How to understand God’s call?

From an interview with Mikhail Trubchik – a remarkable person, a servant of God, who has overcome a very difficult path, and through whom the Lord has achieved many goals – you will learn the unique facts about the history of the Church and the outreach development on the territory of the former Soviet Union in the second half of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries.

Let’s start. What’s your full name?

I lived in Yakutia for 15 years, …even there, no one knew my full name. [Laughs] Everyone just called me by my first name.

Yeah, but however…

My father was called Pavel (patronymic is commonly used as a second name – translator’s comment)

What about your mum?

My mother’s name was Nastia, but I don’t have any real recollection of her, …just vague memories. I was four and a half years old, when she died. My father was left with seven children. My oldest sister was nine, …my youngest sister was born on the day mum died. It happened because of drunken doctors.

My mother’s name was Nastia, but I don’t have any real recollection of her, …just vague memories. I was four and a half years old, when she died. My father was left with seven children. My oldest sister was nine, …my youngest sister was born on the day mum died. It happened because of drunken doctors. That’s when I first encountered communist falsehood. An article was written in the local newspaper about her death; they claimed that we Baptists didn’t call a doctor, and that’s why Mum died. In truth, my Dad called an ambulance at 6am, and the drunken medical workers didn’t arrive until 6 hours later! But that cruel lie turned into something positive. It was drawn to a faith in God, …even as a child. I rejected communism, …was never involved in the Children October League, …wasn’t a Pioneer, …or a member of the Young Communist League. (Children’s and teenagers’ Communist youth organizations -during the USSR years, membership of these organisations was obligatory, – translator’s comment)

Where were you living? I assume that was Kobrin.

I lived in a rural area, about 30 miles away from Kobrin, near the village of Lelikovo. It’s only about a mile from our barn to the Ukraine border. I crossed the border with my cows hundreds of times,  …leading them to the Ukrainian pastures. [Laughs]

Your father was a believer. How did he bring you up?

We hosted services in our home. Our meeting place often changed. (to avoid discovery by the authorities – translator’s note). Our house was near the centre of the village. People could walk there easily. I remember special meetings at Easter and Christmas. I remember singing …and  late-night meetings. I heard the preaching of God’s Word. Yeah, I believed in the existence of God from early childhood. Didn’t trust my schoolteachers …they  were teaching me there was no God.

I was eighteen years old when I decided to commit my life to Christ. I’d been reading my bible and I knew it was right. Those of us raised in Christian homes followed a simple pattern. Getting up in the church service we’d say something like… “Brothers and sisters, I would like to serve God.” We didn’t have a full understanding of what it meant to be saved, …it wasn’t even a prayer for salvation. I made a similar declaration. That’s really where it started, …awareness of my own sinfulness only came later. At that time, …I committed myself to God, …but didn’t feel a need for Christ. …I wasn’t drinking, …wasn’t smoking, …didn’t curse. Knowing Christ, came later, …when I faced teenage lust and temptation. When I had nagging doubts about forgiveness …about God’s love for me.

What did you do after high school?

Once I finished high school, I went to the city of Brest training to become a professional driver. I lived there for six months. I was visiting a local church, but I usually opted to go either to church in Kobrin, or to my own village church at weekends. Six months after finishing driving school, I was drafted into the army. During that six months before military service I sang in a youth choir, …and was occasionally asked to preach short sermons. I was actively involved in Youth Ministry. All the time I felt a growing commitment to the unsaved.

There were times when our church building was packed with people. I used to sit on the balcony, …young people prefer to sit there. If I saw a new visitor, I’d elbow my way to them …and chat the gospel, …didn’t like it when other young people wouldn’t do the same. They made excuses…, “…don’t know what to talk about.”

My response was, ” …keep ’em there till I show up!”

What did you talk about to new visitors?

That’s a rich question, do you really think I can remember? …perhaps, I made a case for God’s existence. Back then any evangelism, say,  …on public transport… would be met with objections. “There is no God!” Back then, the thing to do was to dispute evolution. I don’t remember exactly what I was telling them, …but I knew that I wanted them to come to faith.

You were drafted to the Far East of the USSR to serve in the army. What happened?

I had a cousin, …his father was pastoring a church. He came back from military service. When he was first drafted he was very confused. His time in the Army caused him to think, …and looking back he wished he’d refused to take the oath.  (Christians during the time of the USSR preferred not to take the oath; it meant bearing arms; the majority were pacifists. The oath demanded loyalty to the regime; a regime that was suppressing faith! Compromise was looked down on. It was a huge issue. – translator’s note).This played on my mind a lot. I was just eighteen, …I wasn’t ready to make that big decision

After completing the special driving course,  I found out I was to be drafted. I was a year older now. I was serious-minded about the words of Christ, when he said, “Do not swear an oath at all”. I came to  understand that neither I nor my Lord had enemies that could be destroyed by human weapons. Who was there to fight against? That was my decision!

At the recruitment station they made sure that in all the files there was a warning note …that I was a “Baptist”. I’m not sure if that was done to all  Evangelicals at that time, …I still have some of those papers,  …I can see the warning notes ‘Baptist’ on page after page.

You refused to bear arms? Was that your purpose?

Well, I did hold weapons. My brother Vasyl was drafted six months before me. He ended up in Khabarovsk. This is where they sent me too in the beginning (during Soviet regime recruits were posted to an area with a climate different to their own – translator’s note). I told them I’d studied to be a professional driver; soldiers like that were in short supply. Their first thought was to assign me to a general as his driver. However, after checking my documents they learnt that I’d refused to take the military oath. They tried to frighten me and posted me closer to the East–to Birobidzhan.

My service with the Motorised Rifle Regiment began. We were infantry doing border-control duties on the Chinese border. I used to carry my machine gun during shifts. One day I received a letter from my brother advising me not to take a weapon in my hands, …after all, I hadn’t taken the oath. He told me that he used to carry a machine gun as well. People started mocking him. “Why learn to shoot? …are you fighting the Soviets?’ they teased. That settled it!  I’d refused to take the oath, …why carry a weapon? Seemed logical.

Next time we had an alert I left my machine gun in the cell. The sergeant screamed, ‘Who left a gun? Who left a gun?’

Approaching me, he snapped, ‘”Private Trubchik is this yours?”

I told him that it wasn’t  my gun. Not anymore. I wasn’t going to carry a gun any longer. The sergeant and the others were shocked.

He reported me to the senior lieutenant. I repeated my statement to the higher ranking officer. They knew that I’d refused to take the oath; the Communist Party rep in our unit had been involved in handling my case.

I was ordered to train with the others; running, crawling …and so on. Because I refused to bear arms, the officer shouted at me, “…take a stick at least!”

So, your assignment was near Khabarovsk. Right?

It started at Birobidzhan. First, they tried to talk me into taking the oath. Then they switched to threats. They even asked me if I was afraid of my Christian brothers, …and offered to resettle me in the area after my military service was over. They promised to find me a high-paid job. I told them that I wasn’t afraid of my fellow believers; no Christians were threatening me!

After little more than two months in the Army, they ordered me to face a trial before a Senior Regimental Court. General officers were now involved. In charge was this fellow, …comrade Brigadier General Kalinin. On the day the oath was to be taken, I reported to him. A company grade officer told him that I wouldn’t take the oath. The old man was tall, a huge man. He patted my shoulder and said something like, ‘Surely he will, surely he will’. Then he asked me, “Will you swear the oath?”

I replied ‘Negative, sir’. (almost like stating ‘Guilty’ – translator’s note)

I was assigned to what we jokingly called ‘Royal Forces” …it’s a Penal Battalion (at that time) tasked with building a stretch of Siberian railway. The battalion was based at the town of Chegdomyn. There I found a loving community of ethnic Germans. They impressed me so much, that later I moved there.

How did you find a church in Chegdomyn? Did you pay them a visit during a weekend leave?

My battalion officer had a secretary, who was a Christian. When I came to the unit, she was in the hospital. As soon as she got better, they fired her. Didn’t know why at the time, …they didn’t want us to have any contact. So I had no Christian connection.

The battalion officer gave me a fierce welcome. He was an old boy and had taken part in WWII. He screamed at me, “I will bury you here! I’m a fighting man! Don’t you even want to protect the Soviet Union?” Despite his anger, I later found deep down that the colonel was a kind man.

When I arrived at the Penal Unit my fellow soldiers were hostile; most of them were career criminals. I had red shoulder flashes on my uniform. I was told “rip ’em off!”

I’d arrived well kitted-out. In the Penal Unit, soldiers had to pay for everything …for winter shoes, for trousers, for the uniform. As I was reassigned from the regular forces, I’d brought everything with me  …a winter coat, a “pea jacket,” one uniform for the parades, and an everyday uniform. No one else had a parade uniform in the penal unit, and without one you couldn’t get a leave. Guys used to borrow my uniform, I told anyone who asked, “Sure, use it.” After this both the sergeant and the depot manager were kinder to me, …they explained that my red shoulder flashes were upsetting former convicts because they were exactly the same as those worn by prison officers!

We were ordered to “peck” [chip away at] frozen rock, making the foundations for a factory. The frost was severe. We were each given a crowbar. We had to peck a cubic meter of rock per shift. There were no other tools. Unsurprisingly we failed to meet our target. So after supper we were ordered to continue work …but we still couldn’t peck out that much rock.

