2008 Pray for our Regular Attenders

Profiles of Regular Attenders 2008

Last Updated 1/20/2009

Kalkaman Bible Church 2008 2007

Photos and Profiles of Regular Attenders 2007 2006

Kooderbye

(Photo left to right: Kooderbye, Arman, Baltabye. Their names mean: "man about town", "dream", and "axe master", i.e. "hero".

I have known Kooderbye since May of 2002. He was the first person in Kalkaman to profess Christ through our ministry. Over the last few years he has become my best friend. He is the kind of church member that every pastor dreams of. The work that God is doing in his life, his companionship, and willingness to trust me and open up to me never fails to lighten my heart. He has been the caretaker of our church here in Kalkaman since 2006. His duties include shoveling snow, keeping the coal boiler running, mopping the floors, general maintenance, mowing the lawn, sweeping, gardening, and helping me with the ice pond in the winter.

Kooderbye's Background:

Kooderbye was born in Uzbekistan like Byeram. His mother died when he was born and his father abandoned the family. Only 2 of 11 children survived. He was raised by his older brother Baltabye who eventually became one of the leading doctors in the large Uzbek city where they lived. Kooderbye ran the home for many years and cooked for he and his brother but he moved out when his brother got married. He became a criminal at a young age and Baltabye used his influence more than once to get him out of prison terms. Baltabye was also able to get Kooderbye a technical degree even though he never attended classes. He spent much of his youth working as a truck driver and driving the roadless desert between Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Russia with contraband in order to avoid the soviet authorities. He also worked as a driver and maintenance worker on the collective farms here in Kazakhstan for 10 years. He was married and divorced. His wife has since died.

He became an alcoholic as a young man. When I met him he was 53 and homeless. Like many alcoholics here he "worked" as a night guard in an unfinished house. He lived for years with no heat, no water, one light bulb, a hot plate, only plastic sheets for windows in one corner of the shell of a house. He had an old Soviet passport and no identity card. That meant that he was subject to shakedowns by the local police and could not receive any medical care. His live in girlfriend was Goolnara (She is profiled in the next section.) After a little over a year of working with him and getting to know him better we decided to sponsor his rehab and put him into an 18month Christian program called teen challenge run by Australian missionaries here. He quit after 1 month the first time and spent the summer struggling with drink. Then in September of 2004 (a few days after we bought the church building) he went into the program again.

This time, Kooderbye stuck it out in the treatment program for the full 18 months. Less than 1 out of 10 people who enter complete the entire 18 months. By God's grace both of the people we sponsored (Kooderbye and Goolnara) completed the entire program. He graduated in April of 2006 and worked another 6 months as an intern at the treatment center with the children of the patients who are in the men's program. Kooderbye's relatives thought he had died when he went into the center. A second aunt and her son did die in a restaurant fire while he was in the program. When he showed up on a pass after 18 months they all nearly fainted. He began to reconcile with his relatives who he had victimized by extorting money from them and beating them for many years. Kooderbye always tells me he was never afraid of any two men on a dark road at night, but if there were three or more he was a little worried. (He says he has only been stabbed 3 times!)

He began working to restore his birth certificate, passport, and other documents that he needed to get a job. This process took a little over 2 years.

At the beginning of the summer of 2007 he began doing gardening work for two American families and several national families in our area. This was the first regular job he has held in many years. In November of 2007 he was hired by the local Missionary Children's school to be the groundskeeper. It was a big event for him to finally get a real job after so long and it meant a lot to his family as well.

Late in 2007 one of our prayers was answered. Kooderbye's nephew (Ailbek) and nephew's wife (Amangool) started coming to church every week. They are profiled in the next section.

