The Lord had prepared the way and created a warm environment in which we could share the gospel and get to know the wonderful people of Bashkiria.

Another man claimed to be an atheist, but after a period of battle, he began to cry and accepted Jesus as his Savior.  He immediately apologized to his wife for past cruelty in front of many witnesses.  Two days later his countenance was so changed that he was almost unrecognizable.  God is able to do wondrous things, and He lets us go to distant lands to witness His power and love

Soon after meeting with the mayor, we went into the park to a flower festival.  We were met by two sisters in the church with their children. (The woman on the right was not one of the sisters, rather an exhibitor at the festival who insisted we use her flowers in the photo.  We invited her to join us also.)  This picture was taken just after a television camera crew interviewed me. (They had interviewed me and the rest of the IC team a couple of days earlier at the school auditorium where we conducted evangelical meetings.)

The church choir sings at the evangelical meeting.

American team eats with members of the church.

Around the table after visiting with Kolhoz village family and neighbors.  Harrold Hodgson on the left, I am on the right.

This is a roadside watermelon feast as we returned from Ishimbai to Ufa to join the rest of the team for the "victory celebration" where it was reported that all the teams combined saw 407 people pray to accept Christ.  There were also many rededications and many, many seeds planted.  In the picture are Americans: Martin Jerry, Larry Cunningham, Harold Hodgson - not visible, and me -- interpreters: Irina and Lilia, Pastor Sergey and his wife Olga, and Robert (brother in the church - behind Larry).