How God Used You to Bring Lyudmila Love, Health, and the Gospel

Vyacheslav Khvostov
SGA-Sponsored Missionary Pastor in Zlatoust, Russia

Dear friends, I want to tell you about the repentance of a family in our town in the Chelyabinsk region! Our churches were closed because of the pandemic, but through the internet, we can still reach out in Jesus’ name. 

We discovered Lyudmila in one of the online social groups. She is seriously ill with a rare lung disease, and doctors had refused to help her. She needed a special breathing apparatus, and she asked for help online. One of the sisters in our church saw it and told us, so we began raising funds to help Lyudmila be examined by a doctor from Moscow. And this doctor put her on the list for a lung transplant! Neither she or we expected such a quick answer from the Lord! And two months later, the mayor of our town and other people raised enough money to buy the breathing apparatus for Lyudmila!

Her family is very poor and they spend all their funds to buy medicine. Lyudmila’s 18-year-old son Daniel takes care of her, cooking their meals and looking after his mother at night to see that her breathing does not stop. They readily agreed to meet with me, so I took the Gospel and came to see them. Lyudmila thanked all the believers who helped her, and stressed to us that the answers to their troubles came quickly after we got involved. She had been knocking on many doors for years and the doors were always closed. She understood that God was at work. 

I then shared Christ with them and gave them an opportunity to repent when they were ready.  She answered, “If God offers me the chance to repent, why would I put it off or reject it? I want to receive His salvation now!” Daniel agreed with his mother and wanted to pray with her to receive Christ. And they both did on the spot!

The Lord’s hand is not so short that it cannot save (Isaiah 59:1). He saves and He does miracles! Daniel is looking forward to coming to our church. We ask you to pray for this family, that God will protect them and help them cope with Lyudmila’s illness. I visit them regularly and their hearts are open to God’s Word. We bring them food each time as she needs to gain weight. She is so thin and can hardly move—her son carries her in his arms. Glory be to God for this salvation!