2008. God has continued His work in Kooderbye's life. He turned 58 this year. He continues to have an enormous appetite for God's word. He also reads theology and Christian books in Russian from the church library. Although he doesn't want to teach (citing his bad memory as the reason) his prayers during our prayer meeting demonstrate his spiritual maturity and minister greatly to everyone. He continues to evangelize and teach his extended family. He had his hands full this summer when we went home for 3 months. Besides his work as groundskeeper he took care of the church and our house. Since we only have one lawn mower he had to walk it back and forth in a wheelbarrow every week.

In 2008 Kooderbye's older brother Baltabye, Balta Bye's wife, and Baltabye's nephew Arman were able to pass the tests and obtain medical liscenses in Kazakhstan. Baltabye and his wife work at at clinic near their house and Arman worked at the teaching hospital most of the year. He is trying to transfer to the Kalkaman hospital so that he will be closer to home.

Kooderbye's niece bought a corner grocery store in October. This has provided much needed employment and income for her as well as Kooderbye's nephew Adilbek and 3 other relatives.

Adilbek and Amangool

(Photo left to right: Adilbek and Amangool. Their names mean: "king of righteousness" and "healthy flower".

Adilbek is Kooderbye's nephew and the youngest son of Baltabye. He is married to Amangool. Although they have a 3 year old boy he is considered to be Baltabye's son and call's Baltabye his father. This is because of the Kazakh tradition of giving a couples first child to the father's parents to raise. The child is supposed to take care of his grandparents in their old age.

Adilbek and Amangool (like the rest of Kooderbye's family) were born in a part of Uzbekistan called Karakalpakistan. This is where Byerambye's family was born too. Most of the extended family has moved here to Kazakhstan because of the lack of work back there. Adilbek went to mechanics college but he could not find work here other than taxi driving and odd jobs when he came here in 2006 with Baltabye. He started attending our church in late 2007. Kooderbye had been acting like an older brother for over a year, giving him good advice and encouraging him amidst the difficulties of living with at least 3 of his brothers and sisters and their wives and children as well as his father and mother in one house. They have been faithful attenders and show signs of being in Christ although we are not sure as yet.

2008 was a hard year for Adilbek and Amangool. She worked at the one of the family containers in the market and he mostly didn't work until October when his sister bought a small local grocery store. Then he started doing the night shift there 4 days a week. Around the same time, a guard position opened up at the MK school where Kooderbye works. Adilbek has been filling in there for several months and will hopefully be hired permanently soon. Keep praying for this cheerful, polite young couple.

Goolnara

Background: Goolnara was raised in the city where the Soviet atom bomb was tested: Semipalatinsk, 800 miles to the north east of Almaty. She was from a middle class family and married at the age of 20. At the age of 24 her husband was killed in a knife fight. At that time she had a new born boy and a 2 year old girl. With the help of her husbands mother she continued working as an accountant and picked up a second job washing floors. But she began drinking heavily with her coworkers and became an alcoholic. She spent the next 20 years living a wild life. She was involved in the occult an criminal activities. She abandoned her children and they were raised by her husband's mother. She moved to Almaty in 1997. Goolnara was living with Kooderbye in one room of an unfinished house when we met her in 2003. She resisted getting help for a year but finally entered the women's program in September of 2004 at the same time as Kooderbye entered the men's program.

At that time they planned on getting married after completing the 18 month program. They weren't allowed to talk to each other in all of that time. They were also restricted to the grounds of their respective centers for 1 year. During the 2nd year they were given a 24 hour pass one day a week. They attended our church during that time.

Goolnara's family really supported her. Their visits and support were a great encouragement. She has 11 brothers and sisters 8 of whom live in or near Almaty. By the time she had gone into the treatment center they had disowned her. She was homeless. Less than 1 out of 10 people who enter the program complete the entire 18 months. By God's grace both of the people we sponsored (Kooderbye and Goolnara) completed the entire program. Goolnara graduated in April of 2006 and worked another 6 months as an intern in the "detox" area of the rehab center. Goolnara resigned in September of 2006 against our advice. But she was able to visit her newly married daughter in late October of 2006 and begin the process of reconciliation with them. She helped her family with painting, cleaning, babysitting, floor washing, remodeling, and cooking. She also made a second trip to visit her son, daughter (Nazum, which means poem) and new grandson (Monsieur, French for mister or sir.) in eastern Kazakhstan. During that time she was able to get better acquainted with her new grandson. Each time their relationship gets a little better.

