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!
Grace and peace to you friends, brothers and sisters! This was the first year of our ministry in Vietnam. As we wrote to you, the Lord has blessed us with a missionary home and now we live in this house, host guests, hold meetings and services.
We are having the usual rainy season, and so it rained all night. In the morning I recorded a beautiful video of it from the balcony. And when I wanted to ride the moped on the street, a neighbor showed me that it wouldn’t go far. When looking around, I saw that everything around our house was flooded. We went to the back of the house, and everything was flooded there as well. The flood swept everything in its path away.
Many houses are flooded, destroyed, or washed away. Thank God our house remained untouched at all. It was impossible to get out because everything was under water. On this day, 19 people died! One family of four is still buried under their house that was destroyed by the landslide.
In the evening before, we visited the family that we regularly take care of. We brought them food, and the rain continued, then we visited them the other day and we found out that their home was also flooded, but without too much damage. We handed them clothes and were told that they had a need for school supplies for their granddaughter.
No matter how unafraid we were, but the Vietnamese tropical dengue fever caught on to us too! My wife, Irina, being here all the time, tried to protect herself from it. We have some friends who have had this disease. The fever didn’t pass by us unfortunately and my wife fell ill 2 days before I did. The fever rose to 38.5C, our bones were hurting, the lymph nodes were inflamed, and dizziness and eyes were hurting. This disease caused deaths before.
Our God allows us to become ill, and He gives healing. Irina called this time: “The baptism of fever”. Yes, of course, it’s easy to endure such trials with the Lord, because His burden is easy.
From the heart and soul, we thank you for your prayer and material support. We were moved to tears when we heard and felt how many other believers from different parts of the world were interested in our health and prayed for us!
To be united as believers all over the world is very important to us! May the Lord reward you and bless you for your open heart!
