In it for the long haul

Week two of being in Kyrgyzstan was jam-packed! We began ministry and started to get into the groove of having a daily routine to follow.

Monday is our Sabbath day to rest and recharge. Tuesday through Thursday mornings are spent at various universities around Bishkek, speaking in different classes each day. We are met with kind smiles from the students, as well as their burning questions about American stereotypes. These universities are technically associated with the government, and because of our affiliation with the ministry we are partnered with, we are not allowed to teach the gospel and were even advised against speaking the name of Jesus! This can be especially frustrating considering that that is what my teammates and I are most passionate about, but these restrictions don’t stop the Holy Spirit from moving.

There was one class where the teacher seemed to have more questions for me than the students did. Her questions, however, were not the typical cultural inquiries I have gotten used to receiving. “Do you believe in life after death?”, “What does religion look like in America?”, and the most point blank question imaginable… “Do you believe in God?”. I was astonished that I was being asked such straightforward questions, in that setting no less! In that moment I had nothing else to do but say a quick prayer “Lord, give me the discernment needed to carry on this conversation.” While we had been advised not to have this type of discussion within university walls, I had an overwhelming sense of peace that the Holy Spirit was telling me it was okay to proceed. I answered each of the teacher’s questions honestly and to the best of my ability, and although she was happy to have her questions answered, I don’t know that she was necessarily pleased with my responses.

In that instant, I was blessed to have a spark of hope for this nation. The people of Kyrgyzstan are curious about God. They are longing for their Heavenly Father. They are hungry and thirsty for encounter with the One, True, Living God. How exciting is it that the Lord is already waiting for them with open arms and is drawing the Kyrgyz people to Himself?! This experience reminded me of Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.” Even if I never get to meet this teacher again, I pray that she will continue to search with all her heart and ask questions!

Tuesday through Thursday afternoons are spent at the academic center run by our hosts. This time is meant to help students practice speaking English while also building relationships with them. Each day looks a little different, but without a doubt, every day consists of playing ping pong and Uno. Tuesday evening all of the girls on our team got to go to a Bible study at the home of one of our hosts, with all of the young women who are believers. It was such a sweet time of fellowship and an opportunity to get to know them better! Thursday evening our team hosted a Bible study at our house for all of the believing students. Hearing worship in both English and Russian simultaneously was an experience I’ll never forget- it was an incredible reminder that no language or culture barrier stands in the way of our God. As we prayed in English and Russian, He heard and understood all of it!

Fridays are what we call “pioneering days”. We started off the day with a prayer walk around one university, interceding for students and faculty to become curious about Jesus, that current believers would grow in boldness and community, and for open doors for Christian ministries to put on events at the college! In the afternoon, we walked around the city in pairs (Mark 6 anyone?) and tried to start conversations with students to invite them to the academic center and hopefully share the gospel. It was amazing to learn about how Kyrgyz people view Christianity- and how their view and assumptions differ depending on if it is a foreigner or a local identifying as Christian.

Saturday we played volleyball! We participated in an informal tournament with our students and let’s just say we all went home tired and sore (probably more than we should’ve been for the little work we actually did)…

Sunday, one of my teammates and I went to an international church and it was a blessing to spend time with fellow believers from all over the world. What a testimony to the partnership the Lord invites us into in His Great Commission!



A consistent theme I’ve noticed over the course of this week was how necessary it is to be “in it for the long haul.” I’ve fallen under heavy conviction that coming into Kyrgyzstan I was greedy for fruit. I wanted so badly to have gospel conversations, to see salvations and baptisms, that I put fostering relationships on the back burner. It is estimated that it takes around 7 times for someone to hear the gospel before actually accepting Jesus (obviously each person is different- some may take only once and others 100+), and as we got to Bishkek, I was subconsciously determined to be conversation number 7. However, the Lord is moving my heart to a place of contentment- to not be just okay with but fully excited and grateful to be conversation 1-6. What a privilege it is to get to be involved in any of those conversations at all!

Jesus was never in a rush during His ministry. He didn’t have His eyes set solely on the fruit, He saw the people in front of Him. He loved and served them, knowing that some were going to reject Him. He was in it for the long haul, and if He was, then I want to be also.