“City in the cemetery” – that’s how we called the place of our evangelism. This place is located in the city of Nha Trang, and if a person doesn’t know one would not even think it’s possible that people can live like this among the luxury of the tourism industry and in the age of modern technologies.
Since May 2018, we have been carrying the Gospel there, organized play hours, and participated in material assistance. People turn to the Lord. And, it would seem for us that we are used to all this, and nothing can surprise us, but the Lord shows us such things that we cannot look at it without having tears in our eyes.
Recently, we were introduced to a family. They are an elderly couple who collects cardboard and bottles, take them back for recycling and receive a few pennies for it. They finance their lively hood for themselves and raise 4 grandchildren (2 girls, 2 boys) this way. Their father is in prison, the mother is dying in the hospital. We came to their “home” and were heartbroken from what we saw. Directly in the cemetery, among the many graves, is their shed. In the middle of it are two beds, they cook food on the fire. We began to pray and sing hymns with them, praising Jesus Christ. Then we went and bought food for this family. We thank God that we can share the good news with these suffering people!
The first time when I first through the streets in Vietnam leaving the airport, I was not surprised to see how poverty-stricken the city is since I saw something similar in Mexico when I went there with our youth. But what surprised me, was that later on when I visited these poor homes, I noticed that, no matter the financial status, they had an altar for their gods to whom they sacrificed food, money, and incense daily. Some homes had just one tiny altar in a corner, while others had a whole room dedicated to their gods with different flashing colored lights 24h a day, so their gods would feel happy. After I met Alexander and Irina, I found out that there is only a very small percentage of Christians in this country, most of which are Catholics. I asked them how are they able to evangelize to them since they don’t know the Vietnamese language, and they answered, “In the language of love – God’s Love.”
I was blessed to be part of a few mission trips with Alexander, Irina, and Evgenia out of the many that are serving in. We visited the girls in the boarding school with children from different ethnic groups whose parents aren’t able to provide for their education. We told them about how God loves us that He gave the best to us – His Son. We sang to them and made crafts with them, each girl made a paper vase and a special flower where they wrote on the petals John 3:16. It brought so much joy to me seeing how these girls were happy with the interaction and the attention we gave them.
Another ministry I had a chance to be part of is helping those who live in the city on the cemetery. Heavy rain started when we were about to leave and Alexander said that we should just go now, so we went in the rain to visit one family. When we arrived, I was a bit sad to see how four children are being raised by their grandparents amidst all the graves in a broken-down hut. But when we gave them food and candies, I was surprised by how a small handful of candies brought some joy to the little ones. We also prepared some clothes we wanted to give them, but we forgot them at home. The next day the rain was still pouring and many streets and homes were flooded, including the home of the family we visited. The day after, we went to visit them again and brought the clothes that we forgot, and saw it as God’s hand that He planned for us to provide them with dry clothes after the flood. Praise be to our Lord!
In those two weeks, I saw how devoted Alexander, Irina, and Evgenia are to the Lord by serving the Vietnamese people, and I understood that the work there is something that can’t be done by coming – doing – and leaving. In order to be the light of Jesus and to witness His love one needs to live among the people of Vietnam, and it would be a great blessing for me if I am part of that!
In early October, I flew to Moscow to visit Eugene and Rita with their adopted son Alex. He has been on treatment for three months now and they are emotionally and physically tired. He lost his right eye to cancer and it has been removed, and now they are fighting to save the left eye. It has two malignant tumors. When I arrived, they were supposed to do the third chemotherapy, but the doctors could not do it because the catheter was festered, and they were allowed to go home. Together with Eugene, Rita and the little Alex, we spent time in fellowship and prayer. I conveyed all the greetings, delivered part of the funds from the church and news from the ministry.
Rita is a member of our volunteer team, and we have been visiting children with leukemia for two years. Now she herself is in the hospital with her Son in her arms and hope in her heart, if this child were left without a family, his life would probably be over. And today God shows His miracles through this.
Rita for many mothers has become an example of perseverance and patience, although she shed many tears along the way. The next day I stayed at home with Alex and sent Rita and Eugene for a walk around Moscow for the whole day. It was difficult for her, she wrote every hour and worried about us, but we were having fun, Alex was unusually happy and cheerful.
Friends, Eugene and Rita thank you all for the prayers and support. It is very difficult for them to fight for the life of a child. The chemotherapy affects his liver and the heart. After the second therapy, the tumor shrunk – this is a real miracle. We pray that not only Alex’s life would be spared, but his left eye, too!
Please pray for us. We will be grateful for any help because many procedures need to be paid for out of pocket. The right eye needs to be replaced every month because it is temporary up to his 5th year. It needs to be paid out of pocket by them. May God bless you abundantly!
We are very grateful for your support and prayers! God is answering your prayers and pouring His blessings on us!
One evening a few of our girls came to me and they had a surprising request. They were invited to participate in a special ritual with other young girls, and since they now believe in Jesus, they were not sure if this is something, they should be involved in. They explained that is a special ritual for young and beautiful virgins who are invited to someone’s house (those people who organize this ritual) and those people serve them for a few days. Feeding, caring, providing for all their needs and wants, during this time and they are not permitted to do any work, except participating in the ritual. This was a dilemma for our young girls, and Nai, one of them who had the courage to ask me: “Teacher, tell me, Yes or No, and I will do what you’ll say! Should I go?” It sounds like a fun activity, but later we found out that this is a ritual to prepare young girls as ”wives for the spirits”. Yes, for the spirits. Now it doesn’t sound like fun anymore. I asked: “When you do this, who are you worshiping to?” Satan – was Nai’s answer.
