Письмо м. Анастасии (Принстон, США) (04.08.2015)
Дорогие братья и сестры,
Слава Иисусу, который даровал нам спасение и новую жизнь.
Спасибо за вашу молитву и любовь. Я всегда помню и благодарю за вас.
Я хочу поделиться с вами некоторыми темами благодарности и молитвы.
Бог благословил нашу семью поехать в новое поле миссии так как пастырь Джейсон закончил учебу и нашел работу в Люис Университетев штате Иллионойс, который в 100 км от Чикаго. Мы будем сотрудничать с Дюпейдж Колледж ЮБФ.
Здесь одна семья миссионеров и 4 растущих пастыря и несколько студентов верно участвуют на Богослужении. П Джейсон будет тоже читать проповедь по очереди с Миссионером Гидеоном.
Благодарю что Бог благословил наш переезд. Бог также дал возможность мне иметь время общения с Ревеккой и Лидией, которые сечас находяться в Нью Джерси. Также Мы участвовали в конференции в Иллионойс, где мы видели работу Бога в новом поле миссии. Бог даровал мне глубокое общение и молитву с Мис. Руфь.
На прошлой неделе у нас было последнее Богослужение в Нью Джерси. П Джейсон там пробыл 16 лет и там он встретил лично Иисуса. Бог благословил меня 12 лет миссионерсокй жизни познавать глубже сердце Бога. Нам нелегко уезжать из Нью Джерси, который стал нашим домом. Но мы все видим что Бог так отвечает на нашу молитву воспитать 1000 пастырей профессоров из Нью Джерси. Поэтому все наши сотрудники в Нью Джерси с радостьбю и слезами благословили нас и помолились и послали нам пионерами в нашу землю миссии. Я приложила мое свидетельство. Хотя оно немного длинное, Бог помог мне получить много благодати вспоминать Его милость в моей жизни и познавать Его волю.
Я искренне благодарю вас за вашу молитву.
Пожалуйста молитесь за нашу семью
1. Иметь личные отношения с Иисусом,
2. Быть благословением для сотрудников в COD UBF
3. П Джейсон быть хорошим преподавателем в Люис Университете и быть пастырем для студентов
4. Дети росли духовно и нашли хороших друзей
Мы всегда рады слышать о вас, через доклад Джейн и через ваши письма и темы молитвы на сайте.
Мы продожаем молиться за мир на Украине и пробуждение, чтобы Украина была святой страной, посылающей миссионеров.
Пусть Бог обильно благословит вас и дарует радость и утешение в Иисусе
С любовью, Анастасия
Thanksgiving testimony and prayer topics ( July 21, 2015 )
Luke 9:23, 24: “Then he said to them all: whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves ad take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it”
Praise and thank Jesus who called me out of darkness into his wonderful light. Thank God for blessing my mission life in NJ for the past 12 years and for helping me to know Jesus’ grace. May God help me to write this testimony to testify to what God has done, to have God’s word and God’s vision and hope for our house church. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.
I God’s call for me to be a missionary (1978-2002)
I was born in 1978 in a small city in a communist Ukraine to a working class family with three daughters. When I was 6 month old I had meningitis, a brain infection. The doctors said I would not survive or become mentally disabled, but by God’s grace I grew up into a happy smart child, receiving lots of love. When I was 3 my mom got sick with bronchial asthma and was taken to the hospital by an ambulance, staying there for weeks at the ICU. I was filled with the fear of death. At that time my dad became our mom, cooking, washing, taking care of three daughters. Though I was the top student, I suffered from inferiority complex because of pimples covering my whole face. Still I was thirsty for love and recognition, so I joined dancing at the discotheques and smoking with friends. While I was studying physics in college my parents began to fight since my dad was having affair with another woman. I felt greatly disappointed in men’s love and seeing my own lustful desires and the emptiness of college life where many students cheat and live immoral lives. So I joined the Bible study that my friend was doing. God’s word became living water for my dying soul. Jesus spoke to me personally through John 4:26 “I who speak to you am he.” Jesus was the one I was looking for to love and worship. His love quenched my thirst and gave me new life. Jesus death set me free from the condemnation and sin and healed me from my inferiority and living before people. I also tasted God’s love when I saw my shepherdess and missionaries sacrificially serving me and many Ukrainian students. In order to express my love for Jesus I decided to obey his command, “Do you love me? Feed my sheep.” Through serving several students with Bible study and through sister’s common life I could grow to overcome my selfishness and participate in Jesus’ mercy and serving one soul and experience true joy. Two of my Bible students got married by faith before me. M. Peter Kim asked me if I would not worry about my marriage but prepare myself to go out as a missionary. My heart was burning to answer God’s call since we had been praying for Ukraine to be a missionary sending country.
