Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The article about the Vata village that I provided below was written
by me as a publication for the online encyclopedia -- Wikipedia. I
promised to write such an article to the influential people in the
village who gave us time for fellowship and interview. Because of our
promise to tell about their village we had good conversations with the
residents.

Vata Village:

The Vata village is situated on the Eastern bank of Ob' river, three
kilometers away from state highway Nizhnevartovsk-Surgut and 60
kilometers from regional center -- the town of Nizhnevartovsk. There
are 650 residents in the village.

There is no clear day for when the village was founded but the first
mention in the historic literature goes back to 1869.

There was a 140-year anniversary celebration in the village in 2009. It
is known that the village was founded by Lepetski, who was an exiled polish
merchant. I was most likely Catholic.

Today there are 12 nationalities and people groups represented in
the village. Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars, Bashkirs, Daghestans,
Mordovians, Germans.

145 residents of Vata are children. 85 of them are of the school age
and 60 -- younger. There are also two families who are part of the
indigenous people of the North - Khanty.

Majority of people in Vata are able to work. Their main occupation is
servicing the facilities of the oil and gas extraction industry.

Since young people of Vata are employed they don't rush to leave for
the city, they are not seeking easy life and stay in their native
village.

To keep cultural and social life in the village at the appropriate
level, a cultural/educational complex is being built in the village. The
complex will include kindergarten, a culture/arts center and a museum.
Presently the local museum is located in a regular apartment. Ruslan
Michailovich Velikodvorov -- It's keeper -- has the job of making sure
that all the exhibits are preserved for the future generations,
despite the fact that the conditions are not ideal in the apartment.
The new museum is supposed to open in the Fall of 2010 in the new
building.

Fishing and hunting are popular among local men.

Tamara Vladimirovna Velikodvorova is a culture center director and she
is a gifted leader. She is good at organizing celebrations, concerts,
dances and other entertainment events. Within the culture center there
is a local library which has about 5000 books.

During our visit we distributed a copy of the New Testament to 60
residents, which is about 10% of the whole population of the village.
There are quite a few Muslims here as well but the construction of the
mosque is postponed indefinitely due to financial reasons.
There are a few shops, a clinic, a post office in the village.
Cellular communications function well in the village and nearby.
The view of river Ob' from the village is beautiful both in summer and winter.

As you have now read about the people of Vata village, please pray for their souls, that God would have mercy on them, and pray for us as we seek to share the gospel with them.

Your brother in Christ,

Vladimir R.