A Whanganui church group has just returned from a mission to a remote area of Russia.
Five members of Faith City Church spent three weeks in eastern Siberia, in and around the city of Ulan Ude, in Buryatia province, located 150km from the Mongolian border.
The group was led by Ian Mealings, who was visiting Buryatia for the eighth time. However, three of the team members were visiting for the first time.
"I'm very familiar with the place, although we do have to use interpreters while we're there," Mr Mealings said.
He said the local population was a mixture of Russians and ethnic Buryats. Russia is the language commonly spoken, although in more remote areas the Buryat language - considered by Unesco to be critically endangered - is still heard.