God miraculously revealed to us dungeons in Thailand. Twice a year we visit prisons and bless the condemned.
When visiting Eugene, I always hear his sincere greeting: “Father Alexander, how glad I am to see you.” He is from Moscow, 31 years old, and has been sentenced to prison for 48 years. He is serving his sentence in one of the cruelest prisons in the world, “the Big Tiger”. He is imprisoned for ATM skimming; he copied debit card information and stole money from the accounts. He was caught in Vietnam but was able to negotiate to be expelled from Vietnam the instead of prison time. Having left the country, he arrived in the Bangkok, Thailand and here again he committed a crime. Now he is imprisoned here and was given a term of 48 years. Amnesties are often given in Thailand and Eugene hopes to receive one of them.
He has a loving mother, who could not reconcile herself with such a long time and made every effort to help her son. She hired a lawyer, who convincingly promised her to get him out of prison. He said that Eugene can be released by paying a $70,000 fine.
Without thinking twice, she sold her apartment in the suburbs, transferred it to the lawyer but he simply disappeared with the money. Eugene is now praying and his mother as well, and we also have constant contact with them. Currently, we have around 10 people in prison who we constantly stay in contact with.
My wife Irina has been meeting with Julia several times now, who is serving a 25-year term. During one of the visits, Julia turned to the Lord.
Thank you, friends, brothers and sisters, that together we are doing God’s work, spreading the Gospel of His Kingdom. May God bless and reward you.
Grace and peace to be you my friends, brothers and sisters! Fifteen months have passed since we left for Vietnam and last saw Kristina. 10 years ago, we met her grandfather Boris in Petrovka, and so our friendship continued all this time.
Just two days before our arrival, grandfather Boris had died. Entering their hut, I saw that the windowsill was packed with all kinds of medications, and as Lyudmila, her grandmother told us this was just part of the medicine he was taking. His sickness was severe.
Thank God that our trips to this family were not in vain. And just before starting our ministry in Vietnam, we came to Boris, and he turned to the Lord in prayer. He was lying and I remember how he cried before God, that he was a sinner, and that he had lived without God.
Kristina is already in the 10th grade. She wanted to go to college to become a culinary expert, but since she is not yet 18 years, she can’t make decisions on her own. She is a modest girl and she is silent when asked how we can help. Having examined the situation in the house, we purchased food for them, paid for lunch at the school, bought firewood for the house and stationery for the school. Kristina wholeheartedly thanks the Lord for His mercy and care for her. Grandmother Lyudmila continues to get drunk in her grief. Unfortunately, her life has not changed yet, but we pray and put her into God’s hands so that the Lord will bring His divine order in her life.
Dear friends, we thank you with all my heart for your sacrificial hearts and prayers for this family. May the Lord reward you. Be blessed.
The first year of our ministry in the missionary house is over. We had always our doors open and a daily gathering of people. The house serves not only us, but also the church and many teams from different parts of the world.
We are serving in Nha Trang. The city has a population of 500,000 people. 2500 of them speak Russian. The church was planted by us when we arrived here for the first time. We purposefully make disciples for Christ, by the proclamation of the Gospel and by serving the needy.
Thanks to God, we are renting the house for only $ 300 a month, including utilities, this is our base where all activities take place. We rented it for 3 years with the possibility of extending the lease. The house is large; several services are held here. Twice a week (Tuesday, Thursday) we organize home groups. All meetings of the leaders are also held in this house. When teams arrive, they also stay with us. In this house we spend our holidays and intercultural meetings. We are praying for more opportunities this house can give us. It is here where we prepare for ministries like creating and storing gifts, preparing food packages, and plan for children’s playgrounds.
On October 1st, we need to pay the rent the year in advance, but there are no funds. We need to raise 3600 dollars. Therefore, we are asking you, please help in the work of God, we are in great need. It’s hard to ask, but according to the Word of the Lord it is written: “Ask and it will be given to you”.
