Winter in Khujand… Gray, cold, windy… But we are happy, and do you know why? Electricity! Thank God, the power cuts are over, and we can live in warmth, which is important for a family with a small child.
My training as a childbirth preparation instructor ended in November, but I spent the whole of December working on my certification assignments. It wasn’t particularly difficult, but it was time-consuming. The reviews of the 10 books I read on the subject alone were worth it! Plus, I had to prepare a presentation of the future course with outlines for each class, timings, and a budget. It was especially difficult for me to create my own Telegram channel; I spent two weeks agonizing over the name alone… In the end, I came up with a name that wasn’t very “marketing-friendly” but was very close to my heart: Deep Waters. I completed all the certification tasks and sent them for review on January 7, Orthodox Christmas Day, which seems to me to be a symbol of the birth of something new in my life. Now I just have to wait for the review and the issuance of the certificate
Since this whole endeavor is not mine, but God’s, I initially take a very “lazy” approach to each step, that is, I pray and wait for the Lord to guide me completely, step by step. It may seem too slow, but I don’t want to do anything “humanly,” only if God is leading me.
It was a great joy for me to hold my first meeting for pregnant women on December 18, my mother’s birthday, and now I will never forget the date of this “beginning.” Three women came to the meeting. God arranged everything in a wonderful way, even allowing me to feel physically unwell that evening so that I would not waste my energy on excitement and preparation, but would focus more on the women’s requests.
I am also very pleased with the positive trend in the city: there are more and more events for women specifically about women’s health. For example, an IVF clinic recently opened, and visiting specialists are conducting thematic seminars for women. Of course, I am “forced” to attend every such event to get to know everyone who works in this field and women who care about their health
Sergey still travels to the suburbs once a week to teach electronics and board games at a local school. He has also completed sign language courses, but wants to retake them in February to strengthen his skills. He is quite good at communicating with his deaf brothers, which makes Sergey very happy. He has already invited one of his brothers to visit us so that they can talk more about spiritual matters in a relaxed atmosphere.
Sergey spent several days working on creating a special bot for learning sign language, and he succeeded! Now he actively shares this bot with brothers and sisters who are learning the language. In general, the deaf community is a very new area for us, but we see God’s guidance in this direction, because there are very few people who can truly serve these people from heart to heart…
At the end of December, we had to renew our registration in the country, which meant leaving the country and coming back, and then going to the passport office for new registrations. We repeat this every three months. This procedure has become so routine that even with little Salim, it was not difficult for us. The only cause for concern was the financial aspect, as is often the case with us, because traveling and registration involve additional expenses. But God, as always, took care of everything, praise Him! And even on Christmas, the Lord gave us a cozy family dinner in a cafe. His goodness and love are great!
For New Year’s celebrations, our whole family went to a small village (settlement) to visit our good friends, the missionaries, on their farm. It was a special time and felt like a warm family holiday!
We didn’t return to the city alone—we took a teenage girl with us, for whom her parents had asked us to pray. Her story is not an easy one: her mother committed suicide after giving birth, and her father remarried another woman.
We offered to take this girl in for a few days, as we have a separate guest room, I have free time, and the girl had never seen the city before, only passing through. Her parents agreed and even approved of her attending Sunday services at church. Overall, it was not easy. Every evening, the girl would cry hysterically that she wanted to go home. We prayed for her, calmed her down, had some educational conversations with her, and every morning she would change her mind and want to stay with us a little longer. In the end, the girl stayed with us for five days, and her parents took her back because her school vacation was coming to an end.
For me, this girl’s story is another wake-up call about the importance of serving pregnant women, because her mother passed away after giving birth, during the most vulnerable period of her life. The impact this has had on the child’s life is irreparable; only God can heal her heart…
We also continue to pray for the girl who is in a psychiatric hospital with a diagnosis of “postpartum psychosis.” We are convinced and see plenty of evidence that this is exclusively a spiritual problem, and unfortunately, medication will not help her. There has been no improvement in three months… We also support her husband, who is already exhausted. To our great surprise, his relatives are gradually convincing him that his wife will not be healed and that he will have to raise their son without her. This story pains our hearts, but we do not yet know how else we can help… I visit this girl in the hospital every couple of weeks, and Sergey regularly talks to her husband so that he does not lose hope. We believe that sooner or later God will turn this whole situation around for good, for His glory.
The board game club is slowly growing, which makes us very happy. Before New Year’s Eve, we once again wondered (it happens) whether we should continue holding these board game nights, because so far it seems that new people are not particularly interested in joining. And we prayed that God would give us a sign: if we should continue, and even more, if we should stay in Tajikistan at all, then let there be 100 people in the club chat by New Year’s! At the time of prayer, there were 97. And what do you think? God once again confirmed His involvement in this endeavor! And we remembered once again: this is not our board game club, but His.
In honor of the round number of chat participants, we decided to hold a tournament for the game “Duel” and give the winner one of the most popular classic board games, “Ticket to Ride.” Eight people signed up for the tournament, which is ideal, not too many and not too few. The first part of the tournament was very active and interesting, even for observers, and in two days, the semifinals will take place!
The local church we attend is bringing us a little sadness during this period. Yes, we are having some difficulties with the church again, and we are praying and praying that God will change us and our view of the church as a whole, and in general… But for now, we are still experiencing disappointment, which we are trying to cover with love. We still haven’t been able to gather a home group from the brothers and sisters of this church, so we asked to join the home group of another church, strange as it may seem. But we really miss spiritual fellowship with older brothers and sisters, some kind of mentoring, especially Sergey, since I do have one missionary with whom I meet regularly here and can share my experiences.
Once again, we sadly remember that no one sent us here. We know that God sent us, He confirms it and keeps us in this country again and again. But this feeling of being “self-appointed” still remains somewhere deep inside.
We ask you to pray first and foremost for peace and love in our family, because only with a strong rear can we confidently and effectively wage spiritual warfare outside. We also continue to pray for complete financial provision so that we can devote all our time to ministry. In addition, holding meetings for pregnant women is also costly, as is attending all kinds of events on this topic. Therefore, there is no escaping the financial issue, but we already know from experience that if God Himself is leading us somewhere, then He Himself will provide!