2007: She looked for work until January and finally decided that she was going downhill. For various reasons she was not able to find a job that would work for her. She made a good decision to go back to work at the rehab center in February. She works 24 hours a day, 6 days a week. They are locked in with female addicts and alcoholics. For this she earns $60/month. She encourages those women and challenges them with her testimony of God's power to change lives. She is badly needed there because she is the only Kazakh speaking staff person in the women's program.

2008. Goolnara visited her son and daughter and grandson a couple of times this year. Her son entered post-university military service for two years in the fall. One of her cousins was hit by a car and went into a coma. But he came out of it after a bout a week. He is still recovering from multiple broken bones. He is 27, married, and has one small child.

Goolnara teaches twice a week, is in charge of security, and runs the whole woman's alcohol rehab center on the Director’s day off. She also worked at a new center in another city for a month during the summer. She continues to visit us during her 24hour break every week and attend our church as often as they can spare her.

Keep praying for her sisters Gowhar and Djanar. They aren’t interested in returning to church at this time.

Gowhar and Zhanar.

Two of Golnara's sisters professed Christ in the summer of 2006 and attended our church for about 4 months with their two grade-school age girls. Please pray that they would decide to come back.

Left: Gowhar with here daughter Aseeya.

Right: Zhanar and her daughter Asel.

Byerambye and Goolmira

See Photo: tallest to shortest: Byeram, Goolmira, Eyedana, Moldir.

He is one of our most trusted church members. Because I cannot own property in Kazakhstan, We must trust a citizen of Kazakhstan to own all of our property. Byeram is that person. He owns the church building, and the ministry center, and will own our house. That also means that he has to do most of the running from office to office to add and maintain our utility services for those properties (Phone, water, gas, electricity), and obtaining the required legal documents for conducting church activities and renting those properties to me.

Byeram also leads worship and our weekly prayer meeting. He is the gentle and non-combative one in the family, but he keeps his cool no matter what people do to him. He was a brawler and full of anger before he was saved. He was poorly taught at the local seminary and by a good friend of his. He has begun to teach and profess only what the Bible teaches. He has only an eighth grade education but he is working very hard to master basic Bible teachings.

Background on Byerambye and Goolmira: Goolmira (Byeram's Wife) wanted to be a doctor. She had been accepted to medical school and was walking to her first day of class when Byeram abducted her and negotiated with her parents to marry her. (This is still a common practice in some parts of Kazakhstan.) Byeram did not know her at the time and they were both unbelievers. After they were married Byeram did not allow her to attend medical school. 3 years later Byeram was saved and his life and heart dramatically changed. It took another 2 years before Goolmira was saved.

Goolmira shares teaching of the ladies group and helps prepare our weekly Sunday fellowship meal. She is a tough-girl who refuses to back down from God's word no matter how she is pressured. Her family's opposition has made her stronger and more sure of God's word. Although she was not able to continue in school because she married young, she is sharp as a tack and loves to study the Bible. She comes from a family that read books (unlike Byeram's family.) We have loved seeing her progress in knowing what God's word says and being able to quote it whenever she needs to. She helps Byeram when he is preparing to teach. She has also begun to confront false teaching among their friends and acquaintances from the seminary.

Eyedana is thoughtful, athletic, an excellent student, and a faithful witness for Jesus Christ. She plays with Lucy, Amanda, and Noah and loves to mimic their English phrases. Moldir (the youngest) is nicknamed "grandma Moldir" because she maintains a steady chatter and gives her advice every few seconds.

