Greetings to you brothers and sisters! I want to share with you the story of one girl. Twelve months ago, she called and asked if I could help her repair the relationship with her husband. Her name is Sveta, his name Illya. From the first minutes of the conversation I felt a strong pressure and distrust, and it made very worried.
After listening to them, it was obvious that inside this girl she was deeply wounded and desperate. I shared with the testimony of the salvation of my family, which helped them to trust and open their hearts. Sveta talked about everything that she felt. She spoke for six hours without stopping. Her father when Sveta was 3 years old and her mother remarried a former soldier, who was adapting to normal life after the war.
Her mother had to work two jobs, and she was with her stepfather at home. He didn’t want her to bother him, so he put her in an aluminum milk flask (5 Gallon) and put it on the balcony until her mother came home from work. When Sveta was 4 years, she stopped fitting in the flask. Her stepfather twisted her arms behind her back and pushed her in there. Her mother did not want to lose the chance for happiness and put the blame on the little girl, saying that she was not obedient and that she prevented her from living with her new husband. Sveta did not have toys and they never bought new things. Her stepfather was also beating her badly.
At 16, after graduating from school, she was told that there was no longer room for her in the house and she was put on the street. She worked illegally in an ice cream factory and studied. At the age of 18, she was taken to a restaurant as a waitress, and was betrayed again: the owner sold Sveta to a group of Caucasians who brutally raped her and then threw out into the street with a disfigured appearance and broken spine. God sent kind people who helped her survive all this.
She visited a church and tried to find help until the age of 23. But even the people in church saw in her an arrogant and proud woman, and not a small broken child in need of care and love. Soon she married a fellow student and for 11 years tried to build a relationship with him. She gave birth to two girls, became a pastry chef in one of the best restaurants in Omsk. She worked 17 hours a day trying to prove to everyone that she has the right to live and the love of her loved ones. But the delayed surgeries on her back stopped her crazy life rhythm, her legs refused move right at work and she was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.
We began to pray together; She was able to forgive her stepfather and mother. Sveta is now on my team of volunteers and serves children who suffer terrible pain due to their diagnosis like blood cancer. She also accepted Christ as her savior and is preparing for being baptized. God made a miracle, she was healed, her soul has been cleansed. Having gathered the elders of the church, we prayed for her physical healing!
Sveta is mother and wife, but she cannot live a full life! She can’t move her legs properly, and even when she walks it is very painful, she needs serious treatment.
I witnessed the sacrifices you have made, and many people have been helped through it. Sveta is a very modest girl and she will never ask for help for herself. This is why we need to unite and help her to return to a full and healthy life!
We celebrate Christmas from the 25th of December to the 7th of January and we spent Christmas in the orphanage with the children. We rented an 85 feet long bounce house, the kids were delighted when it was time to play. We performed a skit and gave the kids bibles and other presents. Sixty kids and twenty volunteers heard the good news of Jesus!
I also want to say hello from Rita, Eugene and their baby Alex feels well, and they are waiting for the test results, the last analysis showed that the tumor had disappeared. This looks like a Christmas present from God to their small family! They are still under the supervision of the doctors and are in need of our help.
Sadly, on January 10th Misha went to eternity. I wrote a lot about him, we were helping him for a whole year. During that time there was a bond of friendship that grew between us and with his mother Lena. It makes me happy to think that shortly before his departure he told me that he believed strongly that Jesus is his Lord and Savior. I still continue to communicate with Lena. We helped her with the funeral and continue to participate in her life. God permits different circumstances in our lives, but looking back, I am convinced that we have not lived in vain. Thank you for your prayers and support. Thank God for your help!
Greetings brothers and sisters! I can’t wait to share the news with you. There is an answer to our prayers and participation in the life of little Alex! After passing the tests, the doctors could not find a tumor. We thought that the tumor would stop growing or shrink, but the Lord did a miracle and it disappeared! Now he is put in the hospital and will be re-examined. Thank God for this miracle.
Alex is a gift from God to us, we will be next to his family. They have a long course of rehabilitation and observation ahead.
A little bit about the events in Omsk. On December 20, we held a Christmas concert at the Children’s Cancer Hospital. For our team, this is not the first time, but what made me particularly happy is that this year the team consisted of 12 people, most non-church goers. All the children gathered for Christmas, even those who were previously discharged came!
The children were very pleased, and we gave everyone a children’s bible. Brothers and sisters, we had a great celebration and for many of those who came, it was vitally important! These children are at risk and they should know their Savior! We thank God for your prayers and participation. We keep needing your support! On January 7th, we organized a Christmas Celebration in an orphanage, about 50 children were waiting for us there. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
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!
Greetings from Eugene and Rita and their baby Alex who is doing better. He received a laser treatment on the tumor. The first time Rita came with him to Omsk and told us about the situation in which they found themselves was the following: “Alex is not an ordinary child. We arrived at the meeting in a small village for the first time in our life. We were found by a woman and begged us to take an abandoned, exhausted, six-month-old baby. We agreed to adopt him, and he was given to us without any documents, we examined him and treated him for allergies. Two months later, we learned that Alex has cancer in both eyes and that most likely he will die, and at best he will be blind.
We prayed that God would open the hearts of the doctors and now we are at the clinic in Moscow. Many people united in order to help us, brothers and sisters from overseas prayed for him and started to collect money for treatment. Who is this boy? I have the answer: “He is my salvation, he taught me not to think about myself, but to trust God and to appreciate life, he is very special.” Brothers and sisters, thank you for your participation and prayers!”
We are waiting for the tests that will show the size of the tumor in the left eye. Further treatment depends on the results. The best case would be that this observation would take place until he is five years old. But it is necessary to replace the artificial right eye regularly since his head is growing. I sincerely thank you for your prayers and financial participation in Alex’s life! This is a long-term treatment and there are high expenses associated with it, we really need your help and care! I believe he is our common blessing!
Christmas is coming soon, and we are preparing a holiday for the children. Today I spoke with the head of the department, we were allowed to donate children’s bibles. There will also be gifts and a Christmas show, where we will, even more, get socialize with the children and their parents!
I met Eugene and Rita in 2017 when we moved the ministry in Omsk. They were one of the first married couples with whom I started the premarital counseling. Eugene came to God not long ago from a very unfavorable environment. Rita visited the Sunday Services since childhood but was never able to put her trust in God. As a result, her first marriage collapsed, and she lost her twins during pregnancy. The doctor had to cut them out with the uterus. In her second marriage, Rita survived violence and miraculously escaped from it. She almost all her bones fractured. And now Rita and Eugene are getting married in the church for the third time.
We worked hard and as a reward God blessed us, we became friends. Since they could not have children, they began to pray for adoption. One day they were offered at the hospital to take an abandoned and sick child. The boy Alex had a head injury. He was six months old, but Alex is a very beautiful and cheerful child, and quickly entered their heart. A month after adoption, they learned that he had cancer in both eyes, and metastases from the right eye had spread and the child could die at any moment. The doctors could not decide what to do, and Eugene and I started knocking on all the doors. We called the elders for prayer.
There was one person in the administration who was able to send quickly him to Moscow and get an urgent surgery, their right eye had to be removed and they are fighting to save the left. He already did a chemotherapy, but it did not have a positive impact. They are now in Moscow now, and need our prayers and, of course, material assistance.
In the near future I will fly to them with support. Rita cannot imagine losing another child. I believe that God loves them and has mercy and glory!