Then while attending the 2002 International Summer Bible conference in Moscow, God sent Sh Jason, who after seeing me for 2 days asked me to marry him by faith for world mission! I was so moved by God’s provision and love for me. Then on April 9, 2003 I came to USA as the first missionary from Ukraine UBF with a key verse John 12:24 “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies it remains only a single seed, but if it dies it produces many seeds”. Praise GOD!
II. Princeton Mission Life (2003-2008)
My mission life started really happy and pretty easy, with the help and serving and sacrifice of many people. I arrived at Chicago and was blessed to live with Mother Barry for 2 months until my wedding day. Then after our wedding we moved in to common life with Missionary Moses family and several second gens in an apartment in Princeton and later upstairs in the house. We had 5 am Daily bread with M Moses family and I spent my days on campus, reading the Bible, preparing English Bible materials and going fishing. M Grace faithfully taught me one to one 9steps and Genesis and Mothers of prayer group. I also had the best English teacher, Sh Jason, who always corrected my grammar and pronunciation. God sent me several faithful Bible students the first year. One of them, Joyelle, was already Christian and she really encouraged me, reading my Bible materials out loud and praying with me. I know that M Moses and Mary sacrificed a lot by moving out of their house in New Brunswick right next to both of their jobs to live in Princeton with us. I am thankful for M Moses’ parents who took care of our kids so we could remain active in serving campus ministry and commute to New Brunswick 3-4 times a week. God blessed our ministry and all of us had many faithful Bible students. Then Satan tried to discourage us when one student complained about our ministry to campus religious authorities and we were stopped by a campus police and warned not to go fishing on campus. After that many of my Bible students were notified by the dean of religious life and left. I was greatly discouraged and was full of guilt until God spoke to me through his word in Isaiah 43:18,19 “Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing! Now it spring up, do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland” God was working on my heart that was also like a desert full of human ambition, selfishness and pride. Instead of looking back to my past experience God wanted me to truly depend on him, to seek his glory only and to grow in my inner spiritual fruit.
In Princeton, God also helped us to experience his provision and mercy through many God’s servants, when Sh Jason was out of his PhD program and for a couple month we had no job. M Moses sometimes forgave our rent fee and sometimes we got money offered by coworkers near and far. M Grace also created a tutoring job for both Sh Jason and me. She sacrificed a lot because my English was so bad and my teaching skill so low that my first student refused to take math lessons from me. Yet M Grace did not fire me, but found new students and encouraged me always until I could become a confident Physics tutor. During the tough time Sh Jason and I could also grow in the deep love and compassion and Sh Jason grew up as a spiritual leader of our house church, faithful messenger and responsible husband and father. Our first son Peter Slava was born when we had no job, but God provided free health care and food. Peter means rock and Slava means praise, like his name and through him God continually teaches us living faith. I thank God for saving his life after a burst appendix in Ukraine and I know his life belongs to God.
At the end of 2006 my mom passed away. I thank God that my Mom was reading the Bible that I gave her in the beginning and although I could not attend her funeral I am so thankful for Kiev coworkers who visited and prayed for my family although my hometown is far away from Kiev. One year after my mom died, our daughter was born. We named her Hope Anastasiya, since Anastasiya means resurrection in Greek. Through her God reminds me of his living hope of resurrection and takes away all my sorrows and sadness.
III. Rutgers campus mission life (2008-2015)
Then in 2008 Sh Jason started his new PhD program at Rutgers. I was very sad to leave M Moses’ family and halmony’s support. For a while I was still driving to Princeton to maintain Bible study with several students until they graduated. Auxilia became our coworker then, working at Honors Review and babysitting my kids while I did Bible study or taught at Honors Review.
I thank God that in the beginning of our life on Rutgers campus, GOD brought Sh Junhee and Hyunah at the same time who became our friends and coworkers. Through our fishing we had several faithful Bible students. I especially thank God for one Muslim girl who received Jesus through our Bible study. And I also thank God for sending me another broken soul, when I went fishing by myself. She was abused as a child and was bitter toward God, yet through Bible study she was healed by receiving Jesus forgiving love. Living on campus was very happy with students being able to visit for dinner and Bible study, with many neighbors and kids.
However, living on a student stipend and my tutoring income that sometimes even did not cover babysitting expenses made me complain and compare myself with others, and I often desired to give up and seek a better job. God provided me with a substitute teacher job at the local middle and high schools. It was an eye opening experience for me to see the real American school. The substitute teacher job is on a daily demand basis, so I could reject a job any day if I wanted. For the first time I could see my greediness of working more days so I could get paid more. When Sh Jason’s advisor was denied tenure after three years, his PhD study seemed to me as our life long struggle and I felt that I was going to struggle with our income and calculating about money forever. I became very sarcastic and dark and hurt many coworkers with criticizing and negative words. I ask your forgiveness that I often took you for granted and expecting your help and sacrifice forgetting to thank you.
