By Bonnie Sue Hearron
Missionary Wife in Krasnoyarsk, Russia in Siberia

The Adam Young Family is serving the Lord in Samara, Russia, which is a city of 1.3 million people situated in the middle of the Volga region of Russia. In the entire Volga Region there is only one other independent Baptist missionary in this vast land that has just as many people as California (32 million) and is as large as France, England, and Germany combined. Together with its twin city of Tolyatti which is 40 minutes away, the Samara /Tolyatti area makes up the third largest population center in Russia behind only Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

As the center for rocket manufacturing, Samara was completely closed to foreigners during reign of the Soviet Union. Tolyatti is the “Detroit” of Russia with its enormous AvtoBAZ factory, making the lion’s share of all Russian produced passenger cars.

Known as a multi-cultural city, Samara boasts what people say is the largest Mosque in Europe. Many people do not know this but one in seven people who have a Russian citizenship is a Muslim, and Samara has the third largest population of Muslims based on percentages in a major city.

The Youngs have just recently received their residency permits which allow them to stay in Russia for five years at a time. They have already seen people saved, and they desire to build a place to be used to reach the residents of Samara.