When she was just 12 years old, Faina lost one brother to suicide and her other brother to a prison sentence. She herself committed a crime as a 15-year-old and was put in prison. But praise God for missionaries who believed God’s Word is alive and active.
Ruslan says, they did an interesting thing: they gave short verses to the female prisoners to memorize. If memorized, they would earn soap or toothpaste or other treasured things in prison. Faina didn’t understand what she was memorizing, but she was enjoying the soap and toothpaste.
Then the missionaries told Faina they would give her more if she could explain what she was memorizing. So, she quickly became motivated to understand and explain the Bible verses she had been memorizing. As she sought to understand these Scriptures, it was John 3:16 that brought her to tears. The next time the missionaries came to the prison, she told them with joy, “Jesus died for me!”
Without any missionary or preacher actually teaching Faina anything, the Holy Spirit opened her eyes to the life-changing love of Jesus Christ. Ruslan says, she got lots of soap!
Now, these same missionaries would pay huge sums of money to buy women out of prison. They paid for Faina to be bought out. They cared for her with food, clothing, and housing. Ruslan met Faina when she was 17. They married when she was 19. They had a vision for ministering to children in their city of Almaty, Kazakhstan. Now they are carrying out that vision together, distributing Bibles. They have four children and a thriving ministry. Ruslan said, we need more youth Bibles.