Valentin

During my last trip to Moldova, I had the honor of meeting a 70+ year old man named, Valentin. The circumstances that led to me meeting Valentin is remarkable, but for now, I want to focus on what Valentin shared with me.

I had been listening to Valentin talk for a while while we ate dinner at his son’s home. In the midst of the conversation, I learned that Valentin’s son, Ruslan, was only 3 months older than me, which made me realize that Valentin lived in the Soviet Union as a Christian. So I asked Valentin what it was like for him as a Christian under the Soviet Union.

He said that in their city, there were 450 Christian families, and they only had 1 copy of the Bible. It was illegal for them to have the Bible. They would pass the Bible from family to family each day. They would have less than 1 day a year to read the Bible on their own. They would stay up through the night reading or copying the Bible. As Valentin talked about this time of his life, he was glowing with excitement and satisfaction.

Valentin then shared that in school, they would have to listen to the teachings of communism and that government officials would question them and shame them for believing in God, Jesus, and the Bible. Each member of these 450 families would be questioned, ridiculed, and pressured to deny God, Jesus, and the Bible. With pride, Valintin said that none of the members of the 450 families ever denied their faith.

Many of the leaders were sent off to Siberia. They knew that if they were sent off to Siberia, it was a death sentence, and they would tell their spouse to remarry and move on without them.

It was such an honor to listen to Valentin share. There was clear sorrow and pain, but also a pride and satisfaction.

Valentin looks much younger than he is. He preaches often in his church and helps with the choir. Valentin is part of a people group called Gagous Turks. Gagauz Turks are located in Moldova and Ukraine, and they speak a dialect of Turkish. The history of the Gagauz Turkish people is debated, but one thing that is clear is that there is an appreciation for one another between the Turks from Turkey and the Gagauz Turks in Moldova. That being said, our heart for Turks was a connecting point for Valentin and me.

When Valentin was a young man, Turks from Turkey came to work in his city in Moldova. Valentin would go out of his way to help these Turkish workers. He would show them which restaurants to eat at, show them around town, and help them to not to feel out of place. Valentin kept a log of the names of the Turks he interacted with and prayed for them. He interacted with over 120 Turks during that time.

Last summer, Valentin was part of a Gagous Turk choir that went to the 7 churches of Revelation in Turkey. The choir was able to sing Turkish worship songs in front of the library in ancient Ephesus. The video of their performance is moving. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to sing at any of the other sites because the local authorities wouldn’t allow them to.

As Valentin talked about the trip, he said something that surprised me: he said that the young people in the choir didn’t know about the historical significance of the city of Ephesus or any of the Biblical sites. The young people in the choir who were from churches from multiple cities in the Gagauz Turkish region of Moldova didn’t really know the Bible or even understand the words of the songs they were singing. I was so surprised.

There is such a stark contrast between the ignorance of the choir members and the hunger that the Christians had under Communism to read the Bible. I tried to ask Valentin what fueled the faith of the believers under Communism, but he didn’t really have an answer. Then I asked Valentin what the members of the choir consumed, and he held up his iPhone.

I was so encouraged by the faith of Valentin and his stories about what life was like during the Soviet Union. There was such a hunger for the Bible. The people endured ridicule and shame for the sake of Jesus. And I was reminded of how comfort and ease can numb us to our need of Christ. I’m glad that Valentin and the Gagous Turks can now worship openly and freely, but I pray that they would awaken and have a vibrancy of faith that they once had.

Please pray for the church in Moldova. May God use the believers in Moldova to bless their country and to be a blessing to the world.

Watch me tell this story here.