Reconnecting

Studying: Isaiah 40-42
Memorizing: Romans 2:1-2
Thoughts: Good

I met Stas six years ago this summer on my first trip to Russia in 2002. Our small group had wound our way around the Sakha Republic to the small remote town of Khandyga. There the local Baptist church was doing a kind of vacation Bible school for some of the kids in the town. Our group helped out during the week. Stas was 10 then and for some reason kind of took to me. I don't really know why exactly, but he just kind of followed me around a lot during that week. When we left Khandyga we exchanged addresses and telephone numbers. I called him once actually, but at that time I could really only say about 2 or 3 sentences in Russian, so it was never more than "Hi, how is your family?" and "How's school."

I returned to Khandyga on another trip out to Siberia in the summer of 2003. Once again I helped with the vacation Bible school, and once again Stas kind of followed me around again. The next time I saw him was when Cristy and I traveled back there again in February of 2005. By that point and time Stas was getting a bit older.

After that trip in the winter of 05 I talked to him later that year briefly on the phone for just a few minutes. Again, my Russian being so limited we never really talked about anything significant. It had always been my hope to get to meet his family and hopefully befriend them also, but that never seemed to work out sadly.

After the fall of 05 many things happened. There was Hurricane Katrina of course, then Isaiah was born and I lost touch with Stas. When we moved to Russia last year I dug up the old number I had and tried calling it a number of times, but it would just ring and ring and ring. I tried a number of other times, but the same thing would happen. So I became content with the fact that I had probably lost contact with him for good. I prayed that somehow perhaps the Lord might open the door again.

So on Monday, in the midst of being sick and sitting around at the house I thought I'd give it one more try. I connected to Skype and entered the number. To my surprise a woman answered the phone. The connection was really bad, but we were able to talk. I asked if Stas still lived there, and she said no. So I asked if he still lived in the city, and she said yes. She then told me to call back the next day and she could give me his number. The next day I called and was not able to get anyone, but on Wednesday she finally answered again and gave me his number.

I called the number and a much deeper voice answered. "Is this Stas?" I asked. "Yes" came the reply. "Do you know who this is?" I asked. The answer was obvious of course. I'm sure the kid doesn't have that many people with American accents calling him that often. We chatted for a moment, probably the most we'd ever been able to talk. He was quite shocked and happy to hear from me again. What's amazing though is, thanks to growing technology even in the remote parts of Siberia, he now has an email address.

We've sent a couple of emails back and forth since yesterday, basically catching up on life. Sadly, he does not go to church, nor does he seem to have any solid interest in spiritual matters. But I pretty much expected this. His parents are not Christians, and while I do not doubt the Lord's power to save a child outside of a Christian home, two weeks of vacation Bible school most likely aren't going to change anyone's life.

But this has been a real encouragement to me. He not only is glad to hear from me, but wants to stay in regular contact now through email. For some reason God has reconnected me with this young man, and it is my hope and prayer that we can begin to build a connection again, even through email and phone calls. I'm finally at a place in my Russian now where we can have meaningful conversations about things. InterAct still continues to work out in that area of Siberia some, and it is my hope that somehow we can see each other again in the near future.

So I ask for your prayers for Stas. Pray that God would save him and that perhaps, by God's grace, I could be used to witness to him. Ever since I first met him 6 years ago I've had a particular burden for him and have prayed for him countless times. Now in the providence of God this relationship has been renewed.