Journey Of Faith Sacramento: Promised Land

Many evangelical Russians settled on the American West Coast because of short-wave radio shows from California.

The big star was an Assembly of God pastor from Sacramento named Paul Demetrus.

His Russian-language show “The Voice of Truth” was taped and mailed to radio stations in Korea, Alaska and the Philippines for rebroadcast.

The faint transmissions were picked up in the Soviet Union, taped and passed on to other believers.

Author Susan Wiley Hardwick says many Russians dreamed of this magic land: Sacramento.

About 16,000 Russian-speaking refugees settled there in the last six years and some of those found their way to cities like Spokane.