The Lord is never late, and we believe that He will come to our aid now! With Christ’s love!
Recently, some brothers from Russia called us and said that there was Denis from Russia in a hospital close to us, who had been in an accident. They supported him financially for the surgery, and we were asked to bring the Gospel to him. We came to Denis and prayed with him. God blessed him, and he quickly recovered. He and his wife Olga have not turned their life’s to God yet, please pray for them.
Our friends Eli and Sergey are in trouble. Eli called and told us: “Sergey has been in a coma for a week now and doctors are demanding payment, or else he will be disconnected from the device, please pray for him.” We prayed a lot. After a couple of days, she called again, and says: “This is it, there is no money left, they will probably turn it off tomorrow”. We prayed even more, and my wife Irina did not sleep all night. In the morning we prayed at the meeting and soon after we received a video message from Eli showing that Sergey comes out of the coma and is now recovering. Thank God, He is not late!
When we were at the hospital, we saw a young man reading the Gideon bible. We got to know each other closer, his name is Vasily and he got in a moped accident which shattered his knee cap. We prayed with him, agreed to meet, after the surgeries and rehabilitation. The hospital building is 10-stories high. We go up the 10thfloor, we walk to each room and pray on each floor, we also pray with the Vietnamese and bless them with small surprises.
Recently I met Larisa, she has an allergy, but the doctors can’t make a correct diagnosis. When we offered to pray for her, and she gladly agreed. We went further along the corridor, and a Vietnamese called us to his room and asked us to pray. Thank God, we are already known here.
We thank the Lord that He has opened the doors for the Gospel. We thank you from the heart for your participation in our common ministry!
Peace be with you friends, brothers and sisters! Thanks be to the Lord for having the opportunity to work with you here in Vietnam. We also thank Him for the fact that we can celebrate Easter twice this year. Although Vietnam (Southeast Asia) is in the east, they still celebrate according to the western calendar. We and our group prayed and decided that we would give presents to our close circle with whom we constantly have contact and make friends. These are neighbors, hairdressers, vendors, a bike washer, a bike mechanic, a cook, and many others. We counted around 50 people altogether.
On April 21st, we got up at 5 am, prayed, and at 6 am were already at a meeting in the Vietnamese church. We put the gifts in a motorcycle started to hand them out. The greetings were warm and friendly. We said in Vietnamese “Christ has Risen” and everyone happily accepted our gifts, it seemed as if they were believers.
The Vietnamese are in very tolerant people by welcoming any beliefs, as long as there is peace. We see the principle of God: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” By giving, we accept God’s power, His love, His perfection … May God bless us all.
We prayed for the opportunity to visit Cambodia and Laos for a long time. Driving there with my Christian brother Jonny we talked about the first place where we had planned a meeting, the utmost, southern point of the border between Vietnam and Cambodia.
Waiting for us was a friend with his family. Arriving at their house, we were welcomed by two more families, who came into this country to serve God and the people. Thanks to their puppet show they have access to all the schools and are able to introduce the kids to the love of Christ. Our next meeting was in Siem Reap. In the morning we went to one of the Cambodian prisons. One passport was enough the four of us to enter it. The Russian man, who we kept in touch with, was in prison for the second time.
His sister who visited him often started reading the Bible with him, where he accepted the good news, and he shared his knowledge of Christ with three other prisoners, who now come together regularly to read the bible. Alex was very inspired by the visit. The Lord affirmed him in the rightness his way and showed the ripe fields of his harvest. Praise God for His blessings. Next, we went to Laos. Unfortunately, the meeting that we had planned did not take place and because of the distance, we were forced to return. We devoted our day to fasting and praying. We visited some villages and saw the poverty of Laos and its residents, and we saw how they live. We pray for a revival in this country and the turning away from idolatry. Friends, brothers, and sister in Christ, we heartily thank you for our joint work that we are able to accomplish in the name or the Lord!