Having grown up in Christian home I knew how to work with my hands. That irritated the other men, …and the supervisor too. They’d often break for a smoke, …but not me, I didn’t smoke. Standing around at -50 C wasn’t a smart move! I worked while they smoked. They didn’t like that, …they threatened me.

A junior first officer eventually gave me a leave of absence permit.

Just before the weekend dismissal, something happened. A guy who’d been serving longer than me, …a driver for a senior officer… approached me.  “Are you Trubchik?’

Yes, that’s me.

“In the garage. …after the breakfast.”

If a veteran tells a younger man to see him in the garage – that’s not good. [Laughs]. I went to the garage. Very worried.

“Are you a believer?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m a believer.”

I was waiting to be mocked or abused …but it wasn’t like that. He asked me if I knew where Christians met in the near-by village. Turned out he was an ethnic German …and his aunt was a Christian! I’d been expecting big trouble …and here it was, …a gift from the Lord.

One March weekend, I received my first military leave of absence – and I immediately started to look for my brothers and sisters in Christ..

An Agent from the Special Unit found out about it. My squadron commander told me that the guys from the “Special Unit” had reported my church visit to him.

Two weeks later I was eligible for another leave. I was a good worker, and my squadron commander told me I could go, …but I couldn’t go alone! The Special Unit was monitoring me. They’d given him a direct order not to let me leave the unit alone. Leave at that time could apply to two people, they’d be forced to stick together; not to part from one another.

I was allowed to leave the camp with a Alik a soldier from Azerbaijan. I was disappointed, as I had planned to visit church. Alik’s choice was the cinema. I wanted to visit the photo-shop, …that would be alright. My family were demanding photos. I’d been in the Army for four months and hadn’t sent them a single picture in uniform! The least I could do was to visit the photo-shop and pick up my pictures. Near the photo-shop, I saw a couple from the church who were planning to get married. It was great to see them. We started to chat,

“Hi, Michael, …coming to church?”

“No,  …not coming today.”

“Why?”

“Look, I’ve gotta shared leave of absence. We’re meant to stick together’.

They asked, “…is ‘he’ coming with you?”

I hadn’t even thought to invite him. I asked him, “Alik, wanna come to church with us?”

Alik answered, “OK”.

It was so much easier than I thought.

The first Sunday of the month; it was Communion Sunday, …and I could take part. I’d been baptized before my military service began. It was a God-honouring occasion and it filled me with great joy. It was also the first time that I’d attended an engagement celebration. These people were ethnically German, they had their own traditions. The church service was followed by a celebration dinner for family members and friends. We were invited. There was another short service, …and songs and things, …also a table laden with food. What joy for a soldier! (The Soviet Army is known for plain food with little variety and no flavour – translator’s note) Half an hour before our leave expired the family gave us a ride back to camp. As we were leaving they piled more food into our hands. I gave mine to Alik.

On our return Alik shared the food with his friends from Azerbaijan. After filling their bellies, they told me that if I got another shared leave of absence… they’d love to come with me. [Laughs] But that wasn’t to be!

My captain, the squadron commander, told me that an officer from the Special Unit had ordered him to stop my leaves. The captain had been drinking. He suggested that I could “unofficially” disappear for a few hours, …all I had to do was to ask. I asked, …it never happened. He wouldn’t allow it.

The month of May was fast approaching. In both the Eastern and the Western parts of the former USSR, May breaks were when we held special meetings.

What year was it?

I had just heard that young believers from the Far East would be gathering during May holidays. There were not a lot of people: two sisters arrived from Blagoveshchensk and several people from Khabarovsk, Vladivostok. I really wanted to go to this youth meeting, but how? Soldiers were not permitted to leave the territory of a military unit. One of my fellow soldiers, Kalinin, an ex-con, drunkard and smoker, asked me why I was so sad? I poured out my heart to him, telling him about this tradition where youth get together and how I wanted to join them.  It was very important for me. Kalinin reminded me that I had good standing and I could ask for special leave.  He thought that they would let me go. I told him how that was not true and that the Special Unit told me that I could not take any leave. That is when Kalinin suggested I go AWOL! I explained that I was a Christian, and therefore should not break the rules.  He asked me, “Listen, did you take the military oath?” “No.”, I replied.  Kalinin stated, even though he had taken the oath he still goes AWOL.” “That’s logical,” I responded, “but there’s another problem as well… my company will just begin its shift.” At that moment I was working as a stoker in a brick factory. Kalinin suggested that I trade shifts with the other stoker and that would enable me to leave.  “Listen, but I have one more problem. If I leave dressed in military uniform the patrol will catch me right away.”  “Change your clothes.”, replied Kalinin.   I told him that I did not have any civilian clothes and he gave me some clothes that I could borrow. One might say that my fellow comrade persuaded and equipped me so that I could go AWOL -and I did.

I attended the meeting and it was great.  We went into the countryside, played ball, sang songs, and met new people. When I went to the brick factory at night to change my clothes some people there told me that the Chief of Staff and the unit’s Political Commander had come and were looking for me. Obviously, they did not find me, but in my stead the person who swapped shifts with me, lying drunk on a heap of coal.  I was afraid they had discovered that I was absent. Ironically, they had come to hand me a Certificate of Honor for good work. Our superiors had never expressed their gratitude at a workplace before but because I was a Christian, they decided to present me the certificate in person and I was not there …

The next day the sergeant came and told me that I had been summoned by the political officer. I left my work and asked someone to cover me. I was a little anxious but I went. He was playing billiards at the headquarters, with my commander. I reported. The political officer kept silent. The company commander asked me, “Where have you been?” The commander had made a promise before that he would allow me to go AWOL. Now, he was acting like he was angry, trying to curry favor, but in fact, he did not like the political officer. I said, “At the brick factory.”  “Yes, it is clear that today you were! But where were you yesterday?” the commander asked. I kept silent. ” Whatever, get out of here.” Let the sergeant, who conducts classes with the company, deal with you. I arrived and knocked, “Permission to enter, Comrade Senior Lieutenant.” From within comes the response, “Oh! Comrade Soldier Trubchik has come. So, our fellow soldier Trubchik goes AWOL? I know that he will not get drunk, will not smoke, will not rob anyone. So, he can go AWOL, but the rest of you can’t!” The soldiers all jumped up to ask him:“ May I? May I?”” “No, you may not!” The next day he was gone and never to be seen again. The special department had him removed. Evidently, he had paid the price for what he had said.

From that moment on, I began to go AWOL. Of course, I was removed from the brick factory, because it was outside and out of control of the unit’s territory.  I was sent to do heavy labor at the concrete-mortar unit. However, brothers in Christ came to visit me here and at least were able to talk for five minutes. Then I went AWOL again. Six months later, my superiors put me on a cement truck to work. I was independent again.  I was free to go AWOL on Saturdays and Sundays. A telephone call came to the unit telling me to go to work.  The driver was a workaholic and did not want to leave any cement over the weekend, so we pumped it all out. Rarely, were we busy on Saturdays and never worked on Sundays. During military inspections, my unit would tell them, “Trubchik is at work.” So, no one ever went looking for me and this allowed me time to visit my brothers in Christ. Unfortunately, that Easter I got caught.

So what happened when they caught you?

Well, we walked from the church meeting to the city. There is an uptown and downtown in the city of Chegdomyn. Alcohol was sold only in the downtown area so officers went there often. Our church meeting was also downtown.  I was walking down the hill with some other believers, when a car started to approach me. Our Kombat officers were driving back from a liquor store. The political officer saw me as well. I did not want to run away. They took me. The company officer cut my civilian clothes. After that I did not go to any church services for a while …

Two years later, I was transferred to the Amur Region and then transferred back. For two years, two months and two days, I served in the army.

When did you come to the decision that you needed to return to these places again?

In Chegdomyn, I promised the church that I would come and visit them in two years. They did not believe me.

I made some money working at a construction site and after two years and one month I went to Chegdomyn. After visiting them, I went to Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Khabarovsk, Birobidzhan, and then to Premorey Area: Ussuriysk, Kavalerovo, Dalnegorsk, and Vladivostok. I also visited the town of Artem.  They have an airport and from there I flew to Blagoveshchensk.

Is this in 1983?

Yes. January or February.

So you first returned to Belarus?

Yes, I worked there for two years and earned enough money to visit the churches in the Far East. But first of all – Chegdomyn.

Where did you work for those two years -at a construction site?

No, I worked as a driver in Belarus, but I did not earn enough money, so I did some seasonal work as well. In 1982, I worked for six months from spring to autumn in Latvia. I made good money working there, which allowed me to take a trip to Russia freely. I did go just for the sake of the church in Chegdomyn, I also intended to visit other churches as well. While on my second trip to the Far East, I saw a great need for ministers in the churches.

After the army, was it already possible to move freely around the country?

Yes, that was the time when Yuri Andropov came to power for one year.

He was a KGB officer. We did not like being under Soviet regime, because we knew from our own experience what it did to Belarus. It was a time in our history when those who did not work during working hours in stores and cinemas, were caught and punished…

After that trip to the Far East when I was already flying away from Blagoveshchensk, my “No!” turned into a “Yes!”

What did you mean by “my No turned into a Yes?”

