There are 157 895 settlements on the map of our country. One of them is the village of Poletaevo-I. May be this place is ordinary and unremarkable for other people, but for me Poletaevo-I is the dearest place in the world. It’s my native village and it has a long history. According to the historical records the village was founded in 1763, when Cossack Poletaev settled on the bank of the Mias River. So the name of the village was derived from the name of the first settler. In spite of the fact that my village is small, it has some places of interest. One of them is John the Forerunner's Chapel.

Many years ago in Poletaevo-I on the hill near the Mias River there was a beautiful church. The sound of its bells was audible from a distance of fifteen kilometres. In the 1950s there was a granary in the church. Later it was used as a storehouse and a club. In 1973 the building of church was destroyed. A lot of time has passed. In 2010 the most significant event happened in the life of the village. John the Forerunner's Chapel was opened for believers. The chapel was constructed on the place of the destroyed church. The construction went on for 11 years and was built with the people’s donations (45 thousand roubles). Many people, young and old, took active part in building of the chapel. One of them is Grechova Liliya Raulyevna, a teacher of History of our school. In the spring of 2011 she and her pupils planted flowers on the territory of the chapel. When summer came all the territory of the chapel was in blooming. Nowadays John the Forerunner's Chapel is the “calling card” of our village.

They say there is no place like home. I completely agree with this proverb. I am really glad that I live in this village.