School Without Walls
Lidia’s Story: Thankful for ‘miracle’ wheelchair
Lidia, 81, lives just outside of Zaporozhye, Ukraine. She has lived in the same village her entire life. She loves it there, despite the violence that erupted when the ongoing conflict broke out in 2014. She knows nearly everyone in her village and is well-loved by her community. Lidia’s husband passed away 11 years ago. Her daughter Tamara is married and is close to her mother. Tamara shares, “My mother has always been kind to everyone and she gives very generously. She used to stay as busy as possible and even though she couldn’t do as much when she got older, she still picked apricots and other fruit, which she would sell at the market so she could buy tea and cookies to give to the people who visited her. She also used the money to buy things for people in need.” In recent years, Lidia started losing her sight….
Standing Strong in Christ: Amirkhan’s Story
Amirkhan (name changed for safety) grew up in a Christian family and learned about God from a young age, which is rare in Kyrgyzstan, where it’s estimated that only 6.5% of the country professes Christian faith. Amirkhan’s family are ethnic Uzbeks living in southern Kyrgyzstan. “Uzbeks are very passionate when it comes to religious issues,” shares Amirkham, “and my parents were devout Muslims just like their parents, and grandparents, and generations of their families. But in 1993, our lives changed forever when my father was given a Bible by someone from the local Baptist church. He decided to read the Koran first, before reading the Bible. He read the Koran all the way through twice, and could not find answers to his questions in it. Our family was going through some very difficult situations at the time and he was desperate for answers. So he turned to the Bible. There…
Kristina’s Story: From Islam to Christianity
“After many years of happiness, I felt completely empty spiritually, and I was desperate to fill the hole in my heart. To my great regret, I sought satisfaction in worldly pleasures, which led to me getting pregnant. After my daughter was born, I raised her by myself, and after several years of getting sick over and over again, I finally went to the doctor. I was absolutely devastated when my blood work indicated that I had contracted a venereal disease. “After receiving my diagnosis, I had to spend a lot of time in the hospital. My relationships with my family and friends quickly deteriorated, and to my surprise, the only people who wanted anything to do with me were my Muslim neighbors. They prayed for me, talked to me about Allah, and at the end of my treatment, I started attending their mosque. For a year and a half, I…
Andrey’s Story: Freed from Addiction
“I had dedicated myself to Satan and was involved in the practice of the occult from an early age. When I was only 14, I began to use drugs and then graduated to heavier drugs. I soon realized that I couldn’t help myself, even though I knew deep down inside that I should stop. My addiction to drugs was just part of a destructive lifestyle that involved immoral behavior, clubs, parties, women, and everything that the world could offer “I ended up in a lot of rehabilitation centers over the years, and it seemed like there was no hope. But when I entered the Christian rehab center in Haifa, I somehow believed that things would be different. And they were! The Christian rehab center in Haifa actually served as a springboard to a new life that is now full of joy! It was here that God changed me from the…
Abandoned by the World, Adopted by the Church
“I am a Christian because when the rest of the world turned its back on me, the church was there for me,” shares Sanzhar (name changed for safety), one of our current School Without Walls (SWW) students from Kazakhstan. Despite the danger of being an open Christian in Kazakhstan, Sanzhar refuses to stop sharing the Good News because, in his own words, “Now that I am saved, I cannot help but share this Good News with others. I must share God’s love with a dying world.” It was a long and painful journey for Sanzhar to come to know Christ and join SWW. He was born to alcoholic parents, and he and his younger brother suffered a lot growing up. However, even though he had never been taught anything about God as a child, he found himself praying in his darkest and most difficult moments, and that brought him comfort…
Young Christians Sharing Christ in Rural Mongolia
The name of our School Without Walls (SWW) program comes from the flexible, adaptable nature of this strategic leadership training program—our SWW sessions and students are not confined to the traditional walls of a school building, but instead they are encouraged to conduct ministry training on the ground wherever it is needed most. Any place where a group of dedicated young believers is gathered can become the site of a vibrant SWW movement! A recent SWW conference titled “I Am, I Can, I Will” took place in a yurt base in rural Mongolia. The goal of this conference was to encourage nearly 50 young Next Generation Christian leaders from western Mongolia to deepen their own relationship with God and motivate and equip them to share the gospel with their surrounding communities. Many of the young people who attended the conference became involved with SWW through Mission Eurasia’s summer Bible camp…