Sammy's Writings

Bibles to Russia (Page 2)

To Russia with Love

We attended the Moscow Circus, and the audience sat so close to the one ring, that, we felt like part of the show. Trapeze artists swung over our heads, polar bears danced close by, and the ring was converted into an ice skating rink, and a swimming pool, in remarkable time. We distributed Bibles everywhere we went and the Russians would run after us, asking for Bibles.

We attended Moscow’s First Baptist Church on Sunday morning, and James Blackwood (below, right) of the famous Blackwood Brothers Quartet, and his son Billy, sang.

I was called upon to lead our group in a song. The sanctuary was designed to seat a few hundred, but there were people standing in the aisles so tightly they could not remove their heavy coats. They took turns sitting during the three hour service.

Whether in palaces, museums, on the streets - even the Palace of Catherine the Great, I was free to hand out Bibles. That would be frowned upon in many places in America, but I never felt threatened there. People hugged and kissed me, and one lady came looking for me to give me a gift in return for the Bible: three pieces of hard Russian candy. She placed them in my hand and said, in Russian: “Take this; this is a gift!”