I was invited to a small church in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. “Come! Come! Don’t you see the great need here, why are you sitting at home?” Especially in Birobidzhan, Kavalerovo, Ussuriysk and Blagoveshchensk. There were two sisters, Nadia and Lena Tribushny, who had made the move from a large church in Alma-Ata, they had a positive influence on me and were a good example of people who had moved from a large church to a smaller one. I had difficulties reasoning how I could leave three choirs, three orchestras and 120 young people in my church! Next thing I knew, I was on the plane, mind made up.   I don’t know how it happened, but it happened …

Right -so after the army, not only did you work as a driver in Belarus, but also as a youth minister – correct?

Well, I sang in the choir and went on trips with young people. There was an official youth leader, and I was like an unofficial one. We organized trips to other churches, visited the Ukraine, and once went to Georgia. One youth trip simply happened by me saying, “Next Sunday, we’re going here.” I did not ask or persuade anyone.  There were so many people who wanted to go that the leader of the youth choir asked me to tell some people not to go because he needed them to stay and sing in that Sunday’s service. So one might say that I was the informal leader that people followed.

I sang in the choir and organized a brass band. I really liked brass bands, so I learned how to play the trumpet and played the trumpet while I was in Belarus.

Where did you study music, directly in the church?

Well, yes, yes …

Our church was pretty active.  We held youth meetings on weekends. On Sundays, after the evening service, I went to youth choir.   I also tried to go on Sundays.

Was that in Brest?

In Kobrin.

And then you made a decision to return to Russia?

After I returned from that trip, I immediately began to prepare for departure. I asked the sisters from Blagoveshchensk to call me so that I could go to the police to get a pass. Unfortunately, they did not give me a pass and my dad didn’t give me his blessing.

What was needed, some kind of special pass?

This is a border zone. It was possible to get to Ussuriysk and Artem and even a bit further, but it was impossible to go to Vladivostok. To get to Blagoveshchensk needed a special pass. I did not get the pass but I did get a job.  I realized that the door, right now, was closed. In 1986, I went back to Latvia and began to save money for a trip to Siberia and Central Asia.  I traveled for two months, January-February 1987. That is when I saw the need in Siberia, that is, my vision had expanded.  I realized that not everywhere was as good as in Chegdomyn, Western Belarus or in the Western Ukraine. I was already thinking of choosing either Achinsk or the Far East.

Later, after listening to the sermons of Yarl Paisty, my father repented. He came to visit in the spring of 1987, asked for forgiveness, and gave me his blessing.   The doors were open. In 1988, I went with a construction brigade to Latvia. I decided to stay at home for Christmas and leave in January. In January 1988, I left for the Far East.

Why didn’t your father immediately agree to your move?

My father told me he would not bless me.  I told him that it did not matter how he blessed me, he was a believer, and he must bless me.  He did not agree. So, I asked him why he would bless me to earn money in Latvia, but not to preach the Gospel?  He was afraid I would be alone there. I reassured him that I would not be alone because there were other believers. Although, I did have plans later to move to a place where there were no believers. I informed him that I would leave anyway.  At that time, I did not feel that having my father’s blessing was so important … When he came to ask for forgiveness, he said that he believed that God gave him children to be near him and work.  That was during the Soviet Union. It was necessary to grow vegetables in the garden, because that is where most of one’s food came from. He had lived near to his father.  During that time, no one went anywhere. He confessed that after listening to the sermons of Paisty, he realized that God had given children to parents only for a while and that all children belong to Him and that they should serve Him first.

  Radio preacher Yarl Nikolaevich Paisty (October 9, 1920 – March 8, 2010) conveyed the Gospel to the Soviet people behind the Iron Curtain. Born in a family of missionaries in 1920 in the city of Nikolsk-Ussuriysky in the Far East. Yarl Paisty became a believer at the age of 14 in China, in the city of Harbin, where his father, Nikolay Paisty, served as a missionary for several years. The Paisty family moved to the United States in 1935, where Yarl graduated from the National Bible Institute in 1943, served as a pastor, and also graduated from New York University. In 1946, he and his father began to transmit gospel radio programs in Russian for believers in the USSR. Since then, Yarl Paisty spent more than 50 years at the microphone, leading the ministry of Russian evangelical broadcasting on IBRA Radio, as well as from Monte Carlo, Monaco (Trans-World Radio), Austria, Sweden and Colorado, USA, and after the fall of the Iron Curtain from Moscow (Central Radio, Radio-1, Mayak and Yunost). With his brilliant and spiritual sermons, Yarl Paisty earned the love and deep respect of believers in the USSR and other countries of the world. “Millions of Russians for Christ” is the slogan of Russian Christian Radio, to which Paisty devoted his whole life.

Is everyone in your family older? (question about his brothers and sisters)

No, there are three older than me and three younger siblings. I’m in the middle.

Did any of them stay in Belarus?

Four. Two older brothers and two younger sisters. And two are in America.

Who did you go to in Central Asia?

If I wanted to go to the far East, I knew that first of all I was going to Chegdomyn, because I know them, and already from Chegdomyn believers I took the address to Komsomolsk-on-Amur and Khabarovsk. Well, here it is: I come to one city, I take the address and go to another city. I come, I knock on doors, here I am from there-from there, and the local brothers and sisters would gladly accept me. In Central Asia, my brother Vasily from Chimkent had a brother. Vasya wrote poems, and his brother also wrote, so they somehow contacted each other, once he came to his brother’s wedding, we met… it’s in Chimkent. One family moved to Tokmak from the Far East. There were many Germans there. I had their address, so Chimkent … Tokmak … Alma-ATA. Two sisters who moved from Alma-ATA to the far East – they gave me the address of their parents. And so from Novosibirsk I came to Alma-ATA, then to Tokmak, then to Shymkent, from Shymkent already through Tashkent to Kiev. There I visited friends, and from Kiev I went home.

So you came and met people, learned their needs, what help they needed, where they worked, right?

Well, at that time, I couldn’t help them, because I preached, I preached in all the churches. It was in those days that if one of the brothers came from another city, he preached. In our days it is also very good when guests preach in our churches. So I was welcomed with joy. I haven’t sung to the guitar yet (laughs). Already in the far East, as I moved, I had to learn to play the guitar, because there wasn’t anyone who could do it. Our relationships were friendly and open. If you had to work with your hands, then you went and worked with your hands.

Was it just a desire to visit brothers and sisters, to get acquainted with them?

To see how they live. No one taught us what and how to do it, but one day, from the first trip, I tasted this blessing. Well, I’ve already seen their needs. In Central Asia, I visited large German churches, and in Siberia, I came to Irkutsk, there was a larger Church, but they were very timid. A plenipotentiary of religion came to their meetings and forbid them to do many things. It was a surprise to me. Why are you listening to him? In Kobrin there was no possibility for a plenipotentiary for religion to appear at meeting! They would have pushed him out the door. Who’s listening to him? But there was much more fear in Siberia than in Western Belarus and Western Ukraine. He prescribed whether it is possible for youth to gather or it is impossible. In Belarus, who would ask him?

I came to Achinsk after Irkutsk, not even to Achinsk, but to Chernorechenskaya station. This is from Achinsk 50 km. And early in the morning we went on the train.

We arrived at seven o’clock in the house of prayer and slowly from a radius of a hundred kilometers the believers gathered. About fifty people gathered. We had a service, then tea, another meeting was held and they went home again for a week. It was not easy, but people of faith gathered from such great distances, and it was a cold winter. But I saw that they were full of what joy and I saw that there was a need. Then I thought: “Can I move to Achinsk?”

Well, years have passed, then I found myself in the Krasnoyarsk territory, I think: “My God, I wanted to be in the Krasnoyarsk territory and You gave me the opportunity to be. And in the far East, in Chukotka, in Yakutia.” And on the second trip I reached Irkutsk. I wanted to visit Yakutsk, but I counted the money, it was not enough, and did not go to Yakutsk…

But later God gave me 15 years to stay in Yakutsk. And in Siberia..

Where did they confiscate your Bible?

In Blagoveshchensk.

Was it your first visit there?

Yes. My brother Vasily had his Bible confiscated about a year later when he went to the south from Brest. He wrote a poem about this. Since the Bible was not seized from me, but from him, the poem is his feelings. They took my Bible from me, I was unhappy. (Laughs). But they returned it to me.

This is when you got on a plane, right?

Yes, when they were checking things. In the spring of that year my Bible was delivered to Brest, and in the spring of that year I received a summons from the plenipotentiary of religion to come to Brest. I thought it was a different case because we were fined for singing songs in the street and listening to music on a tape recorder. They wanted to confiscate the tape recorder from us then. Some of the brothers were fined, but I was not because my countryman was a policeman and he did not put my name on the report. Well, I thought that I was invited because of that incident. When I walked into the room I saw my Bible on the table, the plenipotentiary for religion asked me some questions, then gave me the Bible back.

What year was that?

1983. It was amazing, it never happened that someone returned the Bible.

Then the poem is:

Once when boarding to the plane

They took from me my Bible.

Then they wrote my data and name

And I was in the plane till arrival.

 

Devastated, I flew for some time

With the question in my mind,

 

«Why does  this sinful world

Hate the Bible – our sword?

