Knocking on a Closed Door 
It was 1967. The United States and the U.S.S.R. were fiercely involved in the Cold War. Wycliffe Bible Translators founder William Cameron Townsend was celebrating 50 years of service as a missionary to Latin America. Now 71 he was well past retirement age, but Revelation 7:9 still burned in his heart. “After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and language….”
“What about the Iron Curtain countries? Shouldn’t all languages there have God’s Word?” he thought. He wasn’t aware that any Bible translation was taking place in that vast area of the world, or even if it was allowed. Cam Townsend did the only thing he knew to do—he and his wife Elaine began learning Russian and traveled to the Soviet Union as ambassadors of good will.
Bridging the Divide
Cam and Elaine arrived in Moscow on October 3, 1968, on their first visit. They both felt strongly that any further invitations 
to the Soviet Union and, hopefully, permission to do Bible translation would depend first of all on God and, second, on extending a hand of friendship to all they met.
As Cam said in a letter to a friend in the Soviet Academy of Science in 1969 after the first trip, “I am determined to do everything we can to draw our people more closely together in bonds of friendship—the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. In this way we’ll be performing a real service to our country and to the lovers of peace everywhere.”
The Door Cracks Open
By their eleventh trip in 1979, the Townsends had traveled more than 10,000 miles and given away hundreds of scripture portions. They openly shared about linguistic research and Bible translation taking place in Latin America. They had written two books, The USSR As We Saw It and They Found a Common Language.
Cameron and Elaine had also been invited into hundreds of homes where their hosts showered them with gifts and courtesies. They were graciously given the privilege of importing a car and travel trailer and were allowed to travel unaccompanied for months at a time. The Townsends enjoyed wonderful fellowship in packed churches, especially in Moscow. 
Cameron never shied away from presenting his hope to university academics and others that one day the 160 languages of the Soviet Republics and Eastern European countries would have God’s Word available to them. Through friendships they had made in the Soviet Academy of Science, four translations of First John were eventually completed by a Russian linguist.
Cameron and Elaine Townsend had knocked on the door and it had opened slightly. It would eventually be wide open.
By the late 1980s greater freedoms began to appear in Eastern Europe and the Soviet republics. By the end of 1991, the Soviet Union dissolved. Within its borders and Eastern Europe, the Church began to develop a missionary vision.
The Growth Continues
Today there are Wycliffe organizations in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine. At Wycliffe’s Europe Area Conference in 2006, each of these organizations expressed hope that they could energize the church in their respective countries to fulfill the Great Commission.
It is happening. As Wycliffe Russia Director Valery Morozov said in a report to the conference, “Every year God is sending us very special people. We are seeing well-educated young people, including trained linguists. Our seminars are developing 
into a resource for the Russian churches. People are saying, ‘This is what our churches need, and we want to distribute this information in our regions.’ ”
At the conference, Wycliffe Slovakia Director Jaroslav Tomašovský made this prayer request: “Please pray for us as we share Vision 2025 with the churches in Slovakia, that we would be effective and the church will be engaged in Bible translation by prayers, giving and sending.”
Cameron Townsend had the vision that a closed door could be opened with friendship and a living demonstration of the love of God. But, maybe even he didn’t see how wonderfully God would move dedicated Christians in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe to join the ranks of Wycliffe Bible Translators. To God be the glory!
(Story written by David Ramsdale, a Wycliffe USA writer.)
more:
Read Cam Townsend's short biography or longer biography.
Read about Elaine Townsend's involvement. (Elaine passed away in July 2007. Read more.)
You may not be able to understand the text on the following websites, but you can enjoy the pictures and appreciate how God’s Word can be expressed in any alphabet and writing system devised by mankind.