Praying for 10 Years

By Andrew McChesney

Winston Crawford, a U.S. volunteer teaching English in Moscow, invited one of his Russian students to the Seventh-day Adventist church on Sabbath.

Image © Pacific Press

The student, Sasha, did not seem moved by the worship experience. He had been raised in an atheistic family, and he looked downright bored.

Winston felt sad. “I’m not going to try to invite him back,” he told himself. “I can see clearly that he didn’t enjoy himself.” Instead, he started praying. He prayed that the Lord would touch Sasha’s heart.

As the months rolled by, Winston and Sasha struck up a friendship. During vacation, Sasha invited him to travel to the Karelia region near Finland to meet his parents and younger brother. Winston kept praying.

After completing his year of volunteer service, Winston returned to the United States but remained in contact with Sasha. When Sasha visited the United States after several years, the two spent time together in Chicago.

Winston kept praying. More than 10 years passed.

One day, Sasha sent a message via WhatsApp. “I want to read the Bible,” he wrote. “Could you help me to understand it?” Winston was delighted. “Sure!” he texted back. They agreed to meet once a week.

At their first meeting, Sasha was fascinated as they read Genesis 1. He was particularly impressed that God gave a vegetarian diet in Genesis 1:29, which says, “And God said, ’See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food” (NKJV). Sasha was a vegetarian, and he had thought that following a plant-based diet was simply good practice.

“I had no idea that this is from the Bible!” he said.

At the end of the meeting, he expressed awe. “I have read Pushkin and Dostoevsky, but it seems like something different is happening when I read the Bible,” he said. “It’s like the words are coming up off the page to me.”

Winston was elated. He felt certain that the Holy Spirit was elevating His Word to reach Sasha’s heart. After three weeks of Bible study, Sasha asked whether they could increase their meetings to twice a week. Winston kept praying. “It’s inspiring for me that after more than 10 years he wants to read the Bible — and not only that but I get to study the Bible with him,” Winston said in an interview. “I know this is God. I know it completely is God.”

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

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