Your gifts unlock the truths of Scripture for a group of boys

Mikhail M.
SGA-Supported Missionary Pastor in Belarus

All summer long we had a construction project going forward in our church. In the midst of the construction, we had opportunities to meet with youth, and one of these meetings was filled with special events and repentances.

I asked a brother from town to help us gather the kids from the neighboring villages and our town to bring them to church. By the grace of God, many kids gathered for the meeting. At the entrance to the church, our son Leshka saw other children waiting outside and he asked if he could invite them in. I said yes, although the format of the meeting was not for kids in their age group—from four to six years old. Ten minutes after we arrived with Leshka at the church, six kids who had just crawled out of the sandbox all dirty came, but the good thing was that my wife was near, who suggested that the boys go to the church and wash!

The older guys we had invited were high school students and they refused to go by car. Instead they came on motorcycles, for which I scolded them because they had no license to drive. Due to the diversity of ages, our meeting centered around obedience to parents during the school year, and how to keep ourselves and our hearts from bad company.

At the end of the meeting, we had a table for refreshments around the campfire with songs and contests. God was with us and with everyone who traveled to come to the meeting. The guys who came on their motorcycles went home and there was a lesson for them to take home and study.

However, one of them named Dima did not make it. On the way to church, his bike’s frame had broken in half and the back end dug into the ground in an accident!

Coming to the scene of the accident, I told the guys that God loves them. With Dima, it was evident that if the speed had been greater at 37-43 miles per hour, and if there was an asphalt road, Dima would have been in the hospital! God preserved Dima’s life—and the young men had that example to ponder as they studied the lesson we gave them.

Pray for these boys, who were interested enough in God to come to our meeting. Pray for the enrollment and Christian education of children and youth, for more opportunities to reach fellow villagers, for youth meetings, for heat this winter, and for those with whom we are sharing the Gospel.