Global Aid Network Mission Reports

Walking into the room filled with skeletal bunk beds and elderly women was a shock.  Ten women sat quietly on ten green metal bunk beds that were crammed into a small, joyless room.  The beds consisted of pitifully thin mattresses settled upon thin bare metal stretched across the bed frame.  All I could think about was how in the world could these elderly, ailing women climb up to the top bunks to sleep?

Two or three of the women were not elderly.  The youngest was perhaps in her mid forties, and another told me she was fifty-five years old.     The remaining women were beyond retirement age and should have been receiving care in nursing homes.  Unfortunately, as Dennis, our Russian coordinator informed us, you must have special documents to enter a nursing home, and the waiting list is horrendously long.  Without the special documents, you are doomed to fend for yourself.  Most of the women sat on their beds to talk with us, but one was sleeping and two rested quietly on their beds.

We began our time together with some questions to get to know a bit about their lives.  The women were initially reluctant to share; however soon Tanya, a woman of 55 years, began to tell her story.  As a young woman, she had been active in skiing competitively.  She got married after that and had two daughters.  Sometime thereafter, her husband left her and she raised her children on her own.  She told how she had worked extra-long hours to support her children.  Now her children are grown and married.  Both have husbands and comfortable livings.  As the story unfolded, Tanya was clearly disappointed and bitter that both her daughters could help her with her homeless situation, but they chose not to do so.  Now that she is 55 and living in a homeless shelter, she related that her life has no purpose and she is useless.  Another woman, perhaps in her upper sixties, explained that she had once been an engineer, and now she had to live in the homeless shelter.  She did not share what had brought her to the point of homelessness.   As we began to share our pictures of our lives, the women seemed to enjoy hearing about our families.  It prompted more of them to tell us a bit more about their own families – especially their grandchildren.  They were curious about life in America and asked many more questions.

It was my privilege to share with them my testimony about how the Lord poured hope into my hopeless heart and brought restoration to my broken relationships.  Using the gospel bead bracelet as a tool, I explained the gospel message to them.  As I talked, several women asked thoughtful questions about God, the Holy Spirit, prayer, and heaven.  When I told them what the Bible says about the beauty and wonder of heaven – no pain, no tears, no good-byes, and perfect fellowship with other believers — they were surprised; when I shared that we would be in the face-to-face presence of Jesus Christ, they were dumbfounded!  One woman exclaimed, “That is impossible!”  I assured her that it was absolutely true and she looked so pleased.  Another asked about prayer.  She wanted to know if I knew any special prayers.  (In the Russian Orthodox Church, there are special prayers and special places to pray.)  I shared that the Bible tells us that prayer is simply a conversation with God, and that He is always available to talk.  They were again astonished to learn that they could pray anywhere, even in their own beds. 

In telling them about Jesus, I did my best to communicate in word and deed that each woman was beautiful and special to God and to me.  I told them that for as long as they were living that God wanted to give their lives purpose and meaning.   Then I prayed with them.  After we prayed, I told them that if they had decided today to trust Jesus with the rest of their lives, then we were now sisters in Christ and that it would be my joy to meet them again one day in heaven.  Then I hugged each woman.

I don’t know for sure which of those dear women made a decision to trust Christ that day, but I know that they have much to ponder.  I will continue to pray for them and ask you to pray also.