10/21/04
Beslan, Russia

Dear Precious Partners in the Gospel,

The cords of death encompassed me, And the terrors of Sheol came upon me; I found distress and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of the LORD: “O LORD, I beseech Thee, save my life” (Psalm 116:3-4).

The words of the Psalmist so well describe the testimonies of the Christian victims of the savage terrorist siege in Beslan that lasted some 56 hours. They have asked me to convey their heart-felt gratitude for your prayers and your support. Over and over again I heard them say, “Without the prayers of Christians around the world we would never have gotten through it, nor even the days of heavy sorrow that have followed.” Through the Beslan Baptist Church your support has enabled substantial help for many hurting families.

Just two Christian adults were among the hostages. One, a Sunday school teacher was killed along with her child. The other is a young mother named Ira. I sat in her starkly equipped kitchen and listened as a she described one horror after another that she endured with her sons, 9-year old Arthur and 8-year old Mark. On the third day they were able to find a wet cloth to wipe their parched lips. In the final minutes, Arthur was killed instantly by shrapnel from the bomb that had been secured to the basketball hoop. While the burning roof was collapsing Ira and Mark ran frantically, dodging injured people being burned alive, and escaped to the school kitchen where she hid Mark in a large oven.

As we were leaving their humble home, Ira’s husband, Akhsar, showed me the bullet holes in his car. He had been waiting in his car across the street with their younger children for the opening ceremony to be concluded. Suddenly the terrorists appeared to enter the school grounds but first began attacking them and other parents who were outside the school grounds. The front and back windshields were sprayed with bullets as Akshar and his children dove outside the car to the ground for cover. With great grief tempered by their confidence that Arthur is with the Lord, Ira and Akhsar expressed deep appreciation for the help that their pastor gave them which had been provided by SGA partners.

Without a visit to Beslan it is impossible to even imagine both the scope of the catastrophe at Beslan School No. 1, and the depth and breadth of the numbing sorrow that has gripped this Russian town surrounded by Vodka distilleries. I walked the aisles of the vast new School Cemetery covered with beautiful wreaths of flowers and wooden crosses adorned with photos of children, parents, and teachers. I visited every room in the totally destroyed large school building. I listened to the personal testimonies of eyewitnesses, surviving hostages, parents and grandparents who lost precious children. The pastors serving the grieving families shared from their experiences. To the degree possible I relived the three-day cauldron of terror and misery of September 2004. One of the pastors who lost two beloved daughters calls it the Russian 9/11 — the ninth month and the first day at school number one.

With 170 funerals on the same day, family participation at the cemetery had to be limited to immediate family members. Local estimates of the actual number killed exceed 500 children, men, and women. And more than 700 were hospitalized. More than half of the faculty and staff were killed, most of them while trying to save children. Many of the older children who perished could have escaped but instead gave their lives trying to save younger siblings. Concerned nearby residents approaching the school were shot by snipers. Parents were shot in the parking lot. Mothers with infants in their arms were given the opportunity to leave, but many could not leave their other children behind with the terrorists. Many families lost children and a parent. One entire family of four was killed. In another large family only the father survived. Every single room in the large school building was destroyed by the grenades and bombs, by the spray of machine gun bullets, or by the fires caused by the explosions. More than one hundred bodies could be identified only by DNA analysis.

Although nearly two months have passed, in many stricken families the surviving adults are emotionally still unable to return to their work. Their lives have been devastated. Anger and a spirit of revenge are consuming the community. It seems impossible to move ahead. What will become of this community? 33 of the 65 children who attended Sunday school, and one Sunday school teacher from the Beslan Baptist Church were among the hostages. Fifteen of these precious children along with one of their Sunday school teachers perished. In a community consumed in grief without hope, people are totally amazed to see the grieving Christian families find their strength in the Lord to cope and go forward.

We had a wonderful ministry planning meeting with Pastors Sergei and Teimuraz Totiev, Pastor Michael Constantinovich, and Pastor Gherman. No one in the city has more cause for anger and revenge that the Totiev Brothers who together lost six children. What a surpassing blessing to see the Lord already giving both of them strength, vision, and great enthusiasm for reaching the grieving city for Christ. Observing their great faith, local officials have come to the pastors and asked them to encourage their church members to reach out as much as possible to their grieving neighbors. They have received lists of the affected families and are systematically visiting them, listening to their sorrowful stories, sharing the Gospel, praying for them, giving them Bibles along with substantial gifts, and inviting them to church. Individual Christians and church families through the ministries of SGA in America, Canada, England, New Zealand, and Australia are making this timely and crucial outreach possible.

One official asked the youth pastor to arrange programs to help the children and youth in the six surviving public schools in Beslan. The youth pastor went to work planning a series of camp sessions for the youth of the city. He has scheduled a six-day evangelistic camp for 130 high school seniors to take place from November 10 through 16. Upon hearing this, I told Pastor Gherman that SGA would trust the Lord to provide the $17,000 that is needed to cover the camp expenses. We had already advanced considerable funds for the purchase of New Testaments in the Ossetian language. Upon hearing their need for more Russian Bibles, I was able to give them sufficient funds to cover the current need and promised to supply funds in the future for as many Bibles as their church members may require to carry out their tremendous outreach to the hurting city.

We were also able to tentatively reschedule the grief-counseling conference for the training of pastors, deacons, and church workers for the third week of December. Following the meeting, we visited the church and viewed the adjacent property, which we are in the process of helping them purchase for the expansion of their children’s and youth ministries. In the midst of the darkest of conditions, it is clear that the Beslan Baptist Church is the lighthouse that the Lord had raised up and prepared for such a time as this, to show the sorrowing city of Beslan the way to the Savior.

The Beslan pastors have requested that we convey their deep appreciation for all the prayers, letters, cards, and financial support. And they are asking that SGA partners will continue to pray for them, and for their church members, as they reach out each day to the grief-stricken community.

Dr. Bob Provost
President
Slavic Gospel Association

P.S. In the next few days we plan to update our website, www.sga.org/beslan with new pictures and detailed coverage of how the terrorists carried out this horrible event.