At Home in Cherskiy
Bruce Harrison, Aviation Field Rep
The plane touched down with a thud, followed by numerous bounces, shakes and the roar of flat-pitched turbine props, another typical landing in Yakutia. As the AN 24 taxied over to the ramp, Tigan and I looked out the window. Things did not look good. There were no trees, no hills, nothing for as far as we could see, just cold barren tundra. We were silently praying,"Please let this NOT be Cherskiy." Our prayers were answered. It was Chokurdah. We had only stopped to refuel before continuing our flight to Cherskiy, but our first exposure to the Russian Far North was not very encouraging. (Russians do not consider Cherskiy to be in Siberia, it is simply "in the North")
Cherskiy is situated about 50 miles from the Arctic Ocean on the Kolyma river, with tundra stretching for hundreds of miles to the west. There are mountains to the east, and the area is forested in larch trees up to an elevation of 500 to 600 feet above sea level. It is really a very pretty area once you get out of town.
Our arrival took place a little over a year ago and we have made a tremendous amount of progess, in lowering our expections and praying for patience, that is. Even though Russia is now a "democracy" and most of the people look and dress like us, things do not work the way they do in the US. We have been working on getting a plane in for almost a year now and have learned a lot but, practically speaking, it would be difficult to say real progress has been made. There are really no laws in place to handle general aviation. By law any Russian can own an airplane, but there is no provision on what to do if he wanted to actually fly the plane. So far no one seems to want to make a decision.
We will continue exploring different approaches towards getting the Helio in and trust that in God's timing we will eventually be able to say, "The Helio is based in Yakutia."
Two years ago I would have been very disappointed to not have the plane here by now, but God in his infinite wisdom has given me patience and the realization that, at this point, trying to take care of my family and an airplane would be an almost impossible task. Day to day living requires a lot of time. Add to this the fact that our apartment building is sinking into the permafrost and we will need to move soon, the church has lost its heat from the city and needs to come up with a new way of heating, the ongoing struggle with language learning, and someone always needing help with something; it becomes apparent that babysitting an airplane would have been too much.
We have found that, given time, we have made some really good Russian friends and that Russians long for friendship just as much if not more so than Americans. More importantly I personally have found that "home" is not a place or building, but it is family and friends. So yes, Cherskiy is now "home" but we look forward to the time we can be at "home" with our Father in heaven. Please continue to pray that many Russians will become part of the family also.
"But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness." 2 Peter 3:13
In His Name,
Bruce Harrison
© "TourService Center" Co. Ltd, 1998
