In the story below, you will hear from SGA team member Elizabeth, who is a Ukrainian missionary who lives and serves in Central Asia. She is excited to begin sharing more stories about how God is working in the lives of the people there.

As you will read in the story below, even when it might be difficult for people to reach people, God uses different ways to speak to the hearts of men and women. In this specific circumstance, it was through television and then in a dream. But most importantly, through the woman who personally handed this couple a Bible in their own language, so they could open their eyes to the truth of His Word. Please pray for Timur and Parvina as they continue to grow in their relationship with Him. 

From Elizabeth…

This story reminds me of how powerful our God is. In a place where you can’t share the Gospel openly, He uses any way to reach people, even through television. The leader of Compassion Ministry shared this story with us.

We go to villages for Compassion Ministry—to feed people and talk to them about Jesus. There, we feed the children, but along with the children come their parents, who often want to eat too. So, one woman brought a Tajik woman who asks, “Do you have a Bible in Tajik?” We were communicating through the translation of the woman who was translating for us. I told the Tajik woman that I didn’t have a Bible with me at that moment. But inside myself I wondered, “Why does she need a Bible?” and asked her about it, I asked who it was that told her that she should read this book. Then the woman who brought the Tajik woman to me and helped with translation told me that Jesus appeared to her and her husband in a dream and told them to read the Bible. I was surprised and asked her to tell me more about it. I asked her how and when He appeared. It turned out that the couple had been watching Iranian channels through an antenna for a long time. Tajiks love songs and music, so they often turned on a channel with Iranian music. Since Iran and Tajikistan understand Farsi, the couple could understand everything that was being said on the Iranian channel. They listened to the music and realized that it was about God. They became interested, started watching the channel, and began to listen to the sermons. In this way the couple came to know about Christ and repented. The husband himself was baptized in a bath and his wife was baptized as well. They were baptized, sought God, and then at night they said that Jesus appeared to them in a dream saying, “Read the Scriptures and tell your neighbors and everyone about Me, tell of what you will read.” I was surprised to hear this and was very glad that in this way they believed: because of the Iranian channel and the fact that the Lord had appeared to them. I said that I regret not having a Bible. As soon as I said this phrase the service started. Everyone went into the fellowship room, and I started with the testimony of this woman and that she was asking for a Bible. At that moment, one of the women joyfully exclaimed that she had a Bible and took it out from under the couch, where she had a box of Bibles there. Once in a while this couple comes to the church for services. They don’t speak Russian at all, but thanks to translation for the services they can hear God’s Word. Their names are Timur and Parvina. This testimony encouraged and surprised me.