 

Is there any prohibition

In the Constitution low?

Why did they ban my edition?

 I really don’t know!

 

My Bible was printed in Moscow legally,

Though a few copies at least,

But all around they’re flaunting eagerly

And abroad about this!

 

Sure, my Bible will never blast

In the air above the clouds…

Why did they take it from me so fast?

It’s not dangerous, without doubts!

 

They are not free and wise

And think my book is mud

But they don’t know this book’s price

That it’s bread and salt from God!

 

They explode, in fact, without it

Their life has an ugly look.

But still they continue to treat it

As if it’s a dangerous book.

 

They are starved by spiritual famine

They behave like on the war.

But despite their evil banning,

I will love the Bible more!

After Central Asia, once you returned home, when you received your father’s and church’s blessing, where did you decide to go?

To earn money for the journey. In 1988, when I realized that the doors opened, I went to Birobidzhan. I got a job, lived in a temporary shelter with a brother by faith. In January I was told that the first mission was formed. I was pleased that it was in the region where I was from, in the West. I knew some of the brothers. Sergey Tupchik and Alexey Melnichuk I knew from Brest. Alexey came to me, told me that the mission was formed and pointed out that I was already a missionary. “We are looking for brothers who have already come here, we want to help. Come on, quit your job, and join the mission for support.” I didn’t agree.

What kind of work was it?

I was a driver. I was looking for a kind of job where I could earn money for living and be independent. And God gave me such a job that after it I could attend all the meetings in the evenings and on weekends to visit the nearest cities. I went to Blagoveshchensk and Sakhalin. Seven months later four sisters from Belarus came to visit. Their parents let them go for a year. So we’ve had a team since the fall of ‘ 88. It was already more fun.

What was the need? What did you want to do?

In some villages there were only elderly sisters in churches. In one village in Primorye, there were ten sisters and no brothers. There was no one to preach! The sisters who moved from Belarus said, “Well, we visit the bedridden elderly sisters, we serve them, and who will serve a bedridden brother? We need brothers.” These were their needs. Then there was no youth, and no hands when it is necessary to make something.

Well, and then the mission began to work, and Taras Pristupa brought the choir from Lutsk. The doors for evangelization were opened in the houses of culture. And with his arrival, we started visiting them. Once a week I visited a prison. I saw that there was a result because people were turning to Christ. And they were converted independently of me and through my preaching to them. Doors of educational institutions, universities, institutes, schools, markets were open. We organized a mobile library, classes for non-believers, Bible schools, forming small groups… that was such a stormy life.

You just made an announcement and people came and gathered? How did you invite people to the meetings?

We sang songs, read some poems, talked to people on buses, trains, markets, just used every opportunity. I stopped in Birobidzhan only as a platform to move on. There was a desire to move to Primorye – where there were no believers. At that time we had already started with the mission to send brothers to Primorye, the first one who came was Pavel Yakovenko. He is working in Kazan now. We organized concerts and film showings in Ussuriysk, in the streets, in zones, in cinemas. But still there was a wish to work where there were no believers. So we went to Chukotka with my brother, and then later with Vitya Kuzmenko, to see where to go. So I decided that I would be in Pevek.

Were there no believers there?

No. When I first arrived there was no one at all. The second time – too we met nobody, and already when I moved there, by that time there was a brother from Magadan on a business trip, Nikolay Tkachuk. And it turned out that he had already begun to gather a group of those sisters who had believed on the mainland. There were definitely three people: three sisters who had repented on the mainland, and only about ten people came to our meetings. When I arrived, I didn’t know they had a group already. So I invited some people to read the Bible, then the duty or watchwoman showed me a card that was made by Light of the Gospel mission and: “There is one believer here.” I thought, ” How so? Was it possible that the brothers were sent from the Rivne mission, and I didn’t even know about it?” And Nikolay studied a little in Donetsk College, then he went to Magadan, got a job, and he was sent to Pevek for work. I found the believers, and they began to gather. And when I moved, about a month later, I found them. And we started getting together, and they started going to a Bible study group that I was leading.

And it was also interesting. A week before I arrived in Pevek, there was an American believer from a charismatic Church. We met at the hotel. I came to stay somewhere, I went to a hotel, and I had a movie projector with the movie “Jesus” on it.

The equipment is heavy. I had two hundred kilos: literature, a movie projector. I’m standing here to register. But I already knew some people at the hotel because I had already come and stayed there twice. And then someone asks in English whose things those were. I said – mine. “And he says,” I am a missionary.” This is understandable. I say, “I am a missionary too!” He recognized the equipment from the film Jesus.

He came to Pevek a week before. A Russian interpreter who was traveling with him to Khabarovsk by train, did not behave good enough, and the American missionary did not take him to Pevek. Border guards who check the documents did not know English. When they learned that he was a believer, they send him to this district cultural worker. And a week later I showed up. I found out he was a missionary. Which denomination, of course, I didn’t know. And God told him to feed me. He came to pick me up every day, we went to the dining room, and he paid, wouldn’t let me pay. I didn’t have much money, of course, but for a month he fed me every day.

Even twice a day. Through him, God took care about me. And then through interpreter. I gave him a children’s Bible, at the time it was very difficult to get it. He was very grateful, said, “What can I do?” I said I couldn’t live in a hotel, it’s too expensive for me. And he gave me information about one woman who was the commandant of a Dorm. I went to her, she gave me a room. She did not take any money for my living there. I lived there for a whole year and didn’t pay a penny! Once she said that there were some evil people who knew that she had settled me without the permission of the head of the exploration company. She said, “Go to the boss.” I went to him. The chief was from the Caucasus, from Muslims. I explained to him the situation and said that I would like to pay for my living in the Dorm. He answered that he allowed me not to pay, in this way he wanted to be involved in some good deeds, too. So God took care of me, seriously.

Then this brother left after a month and a half, and I stayed with those who came to our classes.

It was the year 1992, right?

Yes, it was 1992. I was there for only one year and in that time short time 44 people were baptized. After that our Church Denomination ceased to exist. Brothers in Rivne were deciding which way we should go. We decided not to make a big office. Instead, our religious organization became an Association. It was AMCEC (Association Missionary Churches of Evangelical Christians) of Yakutia. When another question arose: Who will be in charge of the former Eastern Division of Mission “Light of Gospel”? So another Mission was formed and registered with the name “Gospel to the East”. Then Sergey Tupchik wrote me a letter informing me that he suggested Valentin Nikonenko and myself be balloted for the presidential post in the new mission. Sergey was in Yakuts at that time. I declined. I did not see it as my calling. I thought I didn’t deserve to take the office position. Nevertheless, at the conference, most of the delegates voted for me.

Was this Mission “Gospel to the East” established in Yakuts?

Yes, that is right. After the voting and seeing so many of my brothers choosing me I changed my mind believing I was wrong and these people were right. Additionally, brother Victor Androchuk (originally from the Voronezh region) agreed to move to Pevek from Lensk. That way I was replaced by him and moved to Yakutsk. My mission was serving the brothers such as missionaries and pastors in the Yakutia region. I considered that move not to be primarily as my initiative but as obedience to the brothers who elected me. So I lived 15 years in Yakutia, and got married during that time. My wife and I had five kids while serving in Yakutia. I visited many times all the local churches and groups that were scattered across the Yakutia region. I supported and encouraged them during the time of my service. Also, I have to mention our team in Yakutsk City. There were sisters Lida, Valia (from Chernivtsi, Ukraine) and others who were there for a shorter time.

How did you meet your wife?

She came together with another girl from Batagay village (North of the Arctic Circle, Yakutia region) after graduating high school to continue her education. Her mother came with her. Her mother was born in Berezno, Rivne region, and later moved to the far North to earn money. My future wife’s father was born in Siberia and at some point moved to Batagay too. My wife’s parents met each other in a local Batagay factory. At that time, the factory produced tin metal and was very popular due to the good salary.

So, this is how my future mother-in-law brought my wife to study in Yakutsk City. My wife’s friend’s name was Oksana and she was a Christian. They didn’t know anyone in Yakutsk and where they can stay. Therefore, Oksana brought them to our Mission office

Were they all Christians?

No, not all of them. Olga’s Mother and she (my future wife) were unbelievers, only Oksana was a Christian.

I was the first who started to speak with Olga about Christ. She resisted, showing her atheistic knowledge and arrogance. Her mother was really afraid of our “sect propaganda” thinking that her daughter might become a part of it. Mother didn’t want to leave her daughter with us but not having much of a choice and unable to find another accommodation, one of our sisters in Christ provided them with a place to stay. At that time we had a Missionary Education Conference with many young brothers. We also had no small number of young people in our church outside of the conference.

I spoke to Olga and realized that she is closed to the Gospel. I gave her some basic information before going on a work trip. After my return from South Yakutia, somebody told me that Olga has repented. She was baptized in three months. At that time, Sergey Popov was the pastor in that church. After that, during her study, she actively participated in the Evangelical Student Movement.

After graduation, she moved back to Batagay and worked in a local Revenue Agency. At that time or Mission was looking for a bookkeeper. I told the brother “Look for someone to fill in that position”. They replied, “Let’s ask Olga if she can work for us?” I was saying “It’s unlikly that she will agree to leave her government good-paying job and work for our missionary level salary”.

