Serving the Lord in Yakutia (Siberia)
A letter from Burnashevs
September-December 2016
*Congratulations with a New Year!
Dear Friends,
Greetings to everyone as we celebrate the birth of
our Savoir and a Happy New Year 2017! Despite
the bustle this holiday season, may your hearts
praise God for his grace and salvation in Christ!
We are continuing to create a Bible study for a more
in-depth study of God and the life of the believers in
the book of Acts and Romans. This process is more
difficult than the first study—from creation to
Christ—which involved more events, while this is
more teaching. It is also hard for Vova to sit for a
long time, or drive long on our bumpy roads as he
has problems with his spine and often has headaches. For the projects, several times a week he
needs to drive to Yakutsk (about 3 hours round
trip).
In October Tanya’s mom came to visit for the first
time. She spent nice time with her the only grandchildren as Tanya is the only child of her and she
got to know the relatives. She really liked it here
with us. Pray for her salvation.
This year, it was “warm” for a longtime, only -30 to
-40⁰ C (-22 to -40⁰ F), and for now only a couple of
days -50⁰ C (-58⁰ F). This is not good for travelling
along the river; the ice is not thick enough and cars
fall under the ice, as Vova saw when he was travelling along the river in another region. The roads are Tanya’s mum—Lyuba
bad which is why car parts often break. Pray for
safe travels.
For this new year, ten thousand calendars with
verses from Psalms were printed; that’s three thousand more than last year and in a bigger format.
We’ve attached a sample of the calendar. Watch for
the person in the boat! That’s Vova’s friend who
was fired from work for his faith − people consider
him crazy. Because of God his life has changed: he
has become very kind, joyful, and tells others
around him the Good News.
Repairing while on the trip
By our estimates, if we give out these ten thousand
calendars, then we can reach 25% of Sakha-speaking
families. Making and distributing these calendars
are very large, difficult and financially expensive
work. This year we decided to make them again
only because throughout the year we received so
much positive feedback, even from nonbelievers.
Some of them now even go to church!
At last a translation of Proverbs by the Institute for
Bible Translation (IBT) has come out in Sakha! Believers have waited a long time for this. So now
there is Genesis, Psalms (+audio), Proverbs, the
New Testament (+audio), a Children’s Bible, a collection of songs, and a Chronological Bible Study
Guide (audio is being processed).
Proverbs in Sakha
Vova continues to take part in translating the book
of Acts into the Dolgan language (a dialect of Yakut). Among other things, he is trying to finish processing the audio book and other media projects, but
has not yet had time.
Not long ago, Vova interpreted at seminars for
church leaders and brothers from English to Sakha.
They have found only two people who can interpret
like that. It was good that the teachers did not often
give ready answers, but invited the brothers themselves to think about and solve practical questions
about life in Christ with respect to the local culture.
Alongside of work, we have a lot of guests and fel- At seminars for church leaders and brothers
lowship, and Vova also goes hunting and fishing
with friends (and fellowship there as well). Not long This is more than just hunting!
ago he started to meet with a young man who longs
for a mentor—he grew up without a father and his
relatives at home often drink and hurt him. Many
people here have big problems because of alcoholism in the family.
We are thankful for your prayers and financial support, which allow our family to dedicate 100% of
our time to serving God! However, the level of support has lowered gradually the past three years, and
now we only have four months of resources left. We
trust that situation to God.
With love,
Vova & Tanya,
Ellei, Sayina
[email protected]
Vova +7 924 363 87 97
[email protected]
Тanya +7 924 363 87 96
Ul. Novaya 17, Namtsy village,
Namsky region, Republic of Sakha
(Yakutia), Russia, 678380
St. Pеtеrsburg's Еduсational Publiс Orgаnization
“WYCLIFFЕ BIBLЕ TRANSLATORS”
tel: +7(812)710-88-33 email: [email protected]
www.wycliffe.ru
My grandma
is the best!