(Backstory, not very brief, but interesting)
«So every one of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be My disciple» (Luke 14:32)
On February 24, 2022, the first distant explosions sounded in our small town in the Donbass. In the next 2-3 days, most of our church hastily left, some to the nearest villages, and some immediately further away, to the west. Having no understanding of what was happening and what to do, we decided to just pray and wait for the Lord to show. Surprisingly, the answer came in a matter of minutes, God spoke into our hearts through the Word: «Your strength is to sit still» – Isaiah 30:7.
Despite the explosions and the general panic, we felt only a slight anxiety in front of the unknown, but in general we had peace in our hearts. In those early days of the war, God gave His Word at every turn. In the book of the prophet Amos, we read: «Is there a disaster in the city that the Lord would not allow?» – which means that there is no point in worrying too much, our Father controls everything, we just need to trust and be sensitive to His voice. So our small family – husband, wife and schoolchildren – stayed in the front-line town to bring light where the darkness was thickening …
For 8 months we lived near the front line, served people in war conditions. We have seen so much of God’s glory, so many of His guides, protection, provision, comfort, mercy and goodness, that if someone were to ask now, “Have you gone through this again?” – we would answer without hesitation: “Yes.” It was convenient but worth it.
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We did not plan to leave somewhere «away from the war», but after 8 months, our family got inner feeling of moving out. Do you know this feeling? When you don’t know when, where and why, but you know for sure that you are about to leave.
Having no understanding, no specifics, we slowly prepared for a couple of weeks: we warned all the brothers and sisters, some of them we took to safe places, put some things together, fixed the car. And one Sunday morning in October, God gave an unpleasant sign and a clear understanding: it’s time to leave.
We left the city on the same day, but stayed for another couple of weeks near the border, because we still had no idea where to go. We knew that sooner or later God would call us to serve the peoples of Central Asia for whom we pray, but is it worth going there now? In addition, we had to take into account that not all members of our small family have a foreign passport, and without it, the range of options where to go narrowed significantly.
The closest country where we could get a Ukrainian passport through the embassy was Georgia. Not without obstacles, we reached Tbilisi and stayed there for the whole winter. God revealed a lot of His glory to us during these 4 months of waiting, we restored our physical and spiritual strength after intense service at the frontier of hostilities.
It was a long Sabbath, the Lord’s Sabbath, when we fed on His Word, fellowshiped with brothers and sisters, prayed, and just rested (as best we could). We thank God for the love and hospitality of the Kurdish church in Tbilisi and missionaries from the Far East, it is a great blessing to know such people.
We had a word of knowledge from God: we are not here for long, we will receive a passport until spring, and we can go. God is faithful, on February 28, on the last day of winter, we were given a long-awaited document, and already on March 4, late at night, we left Georgia and headed for central Asia.
We traveled for a long time, through Russia and Kazakhstan, not always by the shortest routes, but we visited three families whom God put on our hearts. The journey turned out to be 6000 km long. And at the entrance to Kazakhstan we were met by a rainbow across the entire sky, this sign encouraged us very much: God opened the doors to Asia!
In Bishkek, we were sheltered by a large family of missionaries. Praise the Lord for their hearts, it was a very rewarding time. I didn’t want to leave, because we literally became part of their family, although we lived together for only a month.
There were many doubts whether it was worth going further at all, or is it better to stay in Kyrgyzstan for the time being? This country would be perfect for a leisurely acquaintance with Asia: here everyone speaks Russian, and the climate is not too hot. But God spoke again through His Word, in the 12th chapter of the book of Ezekiel: «In the middle of the day, move before their eyes; move from your place to another place before their eyes». So they did.
Compared to the path already traveled, the trip from Bishkek to Tajikistan seemed like a walk for bread. But it was not there! Obstacles appeared literally from nowhere, we overcame these 700 km in only two days. We saw particular resistance on the border between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan: they didn’t want to let us in without a document that we weren’t given because of the hostilities. The situation seemed hopeless. Then we turned to God with a simple prayer:
«If You want us to turn back, then so be it. But if it is Your will that we bring Your light to Tajikistan – reveal Your glory, Lord, and open this door for us!»
Half an hour later, a customs officer approached the car and said that someone from the higher authorities called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and they allowed us to pass. So God opened this door for us, and not only opened it, but Himself went ahead of us.
And finally, on April 23, 2023, we arrived in Tajikistan. God bless!
♲ 30.06.2023