Byeram came to Kazakhstan from Uzbekistan when he was 10. He has two brothers, one sister, and two half brothers and one half sister. His father has mafia ties and lives in Uzbekistan. His mother and all of his full and half brother's and sisters profess Christ, but have poor witnesses.

Goolmira has 1 living brother and 7 living sisters. They all live in the far west part of Kazakhstan near the Caspian sea. When here father died, her brother became the leader of the extended family. 2 of her sisters profess Christ. Byeram's family visits Goolmira's relatives every other year for 6 weeks in the summer.

2006: One of Goolmira's younger sisters (Goolnoor, see below) came back from the bi-yearly Caspian trip to live with the Byeram's indefinitely. At the time we were helping them out by allowing them to live in our ministry center so that they could save money and so that Goolmira would not have to work outside the home. Goolnoor's appearance was a surprise to us and contrary to our advice to them. Goolnoor became their nanny. This enabled Goolmira to increase the numbers of hours she was working outside the home as a cook/housekeeper from 20 hours to 40 hours per week. In the late summer of 2006 while we were in the US the hours went up to 60 per week when Goolmira accepted a different job as a nanny. Byeram also switched jobs leaving his former employer (an American missionary friend of ours) in a difficult situation. This situation negatively impacted Byeram's testimony and contributed along with Byeram's lack of giftedness in teaching to our mutual decision to develop new goals for Byeram that did not include being pastor.

Just before we finalized that decision everything went on hold when Byeram's older (and mentally low-functioning) brother Nurik was murdered on the job in the early morning hours of Sunday Nov 19, 2006. Nurik was killed by a former guard who asked to be let into the locked store in the middle of the night for tea and a place to sleep. The man stole around $400. The murder's brother became suspicious when he noticed that he suddenly had come into some money and persuaded him to confess to the murder. Byeram and I went to the murder scene when the police called just before our Sunday service was about to start. Byeram examined the body and later was required by the police to view all of the crime scene photographs. (They do this because they need a family member to sign off the their investigation was acceptable to the family.)

Our station wagon became the hearse for the funeral. You can read more about that at: Kazakh Funeral

2007: All in all another very hard year for Byeram. Byeram battled with "depression". Preparations for the trial and daily summoning to the police headquarters lasted until the end of May. Besides the stress of the trial, Byeram's extended family began to have even more marital and work problems than usual. Goolnoor returned to the Caspian in April. The Byeram's visited the Goolmira's relatives again in the summer of 2007 and returned with a different younger sister (Gowhar) in August. They told us that she was going to live with them for 5 years while she went to college. We gave them a choice of either sending her back home or moving out of our ministry center apartment and back to their own house. They chose to move. It took until November to register Gowhar for the spring semester and she just sat at home every day until December when she returned to the Caspian for Goolnoor's wedding. After she left Goolnoor's wedding was postponed indefinitely.

2007 was a year of transition for Byeram and his family. After discipling Byeram almost daily for three years, we both came to the conclusion that Byeram does not have the gift of teaching. For this reason Byeram's status as intern changed to church member. In 2007 Byeram transitioned from being a part-time church employee to being a volunteer and valuable church member. This is a good thing because he has learned where his giftedness is: in evangelism and helping people.

2008: We found out in April that Byeram's younger daughter Moldir did not get a full-ride scholarship to attend the international school here in Kalkaman. She enrolled in the Kazakh school instead. Byeram began the year as a driver for teachers at the international school, but with the financial crisis here the teachers decided that having drivers was too expensive and started to car pool. He became unemployed in the spring but the timing was good in a way in that it allowed him to devote April-July to building a new house behind his old one. (See photo at right) The whole family made many memories working long hours until it was "ready" to move into on Aug 1. They rented the old house to raise money to finish the new one. The Aug 1 version had no doors, windows, plumbing, or electricity but as of the end of 2008 it has become fairly livable. Byeram got a new job in September as a driver for a local product distributor. He works long hours but usually has weekends off. Goolmira continued to work 12 hours days 5 days a week as a nanny for the children of one of the teachers at the school. That teacher will be leaving in 2009 so she is not sure what she will do after that.