However, through this suffering God taught me to understand people who suffer with many practical issues and to have compassion and understanding toward coworkers who sacrifice so much to live as missionaries. God sent us a trustworthy babysitter, Lucia, who asked a very cheap price since she was also a wife of a grad student. Then God sent Andrew, our happy loving third child. Andrew was an Apostle to Ukraine and through his name we pray for Ukraine. In the Bible Andrew also is a man of faith of 5 loaves and 2fish. Through New Jersey ministry I learned a lot of the “You give them something to eat” I could see how this spirit enabled our ministry in NJ always to be a blessing and serve world mission inviting many 2nd gens for summer school and feed over 240 guests for International conference. “You give them something to eat” is Jesus’ challenge to overcome our selfish and self-centered life and to positively take responsibility and bring our five loaves and two fish to care for others.
I received even more mercy two years ago when God gave me a physics instructor job on Rutegrs campus. It happened in one day when I saw an advertisement in an email where usually students sell used things. They needed urgently an instructor to teach a physics lab and the condition was to have a Physics degree. As soon as I emailed, I was asked for interview on the same day and during my interview I was asked to solve several physics problems which I knew well because they were exactly the tricky AP level Physics problems that I used to teach at Honors review. So I greatly impressed my boss, who offered me to teach 3 different labs from the next day! I could see that God was again clearly leading my life. One of my labs was a physics lab for pharmacy students and that was the year Rebecca Shin became a Pharmacy student. Wow! God really encouraged me to pray for Rebecca, who has been my most faithful Bible student since her high school in Princeton and who faithfully served my children with babysitting and piano teaching.
Teaching physics on campus was very joyful because I could make more friends with students and because I really liked physics. A majority of the students who take physics come from Buddhist, Hinduism or Muslim backgrounds, yet being their TA, God gave me opportunity to share Jesus with them sometimes. God also blessed Rebecca to become a good coworker bringing her friends and serving RURP as president and do well in her tough second year. One pharmacy student in my lab invited herself to my Bible study because of Rebecca’s influence. I am also thankful for the past few years coworking with Sh Jane through fishing on Busch campus and for our friendship and mutual prayer and several visible fruit.
IV. The next step in following Jesus (2015-)
As my life in NJ began to be more manageable with kids growing, my campus teaching job going better, I stopped really caring to how long it would take Sh Jason to complete his PhD. Also since his advisor did not encourage him in Academic job search, I stopped praying for him to be a professor shepherd seriously. I was hoping he would get a high paid IT job in the area. Yet I was greatly surprised that in the midst of preparing his pre-defense, Sh Jason began to apply for several academic jobs. Then he got 3 offers and our prayer topic for professor shepherd was revived. Thank Jesus for his resurrection power working in Sh Jason to make him strong and courageous and to seek to please God with all his life.
I want to thank everyone for your prayer for our family and your serving and sacrifice to bear with our many weaknesses and sins. I especially thank God for M John and Grace Park and their spiritual guiding and sacrificial love for us to make us happy and useful.
For the past month we traveled to Illinois and got chance to attend Worhsip Service on Dupage campus. There is only one missionary family currently serving. They have at least 4 faithful growing shepherds and shepherdess and one Russian family of Andrei and Lyuba and their two young kids who attend worship service. M Mary asked me to teach the Bible to the Lyuba since she had a language barrier, so God already granted me a Bible student!
Humanly I am excited but also a little burdened with a transition to a much smaller ministry. I worry about finding a new babysitter for kids and adjusting to a sh Jason’s full time job. Through attending the Midwest Summer Bible Conference I heard Jesus’ call “Follow me”. Actually wherever I am, whether in Ukraine or in NJ or in Illinois my goal has always been and is to follow Jesus. Following human love, comfortable life and just my own calculation and feelings is disappointing and dangerous. Jesus warns that whoever wants to save his life will lose it. Yet he guarantees that whoever loses his life for him will save it. Jesus is the only way and the truth and the life! He does not sugar coat his call and does not guarantee that following him will be an easy life. He clearly says that to follow him I must deny myself and take up my cross daily and follow him. Yet as I have experienced in the past when I denied my human desires and calculation and chose to follow Jesus, he blessed me to rejoice in him and to experience the kingdom of God in my house church and the community of God’s people and to taste his good will. When I chose to follow Jesus, he led my life to reveal his glory and when I choose to struggle to obey Jesus word, he would always give me strength to persevere and to finish his will.
I want to obey and follow Jesus not because of the sense of guilt or comparison with others, but based on Jesus’ love and mercy. I ask you to pray for me to build up faithful prayer altar, to be a good coworker for Sh Jason, to pray and support our children’s spiritual life; to be a blessing for M Gideon and Mary Bahn’s family and COD ministry and to find God’s way to serve Lewis University students.
O.W. Follow Jesus daily