KYRGYZSTAN KONNECTION

Tim & Rita Nickel, LCMS World Mission

Missionaries Ablaze! In Kyrgyzstan

June 1, 2005

New Email: tmnickel@mail.kg

What God is Doing

One year ago the Lord sent Kaiepbek and Bermet to Ak Suu, six hours away from home, to develop and grow a church in that village with the challenge to bring 100 people into the kingdom.  The Holy Spirit moved over 50 men, women, and children to come to the new church.  But as usual, God had greater plans than our small vision could hold.  

He has started cell groups in three other locations, one of them in the nearby city of Karakol .  This serves to establish a solid beachhead in that remote area of the country.  Since Kaiepbek is Kyrgyz it is natural that these people are Kyrgyz-speaking people.  Some of you are praying for Ak Suu and also for our vision to establish 15 Kyrgyz-speaking churches.  He is also planning to open another cell group in Jeti Oguz (a tourist village in the mountains).  He may also be leading a potential new group in Ananyevo on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul , where the Mobile Medical Trailer has just been placed to serve.  If the trailer evangelists gather a group of new believers there Kaiepbek will have to travel to that town also.  This means that, by God’s grace, he will have six places in which to teach God’s Word and Luther’s Catechism.  Thank God for your prayers.

Basherdin and Bakit are the two evangelists working alongside the Medical Trailer.  When they were in the village of Kyzyl Tuu they evangelized a few people, but during the time of the revolution the people did not want to meet in a new group.  Then the trailer was in Molovodnia for a month.  We didn’t expect any groups to be gathered there because we were working with the permission of a church that was already there.  However, a solid group of eight people wanted to start a new group and become Lutheran.  There are more that would come to the meetings, but they are afraid they will be beaten by their families if they go to Bible study.

This is now the thirtieth new church start.  Five years ago I would have been happy to see eight groups beginning churches by this year, but Jesus is building his church, not us men.  He has different ideas.  He is responding to your prayers.

Kaiepbek and Bermet tell me that recently they prayed for a 15-year-old girl who would not speak, never said more than “mama and papa.”  After they prayed she is speaking and continuing to speak more words.  Last month I was asked to pray for a 4-year-old boy in our new church in Kemin.  This week the parents told me that he is beginning to speak a few words.  

What we are doing

God blessed us with a Retreat in Germany for all the missionaries in Europe and Central Asia .  Three dignitaries from St. Louis , Bob Roegner, Dave Birner, and Kurt Buchholz also met with us.  We stayed in Wittenberg where we worshiped in the Castle Church (where Luther started the Reformation) and the City Church (where Luther preached), and we saw the houses of Luther and Melanchthon.  For old Lutherans like us, this was a dream come true.  We visited a castle in Quedlinburg and visited in Berlin , where we straddled the old Berlin Wall.  Interestingly, there are no truly Lutheran churches in Wittenberg , and we visited the only true Lutheran church in Berlin .

During June, Pastor Don and Marie Cario, from Hilton , NY , are visiting us.  Don is teaching Christian Ethics and 1 Corinthians to our 15 seminary students for three weeks.  From the early reports I received, they really like him.  From other early reports, Don and Marie like it here also.

Tim and Rita will be attending the International LWML Convention in Tampa, Florida, in June.  We get to make a 10 minute speech to the convention delegates and man the LCMS World Mission booth.  If you know of anyone attending, please tell them to look us up and say, “Hi.”

We will be in the USA during August and September for vacation and church visitation.  We will send an itinerary in July, and if we come near you please look us up.

A word from Rita

We first met Era two years ago, when the new Panfilovka church was worshiping and having Bible studies in Nadia’s home. The Mobile Medical Trailer was in the area and Era was brought to the trailer because she had been severely beaten by her drunken father. Such beatings were the pattern in her household.

 From that moment, Era was adopted by the folks in the church.  Emotionally and physically abused her entire life, she was finally (with the help of our medical staff and evangelists) taken out of the home and placed in a children’s facility. All of us prayed for this little one in the Name of Jesus, breaking word curses and generational bondages over her life.  Everyone prayed and loved, prayed and loved.

 Era spends school holidays and Sundays with Nadia and the other families in the church.  She is now “mesnia”, one of us, and was baptized a few weeks ago after her parents finally give their consent.

The picture on the left was taken shortly after we met Era.  She was withdrawn, never smiled and clung to whoever held her. She had no interaction with the other children.  Although you cannot see them, her face is covered with healing bruises.  The picture on the right was taken this past Sunday, during a performance by the children for “The Last Bell ”, a celebration at the end of the school year.

 Era runs to greet us with wide grins and open arms whenever we arrive.  She hands out songbooks to all who enter church and is helping to plant the church garden.  The other children consider her a sister and she joins them in family outings, parties, etc.  She has caught up with others in her class and readily joins in any and all activities.  Once an emotionally scarred and damaged little girl, she had blossomed into a bright and happy child who knows, beyond any doubt, that she is loved by a large family and by a large God.  Jesus is her best friend and she knows that she is cherished by Him.  

Please praise God with us for Era and pray for her parents, that they would be set free from their bondages.  Pray that the Holy Spirit would minister to their hearts and they would at last be able to join their daughter in the Family of God.

“Behold, I am making all things new” Rev. 21:5

Bishkek Love and Blessings,

Rita

New email address: tmnickel@mail.kg