Hello from Kazakhstan! I can’t disclose where exactly we’re at in Kazakhstan because we are still in the 10/40 window, but we’ve been in this town for a week and a half now, and the experience has been absolutely incredible. Our previous month in China was an ATL month. ATL stands for ‘ask the Lord,’ which means during those months we have no host and no set ministry and no agenda. China was a wild adventure, let me tell you, but we can talk about that in another post.
This month we have a host, and he has kept us BUSY. He has been so intentional with us and is giving us opportunities to reach out to people and share God’s love with them. After we got picked up from the train station, he took us to our apartment and helped us unload. I took an amazing nap on a deflated air mattress for about 30 minutes. Believe it or not, the deflated air mattress was far more comfortable than the bed I slept in on the train here. Then he took us to the church to feed us lunch, where we met his wife and daughter, and a few other people who work with the church. Within an hour of being there, we heard two testimonies of God rescuing people from alcoholism and healing a man’s asthma! After lunch, our host took us on a tour of the town and showed us where all the markets are, where the shopping center is, where the ice skating ring is, and then he took us to a store/coffee shop that has Wi-Fi! He treated all of us to coffee and little Kazakh pastries. The following day we were taken out of town to a little village where another church is being planted, and we got to play soccer with some of the kids living there. Our host explained to us that many of these children are from homes plagued by alcoholism, and we soon learned how alcoholism has a tight grip on not only the village, but also the town we’re staying in. After the village, we went to the church to join a youth meeting. There we met teenagers from the church, and a couple of us shared a word or our testimony. We all introduced ourselves and shared our dreams, which is a big thing here. In every introduction we’re asked to make, we have to share our dream for our lives. Once the meeting concluded, we all went out for pizza!
The following day was Sunday, so we all bundled up and went to church. We’re pretty close to Russia up here, so it’s already bitterly cold. In fact, our host informed us that during the winter, it’s colder here than it is in SIBERIA! At the height of winter, it can reach a baffling -50F. “But only for a week,” he said. My southern mind was like, “Yeah, I’d be dead within 5 minutes” Since we’ve been here, the temperature has teetered between 20-50F, so you have to bundle up everywhere you go. If you don’t dress properly, the church ladies will threaten to beat you with a stick. Ask my teammate, Lacy, about that. Or they’ll offer you the coat off their back and give it to you for you to keep. Ask my new team leader, Michaela, about that one. It was a tender moment. Anyway, we went to church and we were greeted with hugs and kisses. There’s a sweet babushka (???????), which is Russian for grandmother, who gives us a kiss on the cheek every time she sees us and says, “Slava bogu (????? ????)!” That means ‘glory to God’ in Russian. It started out with worship, which was really cool to see. The kids are offered flags and streamers to wave during worship, so the entire front row was filled with moving colors and laughter. After church, we were taken to the village again, which is also the location of The Shelter. The Shelter is a shelter run by the church for recovering alcoholics, and that particular Sunday was a day for celebration. One of the residents was celebrating one year of making it through recovery! Our host explained to us that this is a rare occasion because most men don’t complete the program. The team, 3 other residents, our host, and two other men from the church gathered around a table and ate fresh lamb, introduced ourselves, shared stories, and prayed for the man we were celebrating. It was such a special moment, and I’m honored that I got to be apart of it.
The next day was our first full day of ministry. We split up into two teams, and the first team went to the church to help prepare lunch for a soup kitchen for the homeless, then my team served the food to the homeless once it was time. We were asked for one of us to give a quick word or testimony in front of the attendees, so I gave my testimony before lunch was served. Sharing my testimony in front of a group of homeless men and women from another country is something I NEVER thought I would do, but I was, once again, honored that I had the opportunity to do it. I also got to share it again in front of the congregation this previous Sunday. After lunch is served to the homeless, we all sit down and eat what’s left over with the men and women from the church. After lunch, one person from our team is selected to go out to a place that’s called ‘The Dump.’ It’s the city’s trash pile where a lot of homeless people are. I don’t know much about it, but those who have gone have said it’s really difficult to see. Our host described it like this, “There is death, and then there is The Dump.” Today is my turn to go, so by the time you read this, I will have had my turn already. Afterward, we all go out to the village to pray or help the men in The Shelter with the cattle or whatever they need us to do. We actually got to milk a cow last week, which was pretty fun! Kenz and I also got to go to a school and tell the teens in an English class there all about America, which made my little patriotic heart so happy.
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday is full-time ministry. We’re going, going, going from about 9-7. Thursday we have a half-day with home groups in the evening, and Friday is our Sabbath. I’m so grateful to be here, to be busy, and to see the way God is moving through this part of Kazakhstan. Alcoholism is a huge problem here, and families are often times torn apart by it or drugs. But God is healing, God is moving, and God is putting families back together again. It’s incredible to see the faith these people have. The Christian community is small here, but it’s active and thriving. The church continuously pours into the people around them and is always looking for ways to lift up the broken. Our host is the pastor, and I’ve never met a man who is so intentional with his congregation and with the community. He goes out to The Shelter every day, goes to the soup kitchen every day, and drives us around wherever we need to go. We leave Kazakhstan in a couple of weeks, and I know this place is going to be hard to say goodbye to.
