NOVOKUZNETSK (RUSSIA) - Not far from the city of Novokuznetsk there are several teleut villages. Teleuts are one of small indigenous groups in Siberia, and they live here since ancient times. There’re only about 3 thousand of them in the whole world. As we found out, their culture is strongly connected to shamanism. During our first visit we came across very aggressive people. One drunk teleut hit one of our brothers. Others were trying to hit us with their car. But in the other teleut village we have a church. So next time we took some of our teleut brothers with us. They showed us the way and helped us out in the conflicts with drunk villagers.
I was walking along the street with our teleut brother, he had repented about a month ago. He knew the village well, greeted people and smiled while he talked. And I was thinking: “God changes people, even the most hostile and evil. Because this guy too used to be aggressive and unsociable”.
This time the villagers were friendly. While we talked to people we met shamans, but when they heard the Good News, God touched their hearts and they repented! We witnessed the Word of God at work, people were hungry for it and gladly accepted Christian literature. 35 people heard the Gospel, nine of them repented. This really is the glory of God!
Evgeny Gololobov
Team of the Church On the Rock, Novokuznetsk
