“My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19)
It has been a month since we returned to Tajikistan. Yes, we left again and came back again, now as a family of four! A new little person has joined our family, our youngest son Salim.
Last winter, shortly before our son was born, we learned that the Ukrainian embassy in Tajikistan would not be able to issue documents for the newborn. This was the final push for us to leave for Tashkent (Uzbekistan). There, with God’s blessing and grace, we gave birth to our baby and got all his documents through the Ukrainian embassy.
Tashkent is a very large city with many Christian communities of different denominations and good opportunities for developing almost any kind of ministry. But we did not initially plan to stay there for long, as our hearts were still in Tajikistan. In June, we were ready to leave and prayed that God would reveal His will as to whether we should move now and where exactly. We also considered southern Uzbekistan, where many Afghan refugees live. But, as was often the case with us, everything came down to finances. We didn’t have the money to move, and taking a “leap of faith” with a newborn baby was something we weren’t ready for yet. We continued to pray…
And God answered! He is faithful, has been faithful, and will always be faithful.
One precious sister gave us a big surprise—she sent us a large sum of money and a message: “This is for your relocation to Tajikistan.” This was a clear, unambiguous answer from the Lord. By July, we had arrived in our beloved town of Khujand.
The Lord blessed us again with good, inexpensive housing here, and we praise Him for that. How many times have we moved in these three years—God has always provided us with suitable housing, often at the last minute. We paid for the apartment until the end of September, praise God, and beyond that, we don’t know yet how we will pay for it, but we believe that the Lord will take care of us, as He always has.
This month, we settled into our new place and met with all our friends and acquaintances here, both believers and non-believers, and introduced everyone to our little son Salim. We also continue to attend local church meetings, and Sergey went to a Christian youth camp with the guys from the church. He also signed up for sign language classes, as it is a good tool for ministering to deaf people, of whom there are many in this region.
There have been attempts to revive the board game club that God gave us two years ago. We brought six new games from Tashkent, hoping to continue this ministry. But after holding three club meetings, we see that the Lord is not yet blessing us to move in this direction.
So, we are once again praying for God’s vision and guidance. During this month in Tajikistan, we have not yet seen a clear direction in which God wants to move through us. But we know for sure that we are here for a reason… We rejoice as we walk with our child through the streets of this town, talk to people, get to know our neighbors, and try to bring the Kingdom of God, which is righteousness, peace, and joy, everywhere we go.
Speaking of neighbors, I am very happy to embroider hair accessories for the girls in the yard, and this is truly a blessing from God for me, because I love to embroider, and the girls are very happy with such gifts, and this is how relationships are formed. Since we have a large yard and there are many children here, I think I will have enough work for a couple more months!
I also pray about ministering to pregnant women here. For six months now, my heart has been burning with a desire to help pregnant women prepare for childbirth (psychologically and informatively), especially since there is an urgent need for this here in Tajikistan…
In addition, we pray for visits to remote villages where few people go and the bus runs only a couple of times a week. We really want to bring light there, but it seems impossible without our own transport (our car is back in the impound lot, this time for good, having fallen victim to Tajik corruption).
Please continue to support us in prayer that the Lord will guide and direct our paths on this earth. We still need financial support, especially on a regular basis, as it has become really difficult for us to stand firm in our faith with a small child. Please pray about this too.
With love in Christ, the Alekhin family.