“From
the Tropics to the Tundra”
An
Update from the Blair family in Kazakhstan, Central Asia
April
2000
E-mail: blairstan@hotmail.com
Mailing
address: Send support money to:
Blair’s Pioneers
c/o
KECS 12343 Narcoossee
Road
P.O.
Box 244 Orlando, Florida
32827
Almaty
480000 [checks are to be made
out to “Pioneers”
Kazakhstan - noted for Blair’s on a
separate paper]
Phone
(from USA) - 011-732-72-636790 [we’re 14 hrs ahead of Pacific Standard Time)
Easter
Greetings from Almaty!
Love and blessings from Him who died and rose again
on our behalf. Here we celebrate Easter twice, once according to the calendar
of Western Christendom, and a week later
according the calendar of the Eastern Orthodox churches (the same is true at
Christmas). So we are DOUBLY SURE that JESUS IS ALIVE!! We are trusting the
Risen Lord Jesus through some challenges only a God who could raise the dead
could overcome.
Our
Boys Need Teachers!
Our boys - and over one hundred
other Missionary kids - need teachers for next year. At this point there is
only one teacher for the entire 00/01 school year! Please pray with us about
the following specific faculty needs for the Tien Shan Educational Center.
Elementary
Teachers (K-6) - 3 teachers
Junior
High - (7&8) - 2 teachers
English
as a Second Language - 2 teachers
High
School teachers - Language Arts, History, Economics, Math, & Science
Other
- Physical Education, Music, Art, German language,
Teacher/Librarian
& Korean language
As you can see, there is an
urgent need for this Fall. We are so thankful for this wonderful school, our
boys are thriving. Please share this need with any Christian teachers who may
be open to this missionary opportunity. Families in this school are on the
“cutting edge” of reaching people who have had no opportunity to hear of God’s
love in Jesus. For further teacher recruitment information, contact:
TienShan@pactec.org
Buildings,
Bombs, and Blessings
In January government officials visited our Kazakh
campus building. They found several violations. Our national leader’s comment
after their intense questioning was, “We were bombed!” This was not surprising for three
reasons. First, we had rushed to begin
our teaching ministry in the newly obtained building without being as careful
as we should. Second, the building is over thirty years old. And third, there
is an intense concern on the part of the government about the growth of the
Kazakh church. In this nation the general opinion is that Russians are
Christians and Kazakhs are Muslims; and many would like to keep it that
way.
We had to make a quick decision. Courses were due to
begin in one week, visiting professors from all parts of the world were coming,
and students were returning from
month-long evangelism trips across Central Asia. We followed the humble course of apologizing
to the government and promising we would right all that is wrong with the
building before we continue our ministry there. So in less than one week we
needed to move everything out; and find housing for thirty students, and their
twenty-five children. We managed to rent places for them all at a cost of less
than $800 a month. By the next Monday, the Kazakh students were in one
class-room of our smaller building in
the city; with Russian language students in the other. One other large room
serves as a worship center and dining hall. Students of both language groups
worship together in daily chapel, eat together, and work on teams to prepare
food and tidy the facility.
God truly brings great blessing out of difficulties.
One of the greatest has been the wonderful unity and ministry partnerships
forged between students of different ethnic groups and denominations. An
example of this is the impact our seminary has had on the believers in a
village over one thousand kilometers away. It happens that two students have
come from that village to study in the seminary. One is from a Baptist church,
the other a Pentecostal. During this year these men have formed a team ministry
and are leading a church together here. Back in their village the Baptists are
registered with the government, but have no building; the Pentecostals have a
building but no registration. So last week these two men went to their village
and convinced the elders of both churches to merge!
Also, it has been much easier and cheaper to operate
our seminary ministry in one location. The result is that we are now committed
to training in one multi-ethnic setting on a permanent basis. We have decided
that the larger building will become our one campus. We are in the second month
of a complete renovation of the
building; including:
·
reinforcement of all main walls to meet the new earthquake safety
standards
·
replacement of all electrical wiring and plumbing
·
installation of new windows which will save much energy during our very
cold winters
·
complete new kitchen area which will meet government hygiene standards
·
a new diesel fuel heating system, including pipes and registers
·
addition of a third floor which will house at least forty more
students, including the necessary showers and toilets
·
a new roof
We calculate this project will take at least
$300,000 to complete. At this point we have $95,000. We are thankful for,
Sergei, an excellent Christian contractor and his team. Every Saturday about
twenty seminary students work hard in various tasks. Our goal is that by the end of this year we
can all be together in this building. We are doing our best to make it
“completely legal,” to receive the approval of the government. We think this
gift to the Church in Central Asia - a safe and functional seminary building -
will go a long way to advance the Kingdom of God in this part of the world.
