LTRP Note: As many of you know, Lighthouse Trails is the publisher for a book called The Gospel in Bonds, written by the late pastor Georgi Vins. Pastor Vins spent 8 years in a USSR prison camp in the 1960s and 1970s for preaching the Gospel during the Soviet communist regime. Today, Pastor Vins’ daughter, Natasha, and her husband, Alexander, operate the Georgi Vins Siberian Ministry. Together, they have courageously gone into Siberia, year after year and taken the message of the Gospel to people groups who otherwise would not have heard the Good News of Jesus Christ. The following June newsletter describes the latest trip by Alexander and his team to Siberian villages. It is faithful small ministries like Natasha and Alexander’s that have remained true to God’s commission to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every person.
“I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named . . . but as it is written . . . they that have not heard shall understand.”—Romans 15:20-21
Dear praying friends,
Here is a brief report on Alexander’s ministry in Siberia in the last six weeks. Thank you for praying for open doors and open hearts: the Lord provided many opportunities to share His truth. During his overnight 5-hour flight from Moscow to Bratsk, Siberia, the passenger next to him was so interested in learning about God and eternal life that they talked all night. Pray for the Holy Spirit to continue working in this man’s heart.
The first two weeks in Bratsk, as Alexander was readying the supplies for the outreach, he had many occasions to share God’s name. When team members Paul, Alex, and Peter arrived in Bratsk, they loaded the truck and headed down rough rural roads toward the N. Tunguska River several hundred miles away.
Spring was late in Siberia this year, and there was still snow in the forest. Sleeping in tents was tough as at night the temperature dropped to a freezing point. Our team also experienced boat damage on the rocky and turbulent river, but relying on God’s help they were able to fix these problems and continued to press on. As they went from village to village, the Lord provided many opportunities to share His name.
The highlight was reaching the most remote village where the Evenks live. Alexander had to hire a local guide to help our team locate this settlement on a small river deep in the forest. The Evenks were friendly to the newcomers and quite open to hear about God. After getting better acquainted with our men, they mentioned two tiny settlements many miles away deeper in the forest and even offered to show the way.
The next morning Alexander and Paul headed in their boat one direction with an Evenk guide, and Peter and Alex followed another guide to the other settlement. In both places the Lord gave our team unique opportunities. When the four of them got reunited again, they sat around the campfire and praised Jesus for such an amazing answer to their prayers “that God would open unto us a door . . . to speak the mystery of Christ . . .” to the Evenk people (Colossians 4:3). For the first time ever, these villagers heard the Gospel!
It was four years ago that Alexander first heard about this large Evenk settlement, so remote and hidden in the forest that even people in villages along the river had no idea how to find it. Alexander immediately started praying for a way to get there. As he continued to enquire, finally last summer God led him to a man who knew how to get to this Evenk village. He agreed to guide our team there, but also warned that these people could be really unfriendly to strangers.
These challenges to reach Evenks were time and again brought to the Lord in prayer by our team members, their families, and their home churches. And now, after four years of persistent prayer, God graciously answered: not only our team did reach this village and had such a favorable reception, but also they were directed to two other Evenk settlements and proclaimed the Good News there as well.
Please join us in thanksgiving to our faithful God for His great wisdom in directing our ways in reaching the Siberian people:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)
Dear friends, your prayers and support for this ministry are helping take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the uttermost parts of the earth. Pray that the seed of the Gospel sown in remote and hidden Siberian villages will bear much fruit to the glory of God. (Please see the photos [below] from the outreach: Alexander and Paul with Evenk family; Fixing the boat motor; Overnight by the river).
Thank you also for praying for me (Natasha) while Alexander is in Siberia. I’m grateful to the Lord for providing His strength day by day and for the loving care of my local Christian friends.
Serving Him together,
Natasha – for both of us
(*Natasha tells of her life as a Christian youth living in a communist country while her father was in prison for preaching the Gospel in her book Children of the Storm. )
You may write to Alexander and Natasha at:
P.O. Box 1188,
Elkhart, IN, 46515
LTRP Note: Please remember to support and pray for ministries such as this one and Understand the Times Bryce Homes.
