Inside Story ~ Russia

Doctor Demands Abortion

By Andrew McChesney, Adventist Mission

Dina, a 60-year-old grandmother living in the Soviet Union, prayed every morning, “Lord, send me someone who I can tell about You”.

One day after praying, Dina waited at the bus stop in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, capital of the Far East region of Kamchatka. Noticing a pregnant woman, she asked, “Are you expecting?”

Image © Pacific Press

The woman began to weep.

Dina learned that the woman, Lyuda Savostina, was expecting her first son, but the physician had insisted that she have an abortion.

“I already have a little girl, and I have always wanted a boy”, Lyuda said, tears rolling down her cheeks. “But the doctor says that if I try to have this child, he will be stillborn, and I will die”.

Dina comforted the woman and invited her to visit her house church on Sabbath. Lyuda had never attended church and agreed to go.

On Sabbath, Dina and Lyuda joined 12 other church members listening to Pastor Yakov Kulakov preach about God’s faithfulness. Afterward, Lyuda shared her dilemma with the pastor. He encouraged her to trust God, and he prayed for her.

On Monday, Lyuda announced to the doctor that she would keep the baby.

“Have you gone mad?” the doctor said.

When he couldn’t sway Lyuda, he summoned her husband, Vladimir. Later at home, Vladimir scolded Lyuda. “Are you so selfish that you are willing to die and leave your daughter without a mother?” he said.

“I will keep this baby”, Lyuda replied. “I trust in God”.

“Who is this God that you are talking about?” he said. “There is no God!”

The next Sabbath, Lyuda returned to church. And the next Sabbath. Soon she was baptized.

The doctor turned out to be wrong. The baby was born alive, and Lyuda did not die. Little Sergei, however, was sickly and suffered seizures.

One day when Sergei was about a year old, he suffered a severe seizure. His breathing stopped for 10 seconds. Twenty seconds. His lips turned blue.

Lyuda fell onto her knees, crying, “Lord, You gave life to this boy, please don’t take it away!”

Her husband rushed into the room.

“Come here and pray!” Lyuda told him. “We need your faith, too!”

Vladimir sank onto his knees. “Lord, I believe!” he cried.

At that moment, the baby began to breath.

The whole family became Adventist, and the children, now in their 40s, remain faithful church members, said Pastor Kulakov, 66, who retired after 41 years of ministry and lives in Podolsk, south of Moscow.

Why did this family become Adventist? The reason is because an elderly woman prayed every morning, “Lord, send someone who I can lead to You today”, said Pastor Kulakov, pictured left.

“There is power in this prayer”, he said.

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

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Amen!