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Jim Ramsay and his family served with The Mission Society in Kazakhstan from 1996-2006. Jim now serves with the organization as the vice president of mission ministries, and his wife, Shawn, works with missionary kids.

On a recent trip to Kazakhstan, Jim experienced a glimpse into the fruit of the ministry his family and other Mission Society missionaries have been a part of.

“Twenty years ago, Mission Society missionaries helped plant a church in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. My family and I moved to the area 18 years ago and worked closely with the church for the decade we lived there.

“I had the opportunity to celebrate this past Easter Sunday with the church. I was able to see some familiar faces and meet many new people who had joined the church.

“I sat in the back, enjoying the Russian praise music, when a young Kazakh woman I did not know sat down by me. She took my hands in hers and introduced herself.

“She told me she is a believer and recently came to faith. She said she wanted to thank me for leaving our home in the US and moving to Kazakhstan so many years ago to share Christ with her people. Even though she doesn’t know me personally, she learned about Jesus through a friend in another village, who herself had learned from one of the Kazakh believers we worked with. This person had worked with our team to plant a church in that village many years ago. So the young woman said to me, “I am her spiritual granddaughter; so perhaps that makes you my ‘pradyedushka’” – great-grandfather!

“She then thanked me for letting God use us to bring people like herself to Him. This young woman now works in student ministry to share Christ’s love with others.

“I share this story just to encourage people who are in ministry everywhere. We may never know how God will use us and the impact we may have had on someone. However, sometimes He allows us a glimpse into what He is doing in the hearts of His children – and a glimpse of our small part in helping them find their way to Him.”