If you are interested, financial support for this
project may be sent to the seminary’s parent organization:
In
Christ International
2350
W. 5th Street # C
Santa
Ana, CA 92703
ICI
will issue tax-deductible receipts for your gifts.
Thank
you for helping us train national believers to reach their people for Jesus
throughout Central Asia. Please share this need with others as God may lead
you.
Lost
Professors!
This term we have lost two
professors as they came into the airport!
After the long flight here, often through the night, nobody is at their
best when they arrive. So both men were not ready for the scam of clever taxi drivers.
Before the first incoming professor saw our driver holding a sign with his name
on it, another man approached him. The professor asked him, “Did Pastor Kong
(our Seminary President) send you?” And the clever guy quickly responded, “Yes,
Pastor Kong is waiting for me to take you to him.” Instead the professor was
charged an exorbitant amount for the taxi and led to rent a hotel room he did
not need! The next morning, after we
spent most of the night worrying about where our professor was, he called us
and we got him back! Two weeks later a man came whom I knew, so I went to the
airport to meet him. But someone ushered him out a side door, and we never saw
one another. When one “helpful” driver met him he said, “No, I do not need a
ride, Mark Blair is coming from the Seminary.” “Oh no,” said the scammer, “Mark
Blair sent me because he has too much work at the Seminary!” Then we had
another sleepless night trying to find our incoming professor. It was a big
relief to see him at our door the first thing on April Fool’s Day morning!
Sometimes
it Seems You Really Cannot Get there From Here
One missionary who lives in another
part of the country came here to teach in the Seminary for two weeks. During
the week-end between teaching, he took a
bus home to see his family. At a police road block he was asked by an officer
to see his passport. The policeman especially wanted to see the stamp in his
passport saying that he had been staying in Almaty, our city. “But,” our
visiting teacher explained, “I live in another city, so the stamp in my
passport says that I live there.” “How could that be!,” questioned the
policeman; “You are coming out of
Almaty, you need a stamp saying you were in Almaty.” “But, I was only there for
a week,” he reasoned. Fortunately our professor, and the whole bus which waited
for him, were allowed to proceed, after
much discussion.
Monday morning of his second
teaching week we decided we better find out what the law really requires. Our
lawyer went to the government office to find that the policeman was right, sort
of. If you are in Almaty for even one day, so they said, you must have a stamp
in your passport that you were here. The only problem is that it can take two
to three days to get the stamp in your passport. Bottom line - There is no one
day trip to Almaty!! The next day our lawyer wanted to go and get another
confirmation from a higher official. “Oh, no! If you have a stamp from another
city in Kazakhstan in your passport, then you are welcome to visit Almaty
without getting a new stamp!” This does not make a person want to do much cross
county travel. This legal ambiguity is one of the reasons Kazakhstan was
recently named one of the twenty most corrupt nations in the world! The law is
most often on the side of the highest bidder.
Redeemed
Cheaters
It was strange to learn that four identical essays
were submitted by four different Seminary students. Curiosity was soon replaced
by anger. I was ready to vent the full wrath of my position and send them
packing. I am glad our Academic Dean, Konstantin Volkov, showed the more
excellent way. It was his course on the “Old Testament Interpretation” which
required these essays. He shared with me that cheating was as basic to the
Soviet classroom as tables and chairs. And that even though these students may
be new creatures in Christ, their old nature was passing away at varying
speeds. He enthusiastically said, “We must teach them how to learn honestly!”
Konstantin said that each of the four students
should receive 10 points out of the possible 30 for their essays. I countered that this meant four people were
getting away with cheating. He responded, “No, it means that 3 were cheating
and one was foolish enough to allow them! The one who had the good paper now
gets a failing mark too.” Thus, he reasoned, the bright author will make sure
it never happens again.
His next class session was devoted to instructing
them all how to write an essay. Each student was given a blank sheet of paper
and together they discussed various themes and approaches. The struggle faced
by one writer to get their thoughts moving was overcome through this group
exercise. During the two and a half hour
class time they developed their ideas, discussed, refined, and critiqued one
another. Following this session I saw a new excitement in the students and
their teacher, as if a great mountain had been scaled - together.