“What do you think now, would you still like to do it?” This question made her think. Later, that evening, Nai said that she will not go and participate in this ritual, even encouraged other friends not to do it either. Two days later, when we had a bible study and shared our blessings from the past week, this topic was one of the blessings, Nai was one of the first ones who wanted to share: “I am very glad I didn’t do the ritual, I thought about it and I want to worship God, not Satan!”
Another example of how our children show their faith is in school is that every day they start and finish school with a special prayer to Buddha. Now, since some of our girls are in middle school, they are supposed to be an example for younger children and were asked to teach and show how to pray and bow before Buddha in front of the whole school. The whole school is watching, and if they don’t want to do it, then they face serious consequences. The teacher said: “In our school everyone does it!” In the Asian culture, the word of the teacher is powerful, and shaming is often being used to make children obey. Nobody wants to be shamed in front of the whole school or even spanked. That was not an easy decision for Meek (one of our girls), when it was her turn to go up front, all the thoughts and the truth that she learned in Church were coming to her mind, but the word of the teacher was fearful and strong. She went up front and followed the teacher instructions, but when the turn came for another of our girls and she was faced the same questions, she went upfront but refused to follow the instructions of the teacher.
These are just a few examples of what young Christians are facing here. There are questions that come up again and again: Yes or No? Is this right before God? Will it please Him?
Our mission is to guide these young souls from the very beginning, so as they grow in faith, they would be ready to make the right decisions on their own.
“I really want to be closer to God!” – was Sen’s answer, when he was asked: “What is your biggest wish?”
God is working in the hearts indeed, and our prayer is for these teens to become strong followers of Christ!
Please pray with us:
For our children to be strong in faith even when their families don’t support them.
Thank you for the good news from our children who finished school and are now in universities, and that they found a church there and continue to grow in their faith
We wish you peace our brothers and sisters. We continue to sow of the Word of God, in teens and to children with disabilities. We are talking about Christ to the poor, tourists, and also, with the help of an interpreter, to the locals.
We organize Sunday meetings in a cafe where my wife Irina is working. We started meeting there around 2 months ago. On August 12, we invited several people to join us in prayer and people came: Pavel, who enjoys yoga, lives here with his wife and son. He is a former drug addict and also Vera, she is an alcoholic after her husband died, she started to numb her pain with drinking. We also had five other people present, our brother Shawn, our interpreter, with his brother and his family, as well as another minister from a local Protestant church. We prayed and praised God and talked about our Lord Jesus Christ.
We always have different people come to join us in our Sunday meetings. Sometimes we have up to 10 people come and join us. Sometimes it is only my wife and I who are present on Sundays. Yesterday, it was only us two there, we began to sing “Amazing Grace” and when we finished singing, we were nine people. Thank God for His mercy.
Every 3 months we need to travel to a neighboring country to extend the Vietnamese visa. This costs us at least $200 but we could just get a visa for a year which costs around $700. We also need help in paying for a medical examination in order to obtain a driver’s license, it costs $200. If you could help us with prayers and financially, we would be very grateful. Thank you for participating in our ministry!
The church “Word of Truth” is being developed and built. This year, the summer began with organizing play time hours on playgrounds, which were visited by over 100 children. In addition to the games, we conducted spiritual and moral lessons based on the Bible. After that, some children, who were allowed by their parents, went to our Christian camp. In early July, we baptized three more reborn Christians and they joined our church.
After rehabilitation and adaptation to the new circumstances, two of the children returned home as completely new people. One sister in Christ was baptized with them, she became a believer through the testimony of her daughter, who was baptized a year ago.
My joy increased thanks to a friend of mine. His name is Vladimir, he repented 9 years ago, but the path to God was long and difficult for him. Back then, after he repented, he returned to his family that was destroyed by their sin. His wife repented and became part of our “Word of Truth” community after hearing his testimony and she was baptized in 2011, but he didn’t dare such a step.
For Vladimir, it was a big problem to completely put his life in God’s hands, he is a strong man, a hard worker, and a highly qualified specialist. He is used to solving his problems on his own. But now the moment of truth came, and he fully submitted to Jesus Christ, completely trusting in His infinite love by being baptized.
With the start of the summer, we resumed the construction of our multifunctional house of prayer. Currently, the basement has been completed and the walls of the House have been built. Seeing how much work has already been done makes us rejoice.
The community has grown quite a bit over the years, 40-50 people attend the congregation regularly now. Many ministries have evolved like the family and premarital counseling and a children’s Christian club. Our prison ministry is also growing. And these are not all ministries that our church is involved in.
For now, we organize our services and meetings in a temporary building, we call it the “Tabernacle”. It is very tight in there. Many who came for the first time, were faced with such inconvenience so they no longer return.
To solve this problem there is only one way, to complete the construction of the House of Prayer. This year, before the winter starts, it is important to insert windows, doors, build the roof and install the heater. We believe that through this, the church will have many more opportunities to spread the Word of God in our community.