Please continue to pray for this dear family.

Goolmira's younger sister: Goolnoor.

Background: Goolnoor is Byeram's wife's (Goolmira's) younger sister. Goolmira's family lives a 3 day journey to the west in a village near the Caspian Sea. Goolnoor came to Almaty for treatment of TB in the spring of 2006. When she came, she was not a believer, she professed Christ in the Fall of 2006. Back home, she lives with her older brother who is strongly opposed to Christianity. He told her when she came that she had better not come back a Christian or else. Or else meant he wouldn't support her. Goolnoor returned to her village in April of 2007 after spending 8 months here. She returned to a hostile place for a Christian. We prayed for her to stay strong during persecution, and that her new faith will strengthen. When she arrived all she wanted was a rich husband. Now she has a better understanding of what makes a good husband. She learned to look at the inner quality of people and not at the outside appearance -- another gift from the Lord. She is like Goolmira in many ways. She is tough minded and immovable. She understands quickly and well. She remembers almost everything she hears and reads.

2007: Her brother continued to support her in 2007. Although she did not attend church, she continued to secretly read the small "hideable" Bible that we gave her. In late 2007 we learned that she was to be married to an unbeliever. The wedding was postponed because of a death in the family. As of the end of 2007 a new date has not been set. We do not know her true spiritual state. Please continue to lift her up in your prayers.

2008: We received some encouraging news about Goolnoor. As the wedding approached she began to see some character flaws in the wealthy man she was about to marry. Then her prospective mother in law secretly searched her purse one day and found the tiny scrap of paper in 8point font that I had presented to her when she left. It reads: "The just shall live by faith." Although her prospective mother-in-law didn't know it was from the Bible she was suspicious of the paper and interrogated and berated Goolnoor about it. We are pleased to know that she kept it all this time. We were also pleased to learn that she decided not to marry this unbeliever. Please continue to pray for her.

Goolmira's Younger Sister: Gowhar.

(Front right next to Molly in the photo.)

Gowhar came back with Byeram and Goolmira in August of 2007 to live with them for 5 years while going to college here in Almaty. She is enrolled in an unusual way that is popular here. She only attends classes for 3 weeks every quarter. The rest of the time she is free to work.

Gowhar has not professed Christ but Byeram has required her to come to church every week. Gowhar was much like Goolnoor when she arrived. She didn't talk to any of us for the first couple of months, not even Amanda and Noah. Then she started playing cards with them occasionally and ping-pong. She has become much more talkative. She loves American food but could never tell us face to face. She told her sister after they would leave our house on the way home.

2008. Gowhar has managed to become the housekeeper of choice for the teachers at the Almaty International School. She has 7-10 homes that she cleans every week. She is a sweet girl and provides companionship for Eyedana and Moldir during the day while their parents are at work. Her and Eyedana love American music stars. Keep praying for her salvation.

Keray Ata. Photo: Keray Ata

Background: Keray's grandmother had a Bible and turned it in to the soviet authorities. Since that time he wanted to know more about Jesus Christ. His wife is a devout Muslim. His children are lukewarm on spiritual things. One is the manager of a publishing house. Keray is a faithful attender. He arrives 2 hours before service every week. Because of his cataracts he can only read very large print. I print out special large-print sermon notes for him which he reads before service. He refuses to have surgery despite all our efforts for the last couple of years to convince him to have it done. We believe that he is in Christ. His understanding of spiritual things is not strong but he listens attentively and is growing slowly in his understanding.

He has 3 sons and 2 daughters none of which are saved. He lives with his wife and an unmarried son. The rest of his children are married with children. He loves the lists I have given him out of the world fact book that rank the countries of the world by area, population, oil reserves, etc. He brings them out at family gatherings and goes through them with his relatives.