We had one faithful brother from the far North – Sergey Obydenniy. He met her and made the job offer. She unexpectedly accepted it. This is how she started to work with us, and after five years of working and serving together, we decided to get married.

What year was it?

We had a 20th anniversary this November, which means it was in 1999. We knew each other for five years at that time.

Did you live all the time in Yakutsk City or travel from time to time?

Sure, I had many trips. There were churches across Yakutia before I moved there, so I was elected to serve those churches across the region. My work was to support and encourage pastors and missionaries. That’s why I was visiting all churches starting from the South of Yakutia region: Nerungry, Chulman, Tommot, and all other places in the East, North, and West. Where a church was being founded in Olekminsk I started to help them immediately. Also other places such as; Lensk, Myrniy, Chernyshevskiy, Svetliy, Almazniy. In the Nurbe we already had a church that consisted only out of local Yakut people. Other new villages were also visited by me. Basically, there wasn’t a church that I didn’t visit at least several times.

At some point, we bought a car. Brother from Germany helped to buy the truck and we were able to reach remote places on the Far North with our Evangelism until I moved to Kansk. By that time, a new religious law was introduced and we were forced to register our new Church Union again. We hoped that Valentin Nikonenko will come back from Bible University in Ukraine where he was teaching. We understood that it will be hard without his help as he has the education and according to his own words he liked office work. I was told him “I cannot communicate properly with authorities; you should go instead of me as I am afraid that I will argue with them. This won’t be helpful for God’s service”. For that reason, I didn’t participate in any meetings with authorities. I was the legal head of our organization but he was the communicator between us and the government, sometimes having hard times with them. I was only signing papers and they never met me. It wasn’t really helpful from my side to participate in those communications, so that’s why we worked with Valentin in harmony.

What kind of law was accepted then? Were all churches required to register again?

That law appeared at the time of president Yeltsin. The law stated that all churches that existed for less than 15 years cannot be acknowledged. Therefore churches younger than that had to be registered every year until it reached its 15th anniversary. Our brothers were thinking about what they can do with that. They found a weak place in that law. There was a possibility to register Central Religious Organization if at least three churches already have registered. That kind of organization can work only locally, in our case we had the right to work only in the Yakutia region. As we were a local religious organization we couldn’t work outside of our region. By that time I was in charge of the “Gospel to the East” mission for six years, and Sergey Dydovets was elected to replace me. Then that law was enforced. So the brothers suggested registering a new religious Association. “Who should we elect?” they asked. I was in a ballot once more. “Who can be instead of you?” – they asked. I answer that I would agree to get nominated if only Valentin will come and help.

We needed Valentin so much because when he worked for us before and nobody could pick on us. I was able to do my spiritual work in peace. Despite of me, Valentin was experienced in the legal type of work and because of that new law, he was very helpful. He also was kind of a diplomat, praise to God for that and that he came.

After his arrival, we had our conferences more organized. He was a very good organizer and I would respond quickly to the help requests. I also supported our conferences but wasn’t their organizer. I only encouraged and supported them. We had conferences every year, even two per year, but after Valentine came it became more organized and reached a new level.

Where did you live there, in Yakuts, right in the Mission building?

I lived in the office for several years. That office building was purchased by Sergey Popov and Pavel Timchenko for the church. Then church grew up in number they started to rent another building and used that one for Mission office purposes. So I lived there but when we decided to get married, I didn’t have any savings. I was broke. I donated my small salary to the mission fund with other sisters. So the question was raised, “Where are we going to live after the wedding?”. Olga offered “Maybe we can live in the missionary apartment?” to which I answered, “No, I won’t be living there because I don’t want anybody to rebuke me that I am taking the mission’s property like mine.” So I didn’t have any idea where to live, but one sister, Valentina, suggested we live in her new apartment which wasn’t occupied at that time. She said to us “I want you to live in there for a certain time”. That apartment was just finished building but all the other works weren’t complete yet. We were only paying the Hydro bills, not even the tap water. We lived there for a year.

Now I want to briefly tell you about our wedding.

Because I was kind of a well-known person among all churches in the Yakutia region, we had a question. Should we make an official wedding or not? We were ready not to have a wedding banquet to avoid extra expenses. So I asked our sisters missionaries for advice. They said “It’s better to have a banquette. Otherwise, people won’t understand that.” Also for local Yakut people, wedding banquets were very important.

So if we were to have a wedding banquet, who should have we invited? I couldn’t just invite close friends because everyone in the churches knew me. For sure all the uninvited would be sad if I did that. On the other hand, if we did invite everyone – what kind of building would we need to rent? We didn’t have any church building big enough to gather all, because the estimated amount for guests was about 400 people. I didn’t have the money to rent something bigger. I even didn’t have a tuxedo for the ceremony. Olga was working in mission and also worked part-time at a local convenience store. We knew an American family that served as a missionary in West Yakutia and came to visit us. It was a month before our wedding when they were heading back to the U.S and said to us, “We cannot be at your wedding because it’s expensive to fly back from the States, but we want to bless you with some money.” They gave us $200 USD. It was a big blessing for us! This is how I’ve got my first money and I was ready to look for a place to rent. The first plan was to rent a cafeteria. I even came to Pushkin Drama Theater where we had a concert and an evangelism service one day. However, times have changed. As soon as they knew that we were not Orthodox Christians they rejected.

So I thought, should I go to the Lena Movie Theater. It has a hall for 400 people. One pastor supposed that the Theater won’t accept my request because he himself tried to have an Evangelism meeting there and got rejected. Despite that Olga and I decided to go and ask. We simply came and said – “Can we have a wedding banquet here for a big amount of people?” They said that it’s possible, but only if we bought every person a regular ticket. One ticket was 30 Rubles, so one hour for 400 people was 12000 Rubles. Another hour would be 24000 Rubles altogether. We were planning to have a minimum of 6 hours of wedding and banquet. I told them that I only had a certain amount of money. With the exchange rate, the $200 was equal to something between 6000 to 7000 Rubles. I told them that I was ready to pay for all my money. To which the lady from the theater said – “We are not so cruel. 5000 Rubles is enough.”

After that deal, we had 2000 Rubles left and we wanted to spend them on food. We decided not to buy any delicacies. This was probably the first wedding with sandwiches. We had five types of sandwiches, fruits, and cakes. The cakes were made by the missionary sisters and brothers from the church.

Everybody was sitting in the theater and all ceremonies and entertainments were held on stage. Our brothers were serving as waiters. Afterward everyone was happy. Our wedding inspired the following ones to have the same “sandwich” style. This is how God blessed us.

After the banquet, we went to the apartment and lived there for half a year. Then one family flew back to Ukraine and we moved into their house. Then one brother from the States bought a summerhouse. His only intention for that was to have us live there. He said “If you won’t live there, we won’t buy it. But if you will, we will visit you from time to time” So they bought that summerhouse and we lived there for more than three years. We spent four winters in that house and three of our children were born there. We were also paying off that summerhouse gradually. That house was outside of the city, 1.5 kilometers from the closest bus stop. Olga had some difficulties during my work trips, so somebody from church always came to help her.

The time came and we decided to improve our living conditions because that was just a small summerhouse and we were waiting for our third child. I dug a foundation tranche around our house and started to buy building supplies. I bought a small old warehouse and disassembled it to use as a building material. I also wanted to buy some cement and gravel, but… my wife bore our third child and I got seriously ill. God didn’t sign my plans and took all my strength away. I was laying in bed paralyzed. I was diagnosed with Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS).

During my illness, brothers from church were helping me. They took turns to stay with me and rotate my body to avoid bedsores. At that time God wanted to bless us. Many brothers and sisters from different places began donating money for our future house. Approximately three months later we had almost enough money to buy a new home. I got sick in August, and already by Spring we bought a house in the city that had a natural gas heating system and a warm garage. In the next three years, we lived in the best conditions before moving to Kansk.

Has your wife been involved in ministry too? Did she understand all the difficulties related to your frequent absences? Did you need to convince her whenever you went on a trip?

She saw my life before we got married and we talked about it. She clearly understood that I couldn’t promise her more than what she saw. She was saying “I would go to the end of the world with you.” From the beginning we lived in Yakutia region, later on, we were thinking to move to Kansk City (Krasnoyarsk region) where Olga’s parents lived. At that time we already had five kids and our sixth was on the way. I also realized that I was preaching to others and they got saved, but her parents were still nonbelievers. For that reason, I told my wife “For now I cannot leave my service in Yakutia. Let live here for five more years and then go.” So that is how those five years have passed. I made my farewell trip visiting some village churches to say goodbye, and then we moved to Kansk. Praise the Lord Olga’s parents were saved. Her mother’s spiritual condition was good, however, her father’s could have been better.

You moved to Kansk, and was your youngest daughter born there?

Our sweet Nadia, the youngest, was still in the womb. Olga was still pregnant. We moved in August, and she was born in half a year, in February.

Can you tell us a little more about your children? What are their names?

The first one is Snezhana, she was 18 years old in October. She is active, dedicated, already participated in short-term missions, she has been to Mongolia twice, she dreams of being a missionary. She is a missionary in spirit. The next one is my son Ilya, a year and a half difference with Snezhana. He is 17. Also last year he was baptized. He is also active, not like Snezhana, but, thank God, active. Then – Styopa, he has not committed himself to Christ yet. He turns 15 in August. After him comes Mark. Mark was baptized last year. He will be 14 in February. Then comes Bogdan, he is 11 years old. And Nadyushka; she will be ten 10 February.

