In February, Russian dignitaries and Olympic officials celebrated the one-year mark in the recently completed Bolshoy Ice Dome in nearby Adler. Several thousand Sochi residents gathered to watch the countdown at one of the live Olympic viewing sites in their city's downtown area along the coast of the Black Sea.
Olympic officials and Sochi residents were not the only ones in the area watching as the clock clicked down to the one-year mark. Southern Baptists from Oklahoma and Georgia joined International Mission Board missionaries in the city as preparations for Olympic ministry continue.