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Adventists in the church's Middle Asian region welcomed 'Follow the Bible' to Kazakhstan July 12, making the country the 74th stop on the Bible's worldwide tour.

Kazakhstan, along with Uzbekistan, Kirgizstan, Tadzhikistan and Turkmenistan, make up the church's South Union Conference.

More than 450 people awaited the Bible at a camp meeting near Lake Karaungur, where heavy rain, thick clouds and strong winds threatened to interrupt the meeting. But as soon as the Bible arrived, the rain stopped, clouds disappeared and the program started. To commemorate the special Bible like the patriarchs who built altars on mountain tops in Kazakhstan, church members inscribed a marble plate on the mountain next to Lake Karaungur with the words, "But seek first the kingdom of God. Follow the Bible."

The next day church leaders and members gathered in the central church in the capital of Kazakhstan Astana. After the meeting, local church President Rubin Ott flew with the Bible to Uzbekistan.

The traveling Bible united members in reading and studying Scripture in the country's capital, Tashkent. Church leaders were invited to a committee on religious liberty in Uzbekistan with the country's government. Leaders reported the talk was cordial and the government officially allowed the Bible to cross the border into Uzbekistan.

The next day, the traveling Bible arrived in Kirgizstan where church members took it on a cruise around the lake Issyk-Kul and built another commemorative marble plate, this time with an inscription of Psalms 37:3: "Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness."

Finally, the traveling Bible returned to Almata, Kazakhstan. In church on Sabbath morning, religious liberty expert for the Kazakh government Vladimir Ivanov congratulated church members for renewing people's interest in Scripture. "You returned the Bible to the world," he said.

At the end of the meeting, Ott passed the Bible to Victor Kazakov, president of the church's East Russian Union Mission, who will accompany the Bible on the next leg of it's journey -- East Russia and Siberia.

According to the Bible society, some 60,000 Bibles were distributed in Kazakhstan last year.

Church members and leaders met in Minsk, the capital of Belorussia to pass the traveling Bible to Paul Liberansky, president of the church's Caucasus Union Mission.

As the Bible crossed the border into the Rostov region, the delegation stopped to pray over the Bible. The special Bible drew attention from the police, who were photographed with it. In Millerovo, a city made famous by Russian writer Mikhail Sholokhov, church leaders presented the Bible to the public.

The Bible then stopped in the village of Tarasovka, home to one of the oldest Seventh-day Adventist churches in Russia. Later it stopped in Novocherkassk, the historical capital of the Cossacks movement. A group of 150 Pathfinders and other young people welcomed the Bible to their youth camp, where they carried wheat sheaves to symbolize the spiritual bread provided by the Bible.

More young people welcomed the Bible to Tikhorestsk, in the Krasnodar region, with flags and balloons. They also read Bible verses, told stories about the traveling Bible and prayed together.

In Kropotkin, church members constructed and dedicated a large plywood Bible opened to the book of Ezekiel, printed in Russian, to the project.

Later, in Armavir, local Baptists joined Adventists in celebrating the Bible. A local Baptists pastor spoke on the importance of the Bible in his own life, and a Pentecostal member began keeping the Sabbath after studying the Bible.

In another village, church members presented a local woman with the first copy of a Bible she'd ever owned. "All my life I dreamed of this book," she told them.

Next the Bible visited the village of Kochybeevskoe, where a large group of Mennonites became Adventists at the beginning of the 20th Century. The group has attended church meetings numerous times.

The Bible stopped at the central library in Nevinnomisk, where church members donated several copies of the Bible in modern languages and copies of the New Testament in Armenian and Georgian languages to the library.

In a nearby city, one local began reciting the Bible by heart when Follow the Bible stopped in his village. A new Adventist, he began memorizing Scripture a couple years ago.

Following a mountaintop ceremony in Piatigorsk, the Bible flew across the Caucasus to the city of Stavropol, where Scripture was read in the region's newest Adventist church, which is still under construction.

Later that day, young people hosted a concert in the park to commemorate the traveling Bible, after which a researcher Bible translator from the Russian Bible Society in Moscow gave a speech to those gathered.

Later, pastors representing various Protestant churches welcomed Follow the Bible to the region. They spoke of the importance of Bible study and called for Christians to dialogue with Muslims. Participants received copies of the New Testament in modern languages and watched videos about the traveling Bible.

On July 10, the Bible arrived in Myikop, where the church is constructing another sanctuary, a 4-story administrative building for the local church conference, a medical center, an Adventist Book Center and apartments. Members took the Bible downtown for a photo op at the city's monument to Ekaterina the Great.

When the Bible arrived in Rostov, church members there read John 3:16 in as many languages as they could speak. One member recited the first chapter of Revelation and said she'd set a goal to learn the entire book of Revelation by heart.

Members were touched when a recent immigrant from China said when he left his home country, Chinese customs confiscated his Bible. The local church president gave him a copy of the Bible in Chinese, and he read John 3:16 in his own language.

Local children then presented a 30-meter scroll on which they'd hand copied the entire Gospel of John.

Next, church president for the South Union, Rubin Ott, will fly the traveling Bible from the Caucasus Union Mission to five countries in his union.

When the traveling Bible arrived in Belarus July 5, the local church's administrative office held a special meeting before taking it to the National Library where it was put on display for the public alongside ancient manuscripts of Holy Scripture. Later that evening, a special program was held to commemorate Follow the Bible in one of the Adventist churches in Minsk, the capital of Belorussia. After the program, the traveling Bible was passed on to church leadership in the Caucasus.

-- Valery Ivanov, Euro-Asia communication department

The traveling Bible arrived at the largest Adventist church in Kiev July 3, where Adventist leaders and members gathered for message from Ted Wilson, a vice president for the General Conference. That afternoon, church members took the traveling Bible to a park near the church where so locals could touch the Bible, which is printed in 66 languages and is traveling around the world. Special programs -- including a health expo and drama presentations -- were also presented for members of the community. The next day, the Bible was taken to the Adventist Humanitarian Institute in a suburb of Kiev, which was hosting a congress of pastors-veterans. Nearly 200 veterans were able to see the traveling Bible. For most of them, the Bible is a particularly special book, since many of them were jailed for reading it 35 years ago. In a ceremony, the veterans passed the Bible to the younger generations.

-- Valery Ivanov, Euro-Asia communication department