Uzbekistan: Standing Firm in a Muslim Land Print E-mail

Ruth, a 10-year-old Christian, lives in a country in Central Asia. She is shown in the photo with a worker from The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM). The worker is sharing notes with Ruth from Christians who are praying for her.Ruth speaks Russian and a little bit of three other languages. Her favorite game is hopscotch, and she loves to sing and read.

Ruth’s father is the pastor of a church that meets in Ruth’s house. Most of the people in Ruth’s town are Muslims. Some of them learned the truth about Jesus from Ruth’s family. But other Muslims were angry when the church began to grow.

Very late one night, someone started a fire in Ruth’s backyard. They set the fire on purpose. Whoever started it was probably trying to stop Ruth’s father from preaching the truth.

The fire spread to the house church, and then it was put out. In the morning, church members began to rebuild the church and repair the damage.

Standing Firm for Christ at School
The house church wasn’t the only place where Ruth’s family was persecuted for their faith. Ruth’s schoolteacher hit her just because she is a Christian. For the same reason, Ruth’s brother and sister get poor grades, even when they do good work. When Ruth told friends at school about Jesus, they cursed at her.

Workers from VOM asked Ruth what her favorite Bible story is. Ruth answered, “The story of Noah.” When a worker asked her why, here is what she said: “Noah was alone when he trusted in God. It took him a long time to build his boat. People told him he was crazy and had a broken mind. He continued to tell the truth and to tell them to believe in God. He was alone, but he was victorious. He was saved.”

Why do you suppose Ruth likes the story of Noah?
As Ruth follows Christ at school, she may sometimes feel alone like Noah. But she is not alone. Many Christians in Central Asia are also persecuted for their faith.

Will you pray for Ruth and other Central Asian Christians? When VOM workers asked Ruth her prayer requests, she answered, “Pray that everything will be good for our church, our pastors, and our prayer meetings.”

Listen to Ruth sing a song in her language.

Here is what the words to Ruth’s song mean in English:

You don’t need to look for a friend.
You don’t have to choose a friend.
A friend came to me.
This is a real friend.
A friend who is different from anybody else.

Who do you think Ruth’s friend might be?
In John 15:14,15, Jesus said: “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” Jesus is a friend to His followers, and He loves to communicate with us as a friend.

 

 
 

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