Wrestling for Souls
Victor Begas

Theology students at Zaoksky Theological Seminary spend vacations taking part in a number of different evangelistic outreach programs as part of their training. The goal is to give students experience in witnessing and to help them hone their ministry skills. God has used these programs to bless not only the students, but hundreds of people who came to Christ because of them.

During one recent evangelism field school 42 students from Zaoksky held 11 evangelistic series in nine cities and baptized 420 new believers. An additional 250 are preparing for baptism. The students came away with wonderful testimonies to share.

Unwilling AttendeeVictor, one of our theology students, held evangelistic meetings in Arkhangelsk, a city in the far north of Russia. He noticed a teenage girl sitting in the front row, taking careful notes of everything he said. An older woman sat beside the girl and occasionally pulled on her hand and whispered something to her. Victor could tell that the woman was not happy to be there.

After the program the woman approached the speaker and asked, "How long are you going to trouble my daughter and teach her about a God who does not exist? She won't be back if I can help it!" the woman said as she dragged her daughter from the auditorium.

The next two evenings the girl did not attend the meetings, and Victor wondered if the mother had talked her out of returning. He did not know the girl's name or her address; all he could do was pray for her.

Then on the third night the girl and her mother entered the hall together. They were smiling. After the program they approached him, and the woman apologized for her actions. "I offended you, and I was wrong," she told Victor, who stood speechless. Then the woman told him what had happened.

"I did not want my daughter to come to these meetings, so when I went to work at the hospital, I locked her in the apartment and took the keys with me. The next day I went to talk to the Orthodox priest about the situation. I told him that I had heard his warning over the radio about people who come to our city to talk about Christ. He said we should not listen to them. I asked him what to do about my daughter's insistence on attending these meetings.

"The priest told me to sit down; he had something to tell me. 'Dear woman,' he said, 'I want to tell you a story. When I was a child, my father was in the military. During the war our family was sent to Siberia to work at a special factory. When we arrived we had no food or clothes, and we were a large family. Then tragedy struck; our father died, leaving us with no means of support. We had only small rations, and that was not enough to feed all of us. Every night we went to bed hungry.

"'Then one evening a man knocked at our door. He told Mother that he was our neighbor, and he wanted to help us. He could see that we children were barefooted, even in the cold Siberian winter. The man laid a small bundle on the table and left. Later he brought us a bag full of clothes, shoes, socks, and other necessities. For several years this neighbor and his wife gave our family food and clothes to help us survive.

"'When Mother worked at night, the neighbor's wife took us home and put us to bed. She told us stories about God and sang us beautiful songs. Every Saturday friends came over to visit and worship God with them, and we often joined them.

"'I grew up and left home, but later I returned and tried to find this family who had helped us. I wanted to thank them. But I could not find them. I realized that those people were Seventh-day Adventist Christians. I became an Orthodox priest, but I never forgot that wonderful Christian family who helped us so much. Be thankful to God that your daughter wants to become an Adventist. It is good.

"'Yes,' he continued. 'I announced on the radio that people should not go to evangelistic meetings, but when the Adventist evangelists came to town, I attended the first meeting. When I realized that he was a true believer like my childhood neighbor, tears came to my eyes. I wanted to tell everyone that I had been wrong to make such an announcement on the radio. But my position would not allow me to retract my warning. However, when someone comes to me and asks about the Adventists, I tell them to go, for they speak the truth.'"

That woman and her daughter continued to attend the evangelistic meetings and eventually both were baptized, along with more than 200 others.
Family FeudAnother young family had problems because of our programs. The husband wanted to attend the meetings, but his wife did not. Finally she told him, "If you continue going to the meetings, I will leave you." He went to the meeting the next night, but when he returned home, he found the house empty. His wife, his child, and all their personal belongings were gone. He found a note that his wife had left for him on the table.
The next day the unhappy young man asked the pastor what to do. The pastor offered to visit the man's wife, and the man gladly gave him the address.

When the pastor arrived at the home, the woman almost threw him through the door. But the pastor was able to calm her long enough to talk with her for a short time. "God created such a beautiful family," he told her. "But the devil has sown a seed in your midst. He wants to break up this lovely family. What will happen if this little seed grows? You will miss your husband's love; your daughter will miss her father. Your parents will ask what happened, and your neighbors will not stop asking you what has happened. You will wonder how to provide for your little one."
The young wife sat quietly and listened. Then she asked if she could think about what he had said. A few hours later she called the pastor and asked if he could help her return to her husband.

The pastor took the woman home. He wondered what had changed her mind so quickly. When the little family arrived at their apartment, no one answered their knock. They knocked again, and eventually the woman's husband opened the door. They could tell he had been crying. Amid hugs and tears, he told the pastor that after the evening program, which was on the power of prayer, he had prayed for the first time in his life, asking God to heal his family and bring his wife home. Then he added, "Now I know the power of prayer!" Even as he formed his first prayer, his wife was deciding to return to him. The couple were baptized.

Not everything that happens is positive, for the devil works hard to discourage people, but the students are learning that God is more powerful than Satan and can bring good out of even bad situations.

--Victor Begas is vice president of student ministries at Zaoksky Theological Seminary.

This story originally appeared in the adult edition of Mission, 3rd quarter 2001, edited by Charlotte Ishkanian. Used by permission.