We greet you with the peace of God, beloved!
After much thought and prayer, we nevertheless came to the decision to devote all our time to serving other peoples. We are confident that our whole life is service, and no matter where we are: at home, at work, in the store, on the road – everywhere God sends us people who need His love and gives us the opportunity to glorify His Name.
In Ukraine, we worked and provided for our families ourselves, but along with the war, the time has come to make a choice: either we are looking for opportunities to earn money to feed our families, and in our free time we help people survive in the war, or we completely rely on the Lord as our provider and give all our time and energy to serve people. For us, the choice was clear.
We bear witness to the wondrous glory of God and His boundless love! Not once during the war did our family know the need for anything, God gave us absolutely everything that was necessary for life and ministry. Even parts for a car, which in normal times cost a lot, but during the war they could not be found anywhere at all, and God sent them to us almost free of charge.
We have clearly seen and felt a simple truth: when we take care of God’s Kingdom, God takes care of everything else.
«I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, (which is) your spiritual service. And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, and ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.» — Romans 12:1-2.
We have seen a lot of pain, destruction, separation in the east of Ukraine. Through service in the Donbass, we learned to love and compassion. We shared God’s love and saw how actively people pray, seek protection and support from God. A good, loving, and merciful God. When we arrived in Central Asia, we learned that churches in Asia are sometimes subjected to terrorist attacks and brothers and sisters die right in the meetings. Now they are happy because they have met the Lord, because they have learned about His love and accepted it. But try to imagine: what kind of suffering awaits people living in the Muslim world, living below the poverty line, falling into drug addiction, subjected to violence by relatives. And these people have no one to turn to. Their God is a god that only demands, limits, and threatens. The God of Islam shows no mercy to sinners. People simply have no hope, they have no one to pray to in their difficulties, because their God points them to their sins, and not to love and mercy. When we think about it, we realize that these nations are in much more pain and have no hope. Who is truly worthy of compassion.
Bomb explosions are not scary.
It’s scary when there is no way out of despair.
And now, when, by the will of our Lord, we came to Tajikistan to serve the peoples of Central Asia, we still fully offer our bodies to serve people, knowing that a loving Father will take care of us.
We want to inspire you to run with us on this exciting journey, giving your whole life to the Lord, and He will surely provide you with everything you need. After all, we are not running our race, but His! If you feel a response in your heart, we are glad to invite you on a short missionary trip to Asia, to see these nations and listen to what the Holy Spirit will speak to you. If you are not ready to go anywhere, but are worried about serving other nations, we are happy to invite you to become part of the team that will support us “in the rear”. We need both prayer and financial support to be as productive as possible here, where there is so much darkness and little hope for light.
«I am ready to take a risk and go down on a rope into the deepest mine, provided that you hold this rope» – W. Carey, one of the first missionaries in India.
First of all, we ask you to pray on this matter once.
If the Holy Spirit puts it on your heart to share the work in Central Asia with us in any way (we especially need daily prayers for us), write to us:
We want to get to know people who are ready to «hold our rope».
May the Lord bless. With love, your family.
♲ 30.06.2023