Report from Central Asia

Greetings from Central Asia!

I am about halfway through a two-week media mission trip with four Olivet Nazarene University media students, on a story-gathering trip in two neighboring countries.

The trip is partially the result of my visit to Olivet last fall, when I was given the opportunity to speak in four different communications classes about how to use journalism, PR and media in missions. Heather Attig McLaughlin, who grew up in the youth group at church with my husband Andrew, is a professor in media there now. She had previously wanted to put together a mission trip to the Eurasia Region, so we talked about that before I visited the school. Missionary Scott Rainey, who leads the CIS Field, of which Central Asia District is a part, asked if we would come to these two countries to gather video and written testimonies, to encourage the believers and also lead a young adult media camp. His idea was that we could teach young adults how to use their smart phones to film and edit short videos that they could use to share their faith with their friends. It was the perfect idea for this small team! Also joining us are Nancy, a leader from Olivet, and Natasha, a Ukrainian who is serving as our tranlastor.

We spent the first four days in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, where we have a church. We filmed two testimonies, and I also interviewed two additional people for written articles. We also have done a lot of videography for our archives for future videos, and photography.

It’s been a great experience so far. The church people were amazing in hosting us. They put us in a very good hostel and two women from the church prepared our meals each day. They were delicious and allowed us to try a very different kind of Russian-influenced cuisine from what we are used to. Nick, a member of the worship team at church, who is also a freelance media professional, hung out with us each day, showed us around the city, took us out for late night shooting, taught us Russian words, and explained the culture and what it is like to be a Christian in Kazakhstan. We have learned a lot!

The students have great attitudes, have been incredibly flexible, and know what they’re doing with videography. I can’t wait to see how these finished videos turn out! They even edited together a one-minute preview of Nick’s story, which we were asked to share in church on Sunday morning. It was fun to see a bit of what the students have learned in their program at Olivet.

We also enjoyed being part of worship with our brothers and sisters on Sunday morning. It was a small but faithful group.

We have learned that in Kazakhstan there have traditionally been three ethnic or “national” groups – Korean ancestry, Russian ancestry and native Kazakhs. In this culture, your ethnicity determines your religion. If you are Korean, you might be Protestant Christian. Russians are Orthodox Christian if they are religious. Kazakhs are nominally Muslim. It is not acceptable to change your religion. It is also illegal to proselytize, particularly if you’re Christian.

Astana is a beautiful, new, clean city with a lot of advanced technology and beautiful, creative architecture. The capital was established just 20 years ago, so all the buildings are brand new, funded by revenue for the sale of oil. It is one of the world’s few planned cities. The population is about 1 million.

Monday, we flew from Astana to another country on the district. We will move around a bit here, traveling to a couple locations to spend time with Nazarene believers and hear their stories. We have gotten to hear a bit from Scott about their backgrounds and how God has worked in their lives. I can’t wait to hear the full stories with all the details! We’ll also worship with them on Sunday, and run the two-day media camp here. The Olivet students have already prepared training materials and a sample video so they can teach them what they have been learning at university, using their smart phones.

I am really grateful for all those who have been praying for us. Several team members have had slight stomach or sinus problems, but overall everyone has been healthy, despite a continuing lack of sleep as we have kept tight schedules with late nights or early mornings. We have had smooth travels and all our equipment has worked flawlessly, and we’ve had good group cohesion and unity with lots of laughter and fun conversation.