Dear Friends,

Desperate to leave an abusive home living with her parents, Maya accepted a marriage proposal. She was indifferent to the marriage, but in her desperation, she took the first way out she could find. She was still young, but at 17, her life was already full of trauma. Her marriage was not a happy one, but in this season of life, she became interested in Christianity. After some time, however, Maya’s husband learned of the years of abuse she had experienced when she was growing up. Her husband rejected her as damaged goods, divorcing her and returning her to her home of abuse, saying they gave her to him under false pretenses as an undamaged flower. Where is God? Where is mercy? When will there be an end to this pain? Jesus heard those cries and sent the Holy Spirit to Maya to draw her to him.

Over the next several months Maya started her journey to Christ. She started attending online discipleship meetings and started looking for people to meet with in person. Through a series of connections, I was put in touch with her. Maya’s mother was immediately suspicious of me. Why does a 40+ year old foreign woman want to spend time with her daughter, who’s in her early 20s? After that very first visit, the mother told Maya that she shouldn’t meet with me any longer. But the Holy Spirit had captured Maya. I shared many things about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, theology and Christian practice, and we continued to meet over the next 2 years.

Things in Maya’s home were awful. As months went by, Maya plotted to escape everything. She wanted to run away. She eventually told me that she was leaving (in 5 days time!) to go to study in America. She didn’t tell her family out of fear of them stopping her. Once she was in America, she informed them that she had left, but refused to tell them where she had gone. The possibility of familial retribution was too real. Maybe they would kidnap her. Maybe they would do something worse. Maya couldn’t risk it.

After Maya left the country, she seemed to drift further and further away from Jesus, seduced by freedom in America. While Maya was resisting Jesus’ call, he constantly pursued her. Eventually, I was able to connect Maya to a local church, and she started attending and even brought her American boyfriend with her. But Maya had deep questions that no one in the group could answer. Most of her theological questions related to her background in Islam, something that very few know much about. During this time, Maya and I texted frequently, and I was able to visit her that summer. She was living with her boyfriend and not very receptive to conversation about Jesus, but I felt led by the Holy Spirit to leave my Arabic Bible with Maya. “May your Word not return void to you, oh Lord. Please continue to draw Maya to you,” I prayed. Soon after, Maya started having weekly 1 to 1 Bible studies with a woman close to her age in her apartment.

One day, Maya decided she would go shopping at Goodwill. There was nothing like it back home where the idea of ‘used goods’ is for extremely poor people and would be shameful on the family name to shop there. After some browsing, she bought Thanksgiving and Christmas greeting cards, hoping to use them during the upcoming holiday season. Later, as she opened one of the Christmas cards, a small slip of paper fell out of one of them. She picked it up and to her shock, the text on the paper was printed in Arabic! Not only that, but it was a Bible verse! John 1:29 “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, who takes aways the sin of the world!” Maya immediately contacted Me. Maya said, “I think Jesus is calling me again.” Over the next 2 days she visited with the pastor of the church she had attended, and he spoke to her about salvation in Christ. A few days later Maya called me to say she claimed Jesus as her savior and that we were now sisters in Christ! Maya and her now husband were both recently baptized.

Please pray for Maya. We are still praying that Christ will be magnified in unexpected ways. We have hope that He will be glorified in Maya’s new marriage. We pray for Maya’s testimony to grow strong and that the shame of her life in sin would be washed from her mind, just as Jesus washed her sin from her life.
 – M, World Outreach Global Worker

Maya’s faith in Christ came about after a difficult journey. Her story of coming to saving faith is not smooth and linear but took time for the Holy Spirit to work in her heart. Through it all, M was there to help lead Maya through God’s truth and point her to Christ. How can you be such a friend to those around you in your own context?

Upcoming Opportunities for You and Your Congregation

Dear Friends,

Dan and Catherine B served as church planting field workers in Almaty, Kazakhstan for 18 years (1993-2011). During their tenure, they saw a network of churches planted in the area and, eventually, turned ministry leadership over to their national partners. After twelve years of working in EPC US-based church missions and mobilization, Dan and Catherine have returned to Central Asia to support the national church in some new ways. Through ITEN (EPC’s International Theological Education Network), they are working to strengthen the local church through theological education, mentoring, and training the next generation of Christian leaders.
 
Through ITEN, Catherine mentors, supports and strengthens those who serve families with disabilities in Central Asia. She serves on the Young Life Capernaum mom’s ministry team and supports the Capernaum staff in Almaty and beyond. Recently she helped bring some valuable training to the Capernaum staff from countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. This curriculum, the Theology of Disability, helps each participant develop a biblical framework for how to effectively engage people with disabilities. As the Capernaum staff gathered this spring, they wrestled with their own understandings of God, suffering, and disability and brainstormed ways to bring these truths to their churches and communities. It was exciting to see how this training might impact society across Europe and Asia! ITEN is serving the local church in many ways by building up ministry leaders and strengthening their theological understanding. 
 
On a local level, the weekly Capernaum club meetings for moms and special needs teens is a particularly poignant place where God works in the lives of all involved. Catherine describes a recent Saturday meet-up. 
 
“Anara delivers her son Max and his wheelchair into the capable hands of a Capernaum club volunteer. She is then met at the door by Yuliya, dressed as a French artist, who captures her image with a flair and declares her a “Masterpiece!” Anara then sits at a table with other moms, chatting and coloring while the tensions of her day melt away. More moms gather, tea is served, and the women engage in crazy games and contests, laughing until their sides hurt, cheering each other on, and winning prizes. A community is being built. Marzhan then shares a short devotion, focusing on God’s truth from Psalm 139, how these women and their children are masterpieces, created for His purposes and glory. The women then process their emotions through watercolor and writing, responding to the truth with softened hearts. They have found a safe place—a place where they feel valued, cherished, and understood, a place where God is at work.”
 
All three of the national women mentioned in this story are single moms with special needs teens. Anara has no living relatives and lives in a fifth-floor apartment with no elevator. She carries her 24-year-old son up and down the stairs whenever they go out. She has found great community and support within the Capernaum family, and we continue to pray for her salvation. Yuliya is new to her faith. As a recent addition to the mom’s leadership team, she is learning to lead others in matters of faith and share her joy. Marzhan became a believer before she had a son with autism and desires for other women in her situation to find eternal hope in Christ. Catherine finds great joy in serving each of these women—welcoming and loving those in great need and mentoring and praying for the leaders in their walk with Christ. ITEN is at work in a very personal way in this community. Please pray that more families affected by disability will feel valued, trust Christ for their salvation, and find a welcome place in the local churches of Central Asia and beyond. 
 
Whether you are in the Capernaum city or an American suburb, there are people around you who need a place like the moms of this group, “a place where they feel valued, cherished, and understood, a place where God is at work.” How might God use you to provide a place to such people?

Upcoming Opportunities for You and Your Congregation