2007 saw the birth and death of Keray's 15th grandchild. He lived only 2 days. He name was Daniel. We comforted him as best we could and he has weathered this tragedy pretty well.

2008. Another grandchild was born this year and lived! It is Keray's 16th. We understand that the new baby girl's name is Lucya.

One day Keray was suffering from a headache for 4 days. He came to church just miserable, saying that his high blood pressure was bothering him. We gave him some Tylenol. After 20 minutes he was totally pain free, bright eyed and alert and wondering what this wonder drug was? After that we put packets of Tylenol out on the table every Sunday we were surprised at how many of our members took some before the service!

In late March Keray Ata (Photo Right) went into the hospital with a gallbladder attack. They recommended that he have surgery but he refused. He stayed 10 days in the hospital and came home. I went over to visit and find out where he was and met his wife and one of his daughters. Kooderbye also went by to visit. Last week I was surprised to see him waiting on the road by his house with his wife when I came to pick him up for church. His wife is a devout Muslim and always goes to the Mosque service every week. So I was expecting her to be very uncomfortable during service. She was a very sweet lady, listened very attentively and even participated in our praise and prayer time. We presented her with a copy of the New Testament (green book in photo) in Kazakh and were again surprised that she was touched and extremely grateful to get it. She said the Mosque service is in Arabic and so is the Koran so she can't read it. She was teary with anticipation and thankfulness about reading the New Testament and true to her word this week Keray said she had been reading it all week.

Keray's general health has been up and down this year but he is almost always there on the corner when we go to pick him up on Sunday mornings an hour before service. He likes to go in and lie down and drink a cup of tea before everyone gets there. I gave him a translation of Spurgeons "Morning and Evening" last week to read. He said that since the print was small he would have his wife read it to him aloud. Keep praying for her salvation. Pray for salvation for other members of his family as well.

Bakutdjan.

Background: Bakutdjan is a cousin of Byeram. He (like Byeram) was born in Uzbekistan and came here for a better life. He works for an artificial limb manufacturer 9 months a year. He went to school when he arrived in Kazakhstan in 2003 to learn the trade.

Like many 25 year-old single men, he is praying for a wife. He lives with his mother and younger brother. He attends youth group at another church where his mother and younger brother attend. He does not want to join that church because of the inexperience of the leadership and some past problems that the church has had. He has some discernment and not a lot of baggage in his life or in wrong teaching - a rarity in Kazakhstan. We thank God for the opportunity to teach him as long as God permits! He is part of our unofficial youth group (see picture below) that meets before and after service to play table tennis in the church basement. He and Noah are good buds.

2006. He bought a car in 2006 and his travel time to church was cut from 2 hours to 1 hour each way. He began to borrow money from the bank and buy things on credit. He used the money to build a new room onto his mom's house to live in if he finds a wife. His limb company had more down time than usual about 6 months and Bakutdjan worked on a remodeling team off and on to get by.

2007: A year of financial difficulties. He was unable to pay back a loan and nearly lost his mom's house over it. His broken car sat in the church driveway all year waiting to be sold. We attempted to help by offering to send him to school and pave the way for a better job but he didn't take us up on that offer. His friends, though they profess Christ, have even bigger problems. Only God can turn this life around.

2008. A stable year. Debts were paid off and Bakutdjan settled down a little. His job situation hasn't changed so he is still short of cash most of the time. He visited family for 6 weeks out by the Caspian Sea for 6 weeks near the end of the year and into early 2009 during the yearly temporary closure of the shop he works at. Pray for greater desire for God and renewed interest in serving Him this year.

Other Attenders.

There are several other people who attend regularly who prefer to remain anonymous. Please keep these precious people in your prayers as well.

Above: The Heinz Family.

Standing Left to Right: Noah (11th grade), Kevin, Lucy (college junior), Molly, Amanda (college freshman),

Above: Our men. Left to Right: Byeram, Adilbek, Misha, Bakutdjan, Kevin, Keray Ata, Noah, Kooderbye

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