How do you educate them? What is the most important thing?

Well, the most important thing is that they will be believers. In the past I was not consistent in studying with them. In Yakutsk and Kansk there was no healthy routine. When we moved, at first there was no constancy, but then we decided with my wife Olya that we need to educate our children an ongoing basis. If I am not at home, she conducts an evening fellowship, prayer is a must. Well, mostly I do it myself. In various forms, I want them to know the Bible, biblical stories, biblical characters. Therefore, my children, when the game of names goes on, they beat adults. In a playful way, I taught them biblical names. I say, “Adam,” the next one in the last letter: “Mary.” But I didn’t just want them to know the names if they introduced a new character, I say: “Do you know who this is?” “We don’t know.” Well, let’s read from the Bible. We open the Bible, read: “Is it a positive or a negative character?” Or, for example, such games: “Who said these words to whom: “Go and sin no more?” “Who said these words to someone: “Take off your shoes, for the land on which you stand is holy ground”?  “Some who have been in the church for a long time do not remember that two people were told this: Moses and Joshua. Everyone remembers Moses, but not everyone remembers Joshua. There is another name-based game that I conduct with youth. They write all the biblical names beginning with the letter A independently.  Then I read from my list and they cross those out from their lists. The winner is whoever has the most names left. They love this game. My children even know the name Jahdiel and a couple of other unique names.

But, most importantly, I tell them: “You have faith, but it is not yours. You believe, because I taught you so, Mother taught you so. When you get to a certain age, I want this faith to become yours, personal one. And personal faith – it must be tested by ridicule, criticism.” Well, one day my daughter comes up to me in the evening and asks: “Dad, and when does a conscious age come?” I say: “Well, it does not matter how old are you. One poet wrote that sometimes a person is ridiculous at thirty in his actions. You can also meet a reasonable young man – age is not numbered in years. Someone can think critically at 8, and another can be 20 and have shallow reasoning.” I see where she is going with this. Someone called on the phone, and I talked to the person for 30 minutes. She kept on standing. Then she sat down inquiringly. I say: “Do you have a question? You must have come to a meaningful age?” She says: “I understand that I am a sinner, I want to repent.” Well, thank God. She knelt and asked for forgiveness. She was 14 years old when she was baptized. And my son, Mark, too, at the age of 14, Ilyushka, at 16, was baptized. I read books like Uncle Tom’s Cabin with them when they were small, then other children’s books, then biographical books about missionaries, their lives and stories. Thank God, for that wisdom. When people visit us, they comment that they are happy for our children.

We had one son, you’ll call: “Bogdan, come here!” And he would answer: “Why? For what reason?” He states that when he grows up, he will not go to church youth meetings. But we pray. He has faith. He sometimes likes to participate in games actively. And sometimes he is pouting and demonstrates that he not much interested. He is a peculiar case. I hope that he will follow Christ as his older siblings. I remember Bogdan asking the question two years ago: “Why did God create us knowing that we would be sinners?” He did not accept my arguments (laughs). “How is this my fault?” I say, “You see, God gave man freedom.” “Well, what does freedom have to do with it? He knew all the same!” This little son asked such questions, and my answers did not fully satisfy him. I said, “When you grow up, you will understand more deeply that freedom of choice is very important. Even philosophers, thinking about whether God could create a world without sin, came to the conclusion that then He should have taken away free will from a person.”

Have you set up older children to get an education, a profession?

My wife Olya worries about it more. For me, the most important thing is that they be believers. And I don’t worry about education at all … Maybe because I grew up in the Soviet Union, where believers were not given an opportunity to pursue higher education. Since childhood, I was not preparing to enter any higher education institution. Believers were not accepted anywhere. We went to work and were more prepared for market circumstances than those who received education because they had to think about where to earn, how to earn. We learned how to build houses. In Kobrin, our church was large, and only two families had apartments, the rest owned private houses. Believers did not qualify for pubic housing and apartments, so we were placed on wait lists. This pushed us to learn how to build our own homes, and this became our source of income.

My wife Olga stimulates children to study, somewhere, it seems to me, she goes too far. I tell her that this is not so important. She wanted them to take lessons at a music school. I say, ” They will learn music without a music school.” Well, really, Snezhanka took music lessons for four or five years. Then she went to another city, there was a school for gifted children, she studied there. Ilyushka is finishing the eleventh grade there. She returned this year, but the teaching staff changed.

And Ilya picked up a guitar in the spring of last year, on his own, and now plays better than I. He then taught Mark, and now his brother keeps the guitar on him all the time. “Olya, this is what I told you about – the main thing is a desire,” I said. If they want to play music, they will play. Mark was expelled from school for political views. He learned to play the button accordion, and his voice is very good and his abilities are good. They teachers keened on him and wanted him to sing patriotic songs. I said, “Son, I do not want you to sing these songs.” They will make you sing during government-sponsored parades. Well, it’s true, when they were brainwashed in a music school, he stood up and said to everyone, “If there hadn’t been Stalin, then there would have been no war!” You cannot just say something like that in Russia now! The teacher was shocked, she called his mother. My wife called me, “Michail, what have you done?! What kind of ideas are you feeding our son?” I said, “That’s right, Mark, well done. It’s true!” I went to school, and they tell me: “Well, he’s very gifted, but if he doesn’t sing particular songs, he won’t attend school here.” “Well, then he won’t. He will learn without you.” That’s all. I took the documents and left. Mark is doing well now. Very well. The best student in the class. He mastered the guitar very quickly and the button accordion is nearby, mastering it. So, I don’t worry about their professions.

Snezhana has already decided that she will be an elementary school teacher. My dear Ilya also decided on the technical part: engineer or architect. He draws well. Bogdan, without starting a school yet was determined that he would be a dentist, and he continues to pursue this. Our Stephan haven’t decided yet. Mark, although a good student, also is undecided with profession.

And what is your ministry now?

Well, I have to be a pastor of the church. I would like not to be, to be free from this responsibility, but it doesn’t work. A little over sixty church members …

Sometimes I go on short-term missions. Last year, I did not participate, because we began to build a church building. I am mostly doing all the construction work. Four young brothers and me. A month and a half spent at a construction site. This year, construction is continuing.

I take care of the churches of the eastern region. There are small churches there. Our turns out to be the largest of them. Well, and, thank God for these last years, four new groups have appeared. Two in one village and two in another. In one village there are two brothers and there some people interested in the Bible. In another village, there are two sisters and one brother. There are two more villages where mother and son accepted Christ. I visit them, and one more sister. I am doing all this pastoral counseling with villagers.

The brothers who were before me began two small churches in our town, in one were seven people, in the other were fifteen, when I moved. So there is potential, we have some brothers, but they are not very engaged. I can’t seem to stir them up, so now I am more focused on young people.

Youth is actively involved in the ministry. We have a puppet theater. At Christmas they visit villages and cities, orphanages and kindergartens. So the doors are open to them. They have grown over the last six-seven years. Well, they go on trips, like to Christian youth meetings in Taishet, Irkutsk region. In the spring we do youth fellowship during the holidays.

In the last six months after construction work, I began to visit one family that became believers last year, they received baptism. I did Bible study with them at home here in the suburbs. There is another family; the husband attends, but the wife rarely. I do Bible study with them as well. There was another sister who came, she was incarcerated for 18 years, used drugs, but, thank God, she stopped using. We held two meetings in her home. And another person began to come too. This sister, Yana, has no money, no work, so I helped her with food. The brothers from Germany leave some money for this program, namely for food, so I used it to help her with heat and food.

So, there is enough work. I am not always active. It happens that I a not productive sometimes, but God is still doing His work.

How do people from the non-church context in Yakutia and in the Krasnoyarsk Territory perceive the Gospel and what kind of people come to church, what nationality?

In Yakutia, both Slavs and Yakuts come. And, thank God that there are many of them. There are even Yakut churches at the moment. Most Slavs come to Kansk, because they reside there.  There are, of course, others, but no other national groups.

 

In the early 90s, everyone lost hope. Because back then the Yakuts happily accepted the communist ideology. For example, in a cemetery in western Ukraine, what stood on the grave? Stars and crosses. In western Belarus, stars are a rarity, only crosses stood. No matter how hard the communists tried to get rid of them, still the crosses stood. But in Yakutia – there are no crosses. All Soviet paraphernalia in the cemetery. When you visit, you see a coat of arms, a sickle and a hammer and two red flags on each monument. This is typical on all Yakut cemeteries. It was very surprising for me. Now it has changed, now the crosses are standing, and the soviet traditions dissipate.

Therefore, they accepted the idea of communism and atheism. And when these ideologies collapsed, they became hungry, they were searching, and came to Christ. Of course, some remembered their pagan roots. Although they were atheists, nevertheless they did partake in pagan rites. It was necessary to break away from pagan roots, refuse to feed the spirits, the spirit of fire, the spirit of hunting, the spirit of the river. But it was easier for the Yakuts, probably, because they were more divorced from their roots and believed in this communist ideology. It was harder for Chukchi, Evens, and Evenks. They are more in the north, and they are more attached to these traditions. They have more traditional purification ceremonies, especially at the funeral. One brother, Even, told me that when he had accepted Chris, his relative died, and he had to go through the ceremony of purification, through fire, through smoke. And he said: “I understood that it no longer had power over me, but it was very difficult to go against all my relatives.” The Yakuts did not have to struggle as much. They were not so close to customs.

