The flight to Almaty was uneventful until we got about 15 minutes outside the city and the pilot came on the speaker and said that the airport had been closed and we were being diverted to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Viviane and I started to talk a bit about the situation and how a delay would effect us. A young man sitting in front of Viviane turned and started to talk to us in English. Turns out that he is a young (25 yrs or so) computer business owner. We spent the hour sitting on the tarmac in Bishkek discussing a bit of politics but then the discussion turned to our mission. He stated that he was atheist but wanted to know about our beliefs of God and what made our church different from others. All of this was out loud so everyone close by could hear and I could see one of the flight attendants trying to listen in. We bore testimony to him of God and Jesus Christ. We talked about 'Man's Search For Happiness" - not the movie but the concept. We described to him the purpose of sacrificing for others and that this is most easily seen within our families. He said "Of Course, when you hear someone being interviewed and asked 'what makes you happy?' they always say their family." We talked about the difference between pleasure and happiness or joy and testified that we get great happiness and joy from doing our humanitarian work with those we don't know and may never see again. When we go outside our comfort zone and reach out to others outside the family then our happiness grows proportionally. He said "well, when I am on the street and see a beggar, I give them money.". We pointed out that this was great and then asked him "what is your most rare possession?". This stumped him a bit and so we pointed out that 'time' was our most rare possession because we cannot buy more, create it, speed it up or slow it down. Whether you are a billionaire or a pauper, you have 24 hours in a day and that real happiness comes from good use of our time. Real sacrifice comes when we give our time to others for their benefit without expecting a benefit for ourselves. By the time we arrived in Almaty we had had a very good discussion and piqued his interest in our view of God. He took our business card and we hope he will call us when he is back is Astana. We feel that the diversion to Bishkek was a blessing so that we could introduce this young man to a clearer view of God and Jesus Christ. We LOVE being put in these situations and are starting to look for the opportunity that God is presenting us when 'our' plans get diverted.
The next afternoon was spent with our new friends at the Deaf Society. The Church donated 30 digital hearing aids to people who would be able to get better education or a better job if they could enter the hearing world. What a wonderful experience this has been for us. Their stories of how these excellent hearing aids have changed their lives are a testimony of how a small thing can make such a large difference for people. One of the funny stories that was actually shared by two different ladies is how they can now hear what their mother-in-law says about them. Many tears were shed as they describe being able to hear their children, hear their professor at school, work without needing an interpreter, ... They feel so liberated and a part of family and society! Here are a few pictures of them ....
The lady in the head wrap is the director of the Deaf Society.
This young gal is from Uzbekistan and is going to school in Almaty.
The two in front are mother and daughter. The daughter is an art major and was so excited to have a good hearing aid that she went home and painted an abstract painting for us. You can see it below ... The two with baseball caps were excited to see our family pictures. When we showed them our grandkids and said that they were adopted, they, somewhat jokingly, asked if Mahana would adopt them too!
Near the end of our time with them, this mother came forward with her son. It was easy to sense that something was wrong. He was very 'closed' to everything around him. She told us that he was born without ears or an ear canal. If he had ears he could wear a hearing aid and feel that life was worth living. She pleaded with us to help him in some way. We, of course, could not make any promises but took all their information and have sent the information to a few folks asking if they know of anyone or any Foundation that would be able to help him get the needed operation(s). If you know of anything that would help, please let us know. It turns out that he has an 18 yr old sister who has only one ear.
Amanbike, the Director, was very proud to present Viviane with a small gift and me with a certificate of appreciation for all the Church has done for these people. Their gratitude was palpable.
Thursday evening we went to dinner with our mission president, his wife, the Senior Missionaries assigned to Almaty (This is their second mission. Their first mission was in Russia.), and our future mission president from the Novosibirsk mission - Kazakhstan will be transferred to that mission on July 1. It was a very nice dinner and great conversation but by the time we got back to the hotel Viviane was sick. She was sick all night with stomach pains. The next day was Zone Conference and then our flight back to Astana. Since she wanted to be well for all of that she decided to have me give her a blessing. She was able to go through he day - although quite tired from not getting any sleep the night before. Zone Conf. was great as usual and our flight home was uneventful. It was nice to be back at 'home'.
This mission has not been easy for us but the experiences and blessing we have derived from this service are of incalculable worth. We are grateful to a loving Savior for having blessed us in this way.
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