This past week we got to spend time with a family that lives in a village in Kyrgyzstan. They are from Ukraine and have been missionary’s there for the last 5 year. They have experienced a lot of persecution from the neighbors and the local police. Despite this they continue to walk in what the Lord has called them to and dream about opening up a camp for youth there and a house church. They explained that the older generation is hard to reach due to tradition in Kyrgyzstan, but that the younger generation is a lot more open to hearing about Jesus. This is one reason they want to open a camp for children.
During our time with them we expected to help them in practical ways (yard work, house work etc.) the guys were able to do this for one day, but we ended up hanging out with them, eating with them, worshiping with them along with playing with the local neighborhood kids. I could see that they truly valued just getting to hangout with other believers. It reminded me of how lucky I am to have a big community of believers. It was such a blessing to be able to just come along side them for 3 days.
Another cool thing was that our translator got switched before we left from a woman who has been a believer for a long time to her friend at work who just came to know the Lord six months ago! While spending time with us she got to hear testimonies of how the Lord had worked in our lives and the missionary’s lives. She was always asking questions to our host who was a pastor and was able to answer many for her and during worship she heard the Lords voice for the fist time! She had never encountered God that way and now she knows that she can talk to her loving father in heaven, that He hears her and wants to talk to her. We also got to pray for a few people for healing and she got to join us in that. I’m so thankful that she got to be our translator. God always has better plans than we can imagine.
If you could keep this family in your prayers along with there community that be awesome. Pray that the Lord will send other missionaries to work along side them and that there neighbors heart will be softened towards them. They also have two children under the age of 5 so be praying for them as they grow up on the field.