In Chukotka, several Chukchi became believers, but they were completely detached from their culture. When the Soviet regime came, the government wanted them to settle in one place. They built villages for the Chukchi. But they were wanderers, and they wanted to take shifts of the shepherds. They even wandered with children, so their children were taken away, even small ones, and placed to local orphanages. Chukchi in the beginning stole their kids back and even shot at government helicopters. But then, seeing the hopelessness of their struggle, they simply began to drink their grief away. So it was an accepted idea for generations, that once a child is born, he spends some time with the mother, and then he is taken away. So the parental and familial feelings of closeness were numbed…. I know one brother, Tolik. He grew up in a orphanage type kindergarten, then – a boarding school, and sometimes they would send him home for the holidays sometimes not. He is from the island of Aion. He stayed at the boarding school. And after school was drafted to the army. Went back to the island of Aion after the army. And he could not talk to his mother, because she did not know the Russian language, and he did not know the Chukchi language. Therefore, he was completely cut off. And when he accepted Christ, he learned his native language, but for his own people, he was a Slav, the soviet, a Lenin’s pioneer, and a Komsomol.

As one Chukchi woman said: “They told us a bright future will come, that there will be communism, and I waited, I believed in communism, and I sincerely waited, but it isn’t here yet.” So, simple. Therefore, the Soviet government did a lot to tear people from their roots. And those who were less attached to these beliefs, they, like the Russians, almost like the Slavs accepted the gospel.

In more strong ethnic villages, of course, it was more difficult, because the traditions were stronger. And it was easier for people to accept Christ if they lived in more industrial cities, for Yakuts and Chukchi as well.

How did russian and belarusian people come to the Krasnoyarsk Territory?

Well, cities have long been there. Kansk is already 380 years old. At the time when they were resettled, when they were exiled, people were already living there. Since tsarist times, baptism has been 110 years in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The first Baptists were exiled from Ukraine, and they were brought in shackles to Minusinsk. Throughout the country, but they did not fall silent. The first Baptist church, the first baptisms were in Minusinsk. This is in the south of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. In those years when people were dispossessed, of course, they were also exiled, but there were already other people who lived there, Siberians. When you talk to people, you often hear: “My grandfathers were exiled.” But they stayed, because the land is rich and potatoes, and carrots, and beets, and cabbage are growing there. It means that, you can live, and people lived.

It’s just interesting: in Yakutia and Chukotka there are indigenous peoples. Who lives in the Krasnoyarsk Territory?

Well, they settled under the kings when they developed new territories, the Cossacks built a fortress there and settled there. There was even the Yakut prison. They seized lands. Forced baptism was carried out over Yakuts, Chukchi, Evens, Evenks. It was violent Christianization. Therefore, the Slavs already lived there, and when the Soviet regime came, they were not evicted to the cities, but to forests to cut wood. Also they built new cities, such as Norilsk. It means that there were young cities that began to be built under Soviet rule that was developing the north, and there were also those that were already a hundred, two hundred, three hundred years old.

Can you tell about a situation or circumstance when it was difficult, but God carried you through them in a supernatural way?

I don’t even know … Well, I already said about my wedding. I didn’t have anything, but God arranged everything – well, isn’t it supernatural? Having nothing, the wedding was organized for four hundred people: everyone was full, everyone was happy …

When I was going to Chukotka, I had a small support, but I was going, and so as not to leave me, God sent an American brother who fed me. The situation with hotel accommodation was resolved. God solved this problem through a hostel, where I lived for a year – they didn’t take a dime from me. Although I did not care about this situation, I wasn’t afraid. To say that I had faith that God would solve everything? No, I didn’t even think about it … didn’t worry …

One trip was like that. This didn’t bother us, but … We bought an all-terrain vehicle, a truck with two cabs, so that we could drive to the Far North: drive and live in a car. We traveled for a month and a half, visiting villages where the Gospel had never been preached. Brother Misha Pilipenko prepared the car, invested a lot in it, very scrupulous. I said: “It’s not worth investing so much in it,” and he said: “I can’t take people to these harsh conditions in an unprepared car.” We left in the end of January. We decided later that in the coldest weather it’s better not to leave. The day is very short, frosts over 50 ℃. We drove 400 km. We visited a church in Khandyga and then almost a whole day we drove. Ater we got off to the winter road during the half of a day we did not meet a single car, not a single one. We stopped at night in the morning and slept. Woke up, prayed, ate, drank tea. I was driving, drove a couple of kilometers and … a fat wood grouse appeared on the road. Misha is a hunter, he took a gun with him. He whispered: “Come on, come on! Slowly, slowly! ”The grouse flew away into the forest, sat on a larch. Misha said: “Turn! Turn to the right ”, I opened the side small window, because big window can’t be opened, the glass is is glued and double. And with single glass everything freezes there, nothing is visible. The windshield is double and the side windows are glued. I stopped. Misha: “Turn back a little bit!” I turned the steering wheel. There was a lot of snow, waist-high. I released the clutch slowly, did not add gas, and the car stalled. “Start! Start! ”, Misha worried. I started, and zero. There is nothing, it doesn’t even click … He climbed to the batteries outside into a booth. Our booth was littered with literature, products that we transport to the far north, because the products are three times more expensive there. Sugar, cereals, peas …

We didn’t know what happened, the car didn’t start. The diesel has no handle to start. What to do? We don’t know what the problem is, we have already forgotten about the grouse. It flew away … (laughing) We were searching for it later and didn’t find.

It was necessary to make a quick decision. I found twigs, made a fire. Brothers quickly went to the fire to get warm. Misha said: “Unload the car, we need to get the batteries!” We realized that the batteries were frozen. There is no other option. Misha climbed up to take off the tarpaulin. The car was insulated and tightened to the box with a tarpaulin to keep warm, so that the engine would not freeze. If it freezes, it needs to be warmed for half a day. Half an hour did not pass, as we heard the rumble. For a half of a day there were no cars. One car with a semi-trailer appeared. He said: “I won’t be able to yank you but the “Ural” is coming.” Five minutes later, the “Ural” drove up, hooked on a tow, pulled the car and we started it. This is how we found out that we had a problem. We didn’t know about it. What is a miracle? God sent a grouse (laughing), the car stalled, we found out that we had a problem. We would have turned off the car that day anyway to check the oil level, because we drove for more than a day. We would turn it off and wouldn’t be able to start it. Also there were no cars, except those two till the end of the day. It means that we would have to suffer, but through the grouse God solved it.

When we went to Chukotka Lenya Kartavenko organized a marathon. One car remained in Yakutia, and the other in Chukotka. We drove the “Urals” on the way back. There were three of us: two from Mirny and me. We’re going through tundra, and brother Zhora from Mirny said: “There’s some white bird! White bird!” “Where? Where?” “ Over there, turn!” We left the winter road “Ah, there it is, turn the other way!” We went towards the rut again. We were moving and … suddenly stopped. We couldn’t notice the ditch because of snow, that’s why we got into it so that the front wheels didn’t reach the ground and were spinning. Two back wheels were also spinning in the air … We were digging snow there for six hours … We dug deeper and deeper. Then we stopped digging. Eight hours had passed, but not a single car. We turned on the light, ate, gave up, seeing that our work was useless. One was on duty to see if there is any car going to blink. But (laughing) everyone was tired, everyone fell asleep. And then … a bright light hit our eyes. Two cars were coming towards us. When we were going to Chukotka we helped everyone who had some breakdowns, shared food, sang, so there was a good fame about us along the Kolyma highway, as about those who helped. If you do not help someone, then immediately the information goes that there is no way to help such and such! They knew about us, pulled us out and said: “Do not turn off the track!” I am telling this story because where we were staying it wasn’t cold. About 35 degrees below zero, but it’s not cold. It was already the beginning of March. There was no wind. If we went up there, we would have stuck there. There were four cars and they were suffering for a long time to break through the pass. There was a blizzard and they were pulling each other for four hours. If we got there, we would have stuck there and frozen in the wind. That would be terrible. Therefore, God sent this white bird to drag us into that ditch and we did not freeze there. There was no wind, there was silence. We were wet from work, then we gave up, but we were warm there. They said: “Quickly, men, it’s still not swept up!” There were literally five kilometers. “There is still a fresh track, maybe you will break through!” they advised. And the truth is, we broke through. It was difficult, but we broke through by their track. Is it a miracle or not a miracle?

Well, the fact that God raised me when I was ill. Doctors said there was no hope. After a traumatic brain injury too …

Among the Yakuts, God did miracles. I noticed that where the gospel was not preached, God created miracles more clearly or explicitly. When they prayed about their animals, they recovered.

One woman’s boat had overturned while fishing. The first evangelization took place in their village. She said: “I have not believed yet. Accepted, but did not believe”. She went fishing on a lake with oars, and the boat rolled over. “I ended up in icy water and then cried out to Jesus. I was far from the shore and I didn’t know how I ended up on the shore.” This was a clear miracle. She told this, I was not a witness. She testified when I arrived that she had turned to Jesus and that He had done such a miracle and saved her.

