Elderly couple share God’s hope in retirement home

n Volodya Kara-Mongush cannot understand how people can live without the Bible. Here, he holds an illustrated Bible given to him by the Bible Society

KYZYL, Tuva Republic — Volodya Kara-Mongush, a former Red Army soldier, and his wife, Olga, see the retirement home for invalids where they live as a “mission field” and are committed to telling their elderly neighbours about God.

“Some people seem to live lives without any hope or faith,” says Mr Kara-Mongush, who became a Christian just over a year ago. “They don’t have answers to their questions, and because we are Christians more and more people are coming to us for answers about life.”

Boosted

Recently, their efforts were boosted by an unexpected visit from Alexei Bulatov, Director of the Siberian Branch of the Bible Society in Russia, who talked to the residents of the home about Christianity and gave copies of the Book of Psalms to those who were interested. Mr and Mrs Kara-Mongush were delighted at the visit and at the reactions of some of their neighbours to the Scriptures.

“After receiving the Psalms, the people who lived here discussed them,” said Mr Kara-Mongush. “Some did not understand them but they began to meditate on what they were reading.”

The couple have become firm allies of the Bible Society and use the Scriptures to encourage their neighbours. Mr Kara-Mongush cannot understand how people can live without the Bible.

“I have seen a lot of bad things happen to families during my life – killing and stealing – so I do not see how people can live without faith in God,” he says. “When you trust in God, you would never do those kinds of things. Just as we need physical food, we need spiritual food too, and the Bible gives that to us.”

Startling

n Although Olga Kara-Mongush is confined to a wheel-chair, she actively shares God’s Word with her neighbours in the retirement home

In the light of his background, Mr Kara-Mongush’s declarations are startling. Not only was he brought up during the communist era, when, as he puts it, “we were not allowed to think about religion,” but he was also an active member of the Communist Party and served in the Red Army.

“As I was a party member it was prohibited for me to have any kind of religion,” he says. “All my life I had been told that there was no God so I did not have to be afraid of anything.”

As he grew older, however, he started to wonder about this and began reading Christian books.

“I did not change my mind immediately – it was a step-by-step process of change,” he explains. “Finally, I realised where evil came from and where good came from. In the end I humbled myself and started to believe.

“You feel more freedom when you read the Bible. [My wife and I] read the Bible together in the morning and evening and we pray. We sleep well, and it helps us deal with other people.”

Mrs Kara-Mongush has been a believer for longer than her husband, having received a Bible at a Christian rally in 1987.

“When I first started reading it my troubles seemed to pass away,” she says. “That was the moment when I started trying to live a Christian life.”

Today, although confined to a wheelchair, she is very active in the home, making clothes for the residents, and her husband works in the garden, growing tomatoes, potatoes, and other vegetables to provide them with food. He also helps keep pigs for the retirement community.

As well as their relationship with God, they also highly value the friendship of believers, both in Tuva and around the world.