Zalina rises each morning excited about what God is doing through her. Although she holds to a strict fitness routine, her days are always a bit different, and they are always busy. 

The needs within her community in Tashkent seem to grow by the day, and she often feels that her efforts to help those with social needs and disabilities are but a drop in the ocean. The government offers minimal help for such people, leaving many dependent upon the kindness of others. The local church offers what it can, but its capacity is limited since many of its members also struggle to make ends meet. 

Zalina’s mother was the instrument used by God to bring her, and her five siblings, to a saving faith in Jesus. For Zalina’s mother, circumstances in the early years of marriage found her searching for forgiveness as she carried a heavy burden of guilt and shame. The nominal Muslim faith to which she and her husband subscribed brought no relief or consolation, but a conversation with a colleague proved to be a turning point.

This colleague introduced her to Jesus, the Son of God who offered forgiveness and relief from the weight of sin. Zalina’s mother has followed Jesus ever since, leading her children to commit themselves to the Saviour who died for them. Zalina’s father was intolerant of the family’s belief in Jesus for almost 15 years, even to the point of abuse. However, God has gradually softened his heart and he now defends his wife and children among the wider family, whose culture and tradition remain bound up in nominal Islam. To date, he has yet to accept Jesus as his Saviour. 

Today, Zalina would visit Anya – a blind lady who inhabits a small apartment in a converted hospital. Zalina enjoys her visits with Anya who, although very poor and unable to leave the confines of her small home, has a lightness of heart and a zeal for life. Zalina often takes along some food, supplementing the supplies Anya purchases with her small government pension. The bags of groceries are always appreciated.

Zalina’s passion is to bring those marginalised through poverty, domestic abuse or severe disability into a place of salvation by the grace of God. Her method of introducing them to Him is to bring enrichment to their lives through the kindness and love of God’s people.

Domestic abuse is commonplace in Central Asia, and is an agonising reality for many of those with whom Zalina and her team of volunteers are involved. Zalina visits single and struggling mothers to offer simple advice on parenting, and brings them all together for a meal several times a year. In the summer holidays, she gathers the children in her home and prepares them for their return to school.

As she walks home from Anya’s apartment following another lively time of conversation and laughter, she dreams of a day when she might do more. She pictures the centre she would like to establish for her social work, and imagines welcoming those struggling mothers and vulnerable children into a place of safety, of hope, and of the love of Christ. But for now, she continues to plan the next catch up, the next meal together, and the next opportunity to speak good news into the lives of these broken families.

 

HOW TO PRAY

· Pray that Zalina would one day be able to be able to register her work legally.

· Pray for more workers to join the team on a voluntary and funded basis, and for provision to make this a reality.

· Pray for the provision of a centre through which Zalina and her team can extend the reach and scope of their ministry.

· Pray for new contacts, for deepening relationships, and for the blessing of seeing new hearts won for the Kingdom.