PERM (RUSSIA) - In May 2016, a team of three missionaries went to a village to plant a church. There they met a family of the Ivanovs1. Here’s what the missionaries wrote: “The commission on juvenile affairs asked us to visit a dysfunctional family – meet them, talk to them, pray for them, because the children were likely to be taken away from their parents. We bought some food, took Christian books and went to see them.
Andrey and Olga, the parents, and their three children Sveta (14 years old), Nadja (8 years old) and Sergey (7 years old) were glad to see us. We shared our stories, told them about Christ, prayed for them and invited to come to the church. Some time later we came again, brought some food and talked to the father of the family, Andrey. The girls were the first who started to attend the church. God set Sveta free from smoking, she repented and began to pray for her family. Then their mother began to come to the services, and a little later Andrey repented.”
The missionaries began to help Sveta with her school, helped Andrey to demount an old barn for firewood, bought some food for them. After the family began to attend church services and pray, the relationships in the family restored, the authorities says the family cannot be qualified as dysfunctional any more. They found joy and hope for today and tomorrow!
Andrei Luchnikov
Team of the New Testament Church, Perm
1Names are changed here and further in the text
Photo: Jan Kuntur
