God has been opening the doors for Tom and I to work with C-entral A-aian ministries. Yesterday I went to a ladies luncheon at the home of a C&MA International Worker. There were three ladies from Bekstown and one from Tstown. We shared a nice lunch, enjoyed getting to know each other and worked on a craft together. It was amazing to hear their stories. We take so much for granted as Americans.
I met Zelola, she is from Tstown originally. She is an educated woman. Her major was linguistics, she taught English at a university in a large city in Bekstown. She and her husband fled Bekstown leaving behind good jobs, a home and family when the persecution became so severe and there was a threat of her husband being arrested. They relocated to Kursk (10 hours from Moscow) where they are having to start over. God has been good. She and her husband have found a huge number of fellow immigrants there to minister to. Her husband is presently pastoring a home church and teaching in the Seminary there. They have been working on translating a 14 week, long distance seminary coarse into both of their languages. She came to know the Lord through her brother and gradually all of her family has come to the Lord. She has a cool story.
I also met Tamara, she is the wife of the national pastor that our friends work with here in Moscow. She and her husband also fled the persecution in Beckstown when he was placed in jail for a period of time. Her story is heart breaking. She is the only member of her family that knows the Lord. Her father is an alcoholic and beats her mother regularly. She and her twin sister were named, by her father, for his first two mistresses. When her youngest sister was born her father wanted to leave her at the hospital which distressed Tamara very much. Her sister was born both deaf and mute. Tamara witnessed many times, her father while drunk, holding her sister upside down over their balcony and threatening to drop her. She came to know the Lord through a distant cousin who came to visit. She said the first night, when she saw her praying, she thought her cousin was crazy and she went to bed laughing at her. The next day her cousin woke up singing a song with 14 verses about salvation and she found herself crying. Tamara asked her cousin to write the song down for her because it was beautiful and she also wanted to sing this song that would touch peoples hearts. Her cousin asked her if she wanted to go to church with her, Tamara agreed. They asked Tamara’s mother if she could go to her cousin’s mosque (since mosque was the Muslim equivalent to church) her mother was overjoyed for her to go, she had been nagging her daughter to read the Koran and go to Mosque. Tamara swore each time she went that she would not go back but continued going. One evening she heard a man preach about Jesus and it made her cry. She told God “If you are real make my father stop drinking and beating my mom for three days and I will follow you.” He did and she did, and went forward eleven times just to make sure God knew she wanted to follow Jesus. She has seen God do many miracles; she met her husband at this church and she has seen her sister healed of her deafness and muteness. Tamara said laughing, ‘We used to pray for her to talk to us now we pray for her to stop.” She, however, has not seen anyone in her family come to salvation and this brings her much pain. In her culture you follow what the father and mother say but particularly the father, and she knows if he would come to salvation the whole family would come. His name is Oscar and I told her I would share his name with all of my friends and tell them to pray for Oscar’s salvation. This made her happy.
I also got to hear Dildora’s story. She is also the only one in her family to know Christ. She came to the Lord though the witness of her friend’s father. He told Dildora, when she was 10, that he would pray for her to know Jesus and gave her a Bible. She read it and God spoke to her heart. She is married to a Christian that she met here in Moscow and they are expecting their first baby in August. Her heart is to know God more.
It is amazing to me to think of these people fleeing their homelands to come to Russia for religious freedom, it almost seems more than a little ironic, particularly when they have to face so much persecution here. According to Tamara the persecution has intensified in Bekstown over the past few months. It used to be that the men took the brunt of the persecution which consisted of frequent arrest and jail time. Now the government has decided that this method of persecution was too costly and seized the opportunity to make some money by charging huge fines costing these people everything they own, often totaling more than could be paid back in a life time. The other thing that has changed is the behavior of law enforcement officers has deteriorated to sexual harassment of leader’s families, their women and children, to include rape. Last spring there was a conference held to help teach people how to more effectively develop and implement cell church models among C Aers There were many leaders that came from Bekstown and Tstown to help lead in that training. Upon returning home the government was ready for them, they knew why they came to Russia and they are now facing this new form of persecution. Tamara said they will only go after the leaders. These men have risked everything for the sake of the gospel.
So how can we pray:
1. Remember the name Oscar. Pray that Oscar, Tamara’s father, will come to the saving knowledge of Christ
2. Pray for the leaders in Bekstown and Tstown and their families. Pray for their strength in the face of adversity and for the safety of their families.
3. Pray for Zelola. She will be returning to her home country for treatment of a kidney stone. Pray for safe travels and that the procedure goes well.
4. Pray for some up and coming events:
a. In Sept. there will be a group from the states bring clothes for a give away to the C A community. These are the Sanrem (the street cleaners), the fruit and vegetable stand and sharuma stand workers; they work long hours for not much pay. They live in dorms where several people, sometime several families share a room. Last year during this event there were over 60 that attended. They have the opportunity to hear the gospel. They have a nice meal and the women get together to fellowship and do a craft.
b. We also have monthly women’s luncheons, like yesterday. Pray for these; it is an opportunity for these women to bring their unsaved friends.
c. They also have a home group that meets and there are also seekers who come.