There was another such case. We baptized one woman who had never been in a meeting, did not listen to a single sermon, but we baptized her, not knowing. We started working after evangelizing at the second church. The first church in Yakutsk was already there. Sergei Popov worked there. They left, we started the second church and decided to make a joint baptism. There were five or six people from each church. I did not know those whom they were preparing, and that pastor did not know whom we were preparing. It was on the bay in the city. One woman, her name was Nadia, was going home from work. She worked as a nurse at a hospital. She walked by and saw people in white coats. She is Yakut, asked the Yakuts in their language: “What is happening here?” They said: “Baptism is happening.” She wanted to be baptized, put on a white coat and joined those baptized. I only learned after a year and a half that I baptized her. She came home from baptism and said to her husband: “You must become a Christian, otherwise I’ll divorce you!” A brother began visiting their village, she believed through him, and through her two sisters came to God. They heard from her about Christ and took a 600 kilometers journey. I came back from a trip and the missionary sisters said: “The elderly, Konstantin Fedotovich and sister Praskovya, asked you to come to them and tell them about Christ.” We packed up and went to this Hampa village. This is through Nadia, who was baptized. I thought she was from his church, he thought she was from my church. She accepted, remained at church and actively testified. Is it a miracle or not a miracle? This is a paradox!

There was one Yakut sister in Nadya’s village. She was the first who believed. She was alcohol addicted and was struggling. She was very worried about her village. She began to go to our second church and kept on saying: “There are people there! They want to hear!” So we went. We saw that there were about five people ready to accept the Gospel. It means that she testified to them. I said: “Which of us would send her to missionary service? The one who falls into alcohol addiction. She attends church, and then gets drunk. Well, who would send? Despite this God used her to make people hear and believe in Christ!” This is not our merit. This is the grace of God.

This time has passed and the situation in Yakutia has changed. Nevertheless there, in those villages where there was no evangelism, people still remain more open.

In Kansk and in the villages it is different. The propaganda is active on TV. The attitude is against us, but slowly God gives people.

How do you think, does God give for every Christians calling to go somewhere for ministry? How can we understand, can people miss this.

Of course not. I believe that everybody must be a missioner where he is. One must be to worry about God’s work. People say: “I don’t know what is my calling”, I answer: “How don’t you know”? Bible says: “May God’s man be perfect, prepared for every good work.”. For every good work! If you see that a floor is unclean, so clean it. The toilet needs to be cleaned…just do it. In Yakutsk I cleaned the office toilet before the winter time because the stalactites were growing up there and before every winter I scooped everything out and buried it. And when some saw the mission director cleaning the toilets, they were shocked. And I say: “This ministry is for everyone.” Prepared for every good deed. I see – And I go and do it. So, if the person has the thoughts like that, he/she will not miss a chance. God will use him or her at the place or that person will see a need to hit the road. If he/she is sitting doing nothing, he/she has already missed the boat! Because he might missed most important- a chance to be a doer at the field, the person that is ready for every good work. This is my position. God doesn’t call everybody to move out because we also can act at the place we are.

Well, here is my another life lesson that helped me. When I lived in Belarus, we had day of visiting sick people. That time we with youth visited those who were sick. They didn’t attend the Church and we hold the services at theirs homes. There we studied to preach and sang along. Well, that was encouragement for the sick people. Especially for those who have not been attending Church at the outskirts awhile. If there was a need to dig up the kitchen garden or repair something, we always did it. Well, one day I hurried home from my work, I parked the car near the city square, where did the busses disperse from. And nobody was there. And we have 120 people of youth. I stood right there and thought: “If anybody invites you for a birthday party, then people can even take time off from their night shift work. And 40-50 people will come…But there is no one to do a real good deeds!” There was a small “backbone” of people who were always ready to come. But there was nobody around at that moment, and the thought came down to my mind: “Do you need it more than the others, that you are in a hurry to be everywhere”. And I was ready to accept this thought that ruled me. But then another thought came, and it became so clear for me, If it is revealed for me as a good work but I will go down to a lower level, God later will ask me for the answer. I realized that it is not open for everybody. Maybe, somebody understands but does not make it. But I understood if I start to act like everyone else, God will ask for it anyway. God will not ask from the people that do not understand. And then I made a decision and said: “Lord, I do not care if anybody will go or not, but I will!” So, I did not expect anyone to stand next to me. It stopped to influence me.

So it goes with that way so far.  Thus, I do not wait. I see that brothers in the church have potential but they are not ready and they do not go, I am going on my own. I work with youth, they are involved, they are passionate, I have authority for them Some people look for the Will of God. I remember Sergey Babich, he worked in Yakutia mission, then moved to Moscow. We just needed bookkeeper for a mission, and his sister Vera, came for a while to Yakutia to assist him. She graduated at Donetsk college and was looking for a place for the ministry, but she is a bookkeeper by education. We told her: “if you are looking for a ministry, this is it, we need a bookkeeper”. She answered: “I want to know will of God”.  And so, she searched, searched and searched for six months and she could not get decision. She asked me: “How did you know that the Will of God for you was to move to Birobidzhan? Or to Chukotka?” I said: “It has never bothered me. God generally opened His Will for the Gospel to be preached all over the world”. This is general revolution. And, wherever I go, I will not be worry if it’s God’s Will or not. Yes , it is Will of God, because you went to Africa, to the USA, to Ukraine, and you are within the framework of God’s Will, wherever you go.

Another thing, that there may be more difficult circumstances and there may be less difficult ones. But it is another thing. Some, unfortunately, close up: “Well, I want to know is it Will of God or not?” And wait for some kind of fair from Heaven or so. (laughs). The God’s Will is open – sharing the Gospel! “May the man of God be perfect, prepared for every good work !” Take it! And do it! From the experience of people who already did something for God on the spot, they worked and then God called them to move. God uses someone on the spot. Taras Prystupa did not leave anywhere, but God used him so widely everywhere: in Yakutia, and in Primorye, and in Khakassia, and in Tuva, and in the near and far abroad.

Is it true, that when a person has come from afar, people are more interested in him, they themselves want to know why did he move over and does it help to build relationships or not?

No, I think not, I did not have something like that. In Chukotka, I was hungry, then I moved to Kansk, I settled in a house where people did not care where I came from. One young family did not Greet us. I said to Olya: “You Greet them first”.  She answered: “I Greeted them a few times but they did not respond”.

I said: “We must say Hello to them until the victory comes.” I Helloed them for six months, they did not react. They did not care where I came from, they were not opened for any contact. There was an older generation that liked sitting in the yard, they even argued with me that God was not existing. Basically, I served to many neighbors in the house with my transportation. They got to know that I was a believer. But it was not, because I moved over, but because I was open and served them with my transport. But those young people we mentioned earlier ignored us. And one day they greeted us. And then, when two years later we moved not so far, I sold and built

 

I sold and built a house in Yakutsk, then one day they walked and for 100-200 meters, seeing us, they smiled and waved to us. We have never had conversation with them. I mean, there was no contact at all. Then they moved to somewhere… But the victory came.

I moved  to Birobidzhan in Soviet time, no one asked anything too and I had to look for the contacts myself. Maybe somewhere else like in a small village this is easier, but not in the city.

What do you think Christians missions are still needed today? There is an opinion that they somehow have exhausted themselves…Or should the Church send evangelists for a mission?

I didn’t think about it…The main point is for the people to work: with the Church, through the mission. It makes no difference for me. If a mission is only called a mission and does nothing, then what’s the point? The same way, the Church can sit and do nothing. I cannot say anything. Seeing what is being done here, in a mission called “Hope for the people” I know that Taras is not sitting and all those in his team are not sitting still. This kind of mission is necessary because it works.

And if this is such a mission, which is only called a mission and only collects money, then it would be better if it weren’t be a mission like that. If there is any like that (Laughs)

But there are missions like this: an American guy came to Yakutsk with my brother to see if there was a need for a help. And he also organized a mission. He worked for ten years in Belarus, then moved to America and organized a mission there. Theirs missionaries work in many countries. His name was Tim. And I am glad, that there is a mission like that, because he works and he cares. Praise the Lord! This is like the different programs are carried out to teach how to work with people. And I met people who criticized such programs. Here was the “From heart to heart” program and the mission was there. They are no longer there. They were even in Yakutia. The people started saying: “This program doesn’t work!” Well, of course, it doesn’t work if you don’t work on it. Any program without a devoted person will not bring a fruit. It’s not that you went, covered the course program then sat down and everything will be done by itself. Practice it! Therefore, my opinion is that any program and any form of ministry will bear fruit if there is a devoted person dedicated to put it into a work.

The same with the missions. If there are dedicated people in the mission, it will work, it is needed and then it will bear fruit. And without initiative no mission will bear fruit.

What we can pray for you about?

For God to send out doers to His field – this is a common need. Well, and remember about building of our Church. First of all, for God to have awaken our brothers, because there is potential in the Church and much more can be done if the brothers would move. And about awakening, so that, He will send the doers from among of our guys. So that young people be affirmed and awoken and first of all our brothers.

Written by Tatyana Arterchuk