The longer we stay here the more I realize I do not
know. Many of my most basic assumptions about how things operate here were
wrong. Just because we have a classroom full of reasonably intelligent
Christian adults, I cannot assume that they know how to do their studies
properly. Vestiges of a system which really expected cheating die hard. (Not to
say that students in my home country are that much better.) The Lord has given
us a group of students who are willing to learn, even how to change long
established habits, thank God for their openness. Thank God for Konstantin and
his more than thirty years of experience as an educator, the last seven as a
believer in Christ. Pray with us as we have the enormous challenge of trying to
establishing foundations here - of new
lives in Christ, of the Christian church in this country, and even academic
integrity to the glory of God.
A
Day of Salvation
Every so often the Lord blesses us
with days which remind us why we live
half the world away from our homeland. One such day began talking with
Jhenya, a twenty year old university
student whom the Seminary recently hired as a part time translator. We have
know him for about one year, and admired his work ethic and translation skills.
Yet, I was concerned that he had not yet made a commitment to follow Christ.
But we knew the seminary environment would do much to point him in that
direction. One morning he said he needed to talk to me. And to make a long
conversation short, he has now begun to follow Christ! Indeed, he now attends
meetings at his new church three times a week. Pray for Jhenya to grow as a man
of God.
Late that afternoon, Dayna came home
with more good news. Their school has a
Russian man, Valeri, serving as a
driver. He is a talented scientist, forced into unemployment by the collapsed
economy. He was not a believer, but honest and a good driver. Recently his
teenage daughter failed her entrance exams into University and attempted to
commit suicide. Thank God she recovered, and best of all she received the Lord
as her Savior through someone’s concerned witness. Dayna came home and shared
the wonderful news that Valeri too had made the decision to follow Jesus.
That night we were invited to the
seminary Women Student’s Apartment. There seven young women who had never met
before, live in God’s peace. After a nice meal, we asked them to tell how they
came to know Jesus. I wish you could have heard their wonderful stories.
Marina first heard about Jesus from
her grandmother when she was just five years old. She thinks her faith journey
began. Yet there were no churches in her village, and no Bible available for
her to read. It was 15 years later that a church opened in her village. Marina
attended the first service and responded to the call to receive Jesus. Her
alcoholic father was not very happy at first, but now the entire family have
become believers.
Nasiba was one of 12 children of a
Muslim Mullah (priest). She received Jesus through the witness of some friends
in her village in Uzbekistan. Because of this decision, Nasiba was disowned by
her family. She told us with tears that it has been two years since her father
drove her out of the house.
Gulzhan is also from a Muslim family in Uzbekistan.
For six years before she came to Jesus she was an active “Shaman,” an Islamic
healer. It was hard to imagine that this very peaceful and attractive young
lady was once so tormented by spirits and voices. Yet, people flocked to her
home daily for her prayers and rituals - and many were healed. (Quite a
challenge to our Western scientific world-view isn’t it!) Thank God for the
witness of her older sister who told her about the true Spirit of God and His
salvation. All seven of these sisters had great words of God’s saving mercy in
their lives.
We ended this day with a prayer of
great thanks for His wonderful salvation. And for the privilege we have to
teach Holy Scripture to these growing new believers. Thanks to your generous support and faithful
prayers we are able to serve here on your behalf. May you too know the joy of
salvation through our Risen Lord and Savior.
This poem by our son, Nathan,
captures this joy:
The Prodigal
A
quaint family of four,
Lived
peacefully on a farm.
Until
one day this serenity,
Divided,
when one,
Demanded
his legacy.
The
father bequeathed,
The
son was gone to the city.
City
life he enjoyed,
For
he was free to fill his hunger.
Wallet
full, parties and friends carried on.
Empty
wallet, friends and parties were gone.
Days
were spent in search,
For
food and friendships.
All
he found were half-eaten items
And
fugitives like himself
All
because the Rich boy squandered,
A
beggar now, he pondered
“Life
was never hard,
Food
was never refuse and lard,
Friends
were a plenty,
My
heart was never empty,
I
am such a fool, !!
I
thought it was so cool,
To
leave my friends and family,
God
please forgive Me!!”
So
the homeless one,
Went
home.
Hoping
for forgiveness, Weeping in shame.
The
father recognized his son,
Amidst
the filth and foul air surrounding him,
Forgiving
it all, he laid his coat and ring on the boy,
Finishing
it off with a big warm hug.
A
party was prepared,
And
the empty seat was replaced,
By
the Prodigal,
Making
the family four again.
-- Nathan Blair
In
His love,
Mark,
Dayna, Nathan, Josiah, and Aaron Blair
