An audacious attempt to traverse the Middle East by motorbike, encouraging believers along the way, will soon be crossing the border from Pakistan to Iran.

Sydney Anglican Nathan Brown and fellow adventurer Julian Price have spent more than two months riding through India and Kashmir where they experienced the ravages of the recent earthquake, as well as the hospitality of Christians living there.

"The very first person we met in Pakistan was a Christian auto-rickshaw driver who helped us negotiate the labyrinth of Lahore," says Julian.

"Here the police pull you over frequently to buy you cups of chai (tea), the visa staff are friendly, strangers invite you into their homes and the opportunities for mission, far from being restricted, are ripe."

Lahore has a frontier quality about it with Kalashnikov assault rifles a common sight.

But the members of this motor mission enjoyed the hospitality of at least one Muslim family who were open to hearing the gospel.

"We were promptly seconded into the home of a Muslim brother Julian met in a photocopy shop," says Nathan.

"They lived in the back alleys of old Lahore. For safe keeping they allowed us to store our motorbike in their goat shed.  These guys also helped us organise a quick trip to Islamabad to sort out Irani visas.

"[The husband], although a devout Muslim, even came to check out church with us."

Nathan and Julian have spent the last two weeks winding their way across Pakistan, pausing to offer support to CMS missionaries Steve and Jenny Sonneman.

The Sonnemans are working with a Bible college in southern Pakistan.

"We had a busy week as they introduced us to much of the work going on about the place," Julian says.

"We took the local pastor, Saleem, for a ride visiting villages. We met with the local Christian student group, the Pakistan Fellowship of Evangelical Students, checked out some of the aid projects going on in the area and even got a bit of insight into how the parenting thing works " feeding the Sonnemans' kids!"

In a few days the Australian bikers will be taking their encouragement over the border and into Iran.

As they prepare to leave for a location where Christians are constantly struggling, they reflect on the efforts families like the Sonnemans are taking to proclaim God’s Kingdom.

"Their kids are far from the family and friends they have grown up with and living a life in a culture that is foreign to their own," Julian observes.

"Timmy has spent much of his young life with diarrhoea, boils, meningitis and other illnesses associated with third-world living conditions.

"But the Sonnemans are unwavering in their commitment to ministry in Pakistan. They are secure in their faith and the vision that there is potential for a great change in the hearts of the Pakistani people.

"'That's what keeps us here,' Steve said over the washing up one night."

Sydneyanglicans.net publishes a blog of Nathan and Julian's adventures as their motor mission wends its way across the sub-continent.

Click here to read their accounts or visit Viewfinder to see more pictures from their epic journey.