Please note, this was transcribed from an audio recording as Anna* shared in a church service in front of the missionaries that reached out to her.

Hello. My name is Anna*, and I was asked to tell my story as somebody who was on the other side of missions. We talk about sending missionaries and we kind of know what they do, but a lot of times we don’t really know what’s happening on the ground. And so this is my story. I’ll try to tell it without tears because really, it’s not every day you tell a story in front of people that you owe your life to.

My Early Years

I grew up in the Soviet Union in the ’70s. It was still very communist and there was no way to know anything about Jesus or God or anything like that because communists only believed in the god of human effort. I had many questions growing up. I don’t know how, but I had it in my head that there was a reality besides me and outside of me, so there must be some kind of absolute truth that does not depend on me.

One day I went to my Dad and asked him if he knew anything about God.

And he said, “Yeah. His name is, you know, the Russian God, Jesus. He was a drunkard and he married a prostitute.” So that’s what I believed. When my Dad was young, as it turned out, he also had questions about God. So he went to a library and was given a little “bible” that was written by atheists and that’s what it had to say about Jesus. My Dad had questions and that was the answer he got and that’s the answer he gave me.

As a young adult, I had still lots of questions. The Soviet Union fell apart and so a whole nation that had put its trust in the government lost its way. Since the government fell apart there were no longer satisfying man-centered answers. People began to wonder if maybe there’s something else out there. There were new opportunities in those days to find out about different religions. Missionaries started to show up in our country. And we even saw The Jesus Film broadcast on national TV.

Many people told me that since I was a (people group name), I had to be a Buddhist. So I read books on Buddhism and grew interested. Buddhism is a fascinating religion and so I sort of went with that for a season. I enrolled in university and majored in teaching English as a second language. So I began to learn English, which I also found interesting.

But I had still many unanswered questions. Is there a God? Is there truth? I heard all sorts conflicting answers and I didn’t know what was right.

I also had a growing awareness of my sinfulness and I did not know what to do with that. I knew I was greedy. I knew I was hateful. I knew I was lustful. On the outside, I was a pretty good person and I was a very good student. But I had a growing sense in my heart of a heavy burden of sin that I could not get free of.

Meeting Missionaries

As a second-year student, someone approached me and told me about an American professor that taught chemistry at the university. He told me that he was planning a summer camp to teach children, and that American students would come to help. They invited me to translate for the Americans and I agreed. That’s how I met Matt & Jackie*. They knew I was not a Christian but they still invited me to a Christian camp to work with children from the city and also with deaf children.

Of course, I made sure to pack my little Buddhist books!

But then I started translating for the Americans. I was translating their sermons and testimonies and Bible lessons for the children. All of that was going through my head and my heart as I translated and raised many more questions. I found myself wrestling hard with all those new questions. One day one of the missionaries asked if I had any questions. Why, yes I do!

One of my questions was how it was possible that so many people, from so many countries (Switzerland, Russia, Germany), along with deaf people are all in one place and so clearly loved each other. I could just see that there was a tangible, affectionate love between these people that didn’t know each other very well and had little in common. Yet they loved each other! This was something very strange to me, and yet very real. They also seemed to love the children and students that came on to the camp.

He explained to me that this was Christ’s love. It’s because they’re Christians. That’s why they love. I then asked him about a Bible story that was stuck in my head and that I didn’t understand. Peter denied Christ so how was it that Jesus, after rising from the dead, forgave him? What in the world?!? How could Jesus forgive Peter? Peter was a close friend of Jesus and he then betrayed Jesus. It made no sense to me. How could Jesus forgive him?

It wasn’t long after that conversation that things began to make sense. I remember thinking one day, “Hang on. I am not better than Peter!” In fact, it was my sin – my greed and my hatred – that nailed Jesus to the cross. I was the one who spat on him and hit his head. I’m the one who rejected him in my unbelief and ignorance.

It Didn’t End There

The story did not end there! It became clear that Jesus rose again, and now as the Savior, he was waiting for me. That was a big moment for me. I trusted him as my Savior and now I know that I have eternal life and hope.

One day a missionary asked me if I noticed all the missionaries in the city that that seemed to come out of nowhere. They were converging on this little dot in the middle of Siberia, and they came here because God created the (people group name) people and even though the (people group name) people say you are supposed to be a Buddhist, God created them. There are supposed to be his!

That is why the missionaries were coming. God showed his love by sending his Son in flesh and blood. And so now missionaries go out to other places in order to show God’s love and to tell people about the Way and the Truth and the Life. The missionary asked me, “What are you going to do about that?” I didn’t understand what it all meant for me, but I did understand that I wanted the rest of my people to know about Jesus.

It was wonderful to become a Christian. But the missionaries did not stop there. They didn’t say, “Okay, now you are a believer. You prayed the prayer. Check that off the list! Here’s your spot on the pew.” No, they didn’t do that. They took me in and made me like their daughter. I ate their food. I took away their time from their children.

They also did a few crazy things. One of my friends became sick with tuberculosis, and Matt said, “Well, let’s go do a Bible study at the TB hospital so that my friend can also learn about Jesus.” So we did it!

They took me in. They taught me how to study the Bible. They taught me how to follow Jesus. They taught me how to reach out to others and how to share and teach about eternal hope. They taught me how to be a disciple. I think that was the greatest gift they could have given me.

This is my story.