Martha: The Nose of a Bloodhound

A congregation in Portland, Tennessee sent a newspaper ad for World Bible School correspondence courses in English to their contact in far East Russia. Somehow that ad went all over the Soviet Union and had more responses than they could handle. Although I already had many Bible students in Russia, I accepted the letters and made address labels in Cyrillic and sent them to fellow workers going into Russia.

During this process, my attention was caught by the letter from Viktor Medvedev who lived over the Ural Mountains in Siberia, at Ekaterinburg where the last Tsar was murdered. Viktor was 44 and suffering from multiple sclerosis. His mother had cared for him, but she had died, and his brother committed suicide. Viktor was “alone in a dark, cold world” and thought he should take his own life also, as he felt useless and should not burden anyone. In his letter, he “thought the Bible could give me the forces to live on.” I wrote him and sent booklets on grief and Christianity. He eventually replied, apologizing for his prolonged silence. Then, in a beautifully written four-page letter, he wrote, I wrote you several letters. But I sent you none of them because all of them weren’t the thing I wanted: one was too gloomy, the other one was dry, the other one was long and too detailed. I am not sure that I managed to avoid the mentioned drawbacks in this letter, but nevertheless I’m sending it to you. I got the Bible and the study course rather long ago. I began to read and to study them at once. However, I decided not to send my worksheets for grading immediately because I wanted to realize properly all the ideas (many of which are quite new for me) but not to give superficial answers. But later I sank into the deepest depression and gave up everything. I will send my worksheets when I am ready to do this …

When I read your letters for the first time, I sobbed bitterly over the words of your sympathy with me in my grief. You were quite right: this world is filled with much grief. I had almost given up in despair. I wanted nothing in this life but one—to die as well. Thank you immensely for your letters, for your compassion and help to me. The world seemed dark and gloomy to me. I was moody. Then I found your booklet The Walk Through Grief. I read it with tears. Those quiet, warm tears began to melt the ice that had frozen my soul. Then I read your letters again. I reread those places in the Gospel that you advised. I began to listen to the Christian radio transmissions…. Gradually I began to see the sun in the sky and colors of life.

I wrote Viktor often, sending letters and booklets with workers—including Steve and Twila Stitt and Stephen and Chery White—going to Russia to mail them internally. Some managed to visit Viktor. The local preacher, Sergey and his wife, Oksana, presented Viktor the Bible in modern Russian, a parallel New Testament, and other literature. Viktor wrote, “I have too many questions and doubts. I must read and think, think and read.”

When Joel Petty visited Ekaterinburg, I asked him to visit Viktor. Viktor was baptized April 23, 1995. Joel wrote back that Viktor was “a spiritual giant.” When Clifford Yeldell visited Viktor, he reported to me, “Viktor’s thirst for spiritual things is great and he is growing quickly as a Christian. You have the ‘nose of a blood hound’ in finding good soil. Keep up the good intuitive work and prodding others of us to follow up on your groomed people.” He told how Viktor now had a purpose in life and served as a vital link in teaching “because they know of his genuineness.” (Viktor had learned excellent English from listening to B.B.C.). I asked the elders of my congregation in Liberty Hill, Texas, to set aside monthly money for Viktor to buy some nutritious food to supplement his meager diet of rye bread and cabbage soup. Richard and Nora Allen brought him a computer, monitor and printer. With this “miracle” he helped Richard answer Bible correspondence letters. He would translate the WBS courses into Russian, and when the student replied he would translate back into English for Richard to check. Eventually his Bible knowledge had increased so much that he handled a lot by himself.

In 1999 I had to be invited by a registered church in order to obtain the visa as a “religious worker”. The tourist visa would not permit me to teach Bible. Ekaterinburg church of Christ was registered and I could go there to comply with the law. After six years of corresponding, I would get to see Viktor in person! The long-anticipated meeting with Viktor was emotional. Richard went with me the first day to show me the way—45 minutes, partly by foot, then the metro (subway), then more walking, each morning and back home in the evening, for a week. Viktor and I discussed a host of things; he was a deep thinker. We spent a lot of time going over the student responses and questions from the WBS courses, and he wanted my input.

Later, the Allens were replaced by a young couple, Erik and Adrianne Pfaff. They studied Russian diligently and Erik preached in Russian. I was very impressed with them, and they were impressed with Viktor. Unfortunately, Viktor fell and broke his hip. The doctor refused to set his hip, saying “Why waste the time? You are not useful anymore.” The cruelty and heartlessness of that system is beyond belief. When I was last with Viktor in 2007, the broken leg had healed improperly and extended out behind. We talked a lot about Heaven and the new body he would have there. His existence was one of unbearable pain. I continued to write to Viktor—now we both had email—and he would wait eagerly for my letters. Then one day a friend of his emailed me that Viktor had died. I was sad, but happy that his suffering is over and he is headed for that new body for which he longed. Clifford is long gone too, but he paid me the highest compliment in saying I “have the nose of a bloodhound for finding good soil.”