Here is an incredible report from SGA-supported Pastor Yegori. Please rejoice with us in all that God is doing through the youth team of the Yakutia Evangelical Churches Association, and pray for the people to whom they ministered this summer “so that God may save them,” as Yegori says.Read more from Yegori and two testimonies from ministry leaders who led Gospel mission trips to two different villages.
This summer we had two big mission trips across Yakutia Republic due to warm weather. We went to very distant villages: Sebyan-Kuyel and Ust-Maya. Here’s some testimonies from our brothers and sisters who went on these two trips.
Yuri, Yakutsk city church youth leader:
Every summer, I try to find way to get to the distant village of Sebyan-Kuyel, which is located in the northern part of Yakutia. I belong to the Evenk ethnic group. It’s a small group living in the Arctic part of Yakutia, and traditionally they are pagans and reindeer herders. Some Evenks live in separate villages. Some live in towns and villages with people of other ethnic backgrounds. And there are almost only Evenks who live in Sebyan-Kuyel. Being Even by ethnicity and Christian by faith, I believe it’s one of my responsibilities before the Lord to carry the Word of God to my people. Especially, because Evenks are people who are unreached by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There are only a few Christian Evenks who I know.
Sebyan-Kuyel is located deep in the mountains and there is no road to it. You can get there only by small airplane or helicopter, and this kind of transport is very expensive and doesn’t fly often. Praise the Lord, the Yakutia Churches Association has a small airplane that can fly in summer, so they let us use this airplane to get to Sebyan-Kuyel. We stayed there for six days. There are four believing women who live in the village, and they almost never go out of the village. So, every day I taught the Word of God to them in order to give them some spiritual support. There also were several women and children who would come to listen to the Bible and they liked it so much. We also went to visit some poor families; we brought food packages to them and shared the Gospel with them.
The most exciting part was a trip to a reindeer herders’ camp. I haven’t been to such a camp for a long time. For me it was a special time, not only because I had some sweet memories from my childhood but mostly because I could sit with people of my ethnicity and tell them the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And they would listen to it very carefully. It was amazing! In the evening, I met some young herders in their tents and held a short youth ministry for them. They were very grateful for our visit and said that they would reflect on what they have heard from us about God. I praise the Lord for this wonderful mission trip and ask you to pray for my people—the Evenks—so that the Lord would reach them with His Gospel.
Lyudmila, Yakutsk city women’s ministry leader:
For quite a long time we wanted to make a trip to the distant village of Ust-Maya. Our plan was to gather a team of young Christian women, to take some non-believing teenage girls from Yakutsk to Ust-Maya with us, and several local non-believing girls joining us there. We wanted to spend some time in telling them the Gospel and showing God’s love to them, knowing that this “girls only” format can be really useful. Thank God, we finally could make such a trip this summer, it lasted for about six days.
We chose Ust-Maya because of its beautiful Siberian wilderness, full of forests and rivers. It really helped the girls to get away from their usual life full of phones and gadgets. We tried to concentrate their attention on God and His creation, on Jesus Christ and His Gospel. We also talked to them about what it means to be a woman, a wife, a mother, what chastity and pure beauty mean from a biblical point of view. Moreover, we gave them interesting and some unusual experiences of living in the country: we taught them to cook on a fire and to take care of cows. Every day we would gather at a river bank, read the Bible, sing Christian songs, and share some thoughts and impressions of the day.
One girl said afterwards: “I understand that happiness is very close to us, God gives it to anyone who would desire it. This happiness is really in Him, in His Word, in His truth, and in His Love.” We pray for these teenager girls to repent before Jesus and ask you to join our prayers.
Dear brothers and sisters, please pray for all people (adults and kids) that we had meetings with in the last three months, so that God may save them. Please pray for our youth teams to continue our mission trips across Yakutia Republic.