{"id":5542,"date":"2018-02-08T00:21:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-08T00:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/clone\/2018\/02\/08\/europe-eurasia-eurasia-item-8934-gone-too-soon-young-christian-dad-will-never-meet-his-third-daughter\/"},"modified":"2023-09-08T14:34:33","modified_gmt":"2023-09-08T12:34:33","slug":"europe-eurasia-eurasia-item-8934-gone-too-soon-young-christian-dad-will-never-meet-his-third-daughter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/europe-eurasia-eurasia-item-8934-gone-too-soon-young-christian-dad-will-never-meet-his-third-daughter\/","title":{"rendered":"Gone Too Soon: Young Christian Dad Will Never Meet His Third Daughter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>\n  <span style=\"margin: 0px;padding: 0px;border: 0px;vertical-align: baseline;background: transparent;font-style: italic\"> The small church of 18 members in Volgograd has had to say farewell to a young father, baptized just two years ago, who passed away suddenly just before Christmas, of apparent heart failure. Here is his story, told by a childhood friend, who helped him become a disciple. It was published at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.icocnews.ru\/istorii\/cerkvi-na-yuge-rossii\/tserkov-v-volzhskom-prostilas-s-zhenej-dorogim-bratom-muzhem-i-ottsom.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.icocnews.ru<\/a> on December 11, 2017: <\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<center><a href=\"mailto:tammy@missionstory.com\" target=\"_top\" style=\"margin:0px\" rel=\"noopener\">\n  <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/41ef8012-5eff-4311-8424-e1f832ca907b.jpg?resize=1024%2C512&#038;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/41ef8012-5eff-4311-8424-e1f832ca907b.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/41ef8012-5eff-4311-8424-e1f832ca907b-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/41ef8012-5eff-4311-8424-e1f832ca907b-768x384.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\n<\/a><\/center>\n<p><\/p>\n<p> Thirty years ago, my friend Zhenya Kochetkov and I &ndash; we all called him &ldquo;John&rdquo; &ndash; were walking along the street together in the small city of Volzhski. Actively and passionately, he was trying to convince me that God is real, and was using the Bible as his proof. For a fourth-grader in a Soviet school, this was a remarkable conversation. After that conversation with Zhenya, I started to believe in God. Eight years later, having become a Christian in Moscow, I came to the city where Zhenya was living, and excitedly told him about the first principles of life in Christ. Zhenya said that he wasn&rsquo;t interested anymore, he was fully immersed in his very busy student life. From that moment began the 18-year-long conversion to Christ of Zhenya and his family. We tried everything &ndash; studied the Bible, he built friendships with everyone in church, he came to Christian conferences hosted by our church in different cities. He got to know a lot of Christians, came to a wedding in the church, attended Sunday worship in new church plantings, but he did not want to live for God or get baptized. When his older daughter became a teenager, Zhenya said, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like my daughter&rsquo;s friends, I want her to be with your church &ndash; I see that you are like a family&hellip;&rdquo; And he began to commute, 40 kilometers, with his entire family every week to church, but he was not ready to consider baptism. In this unremarkable way, Zhenya&rsquo;s spiritual road to God began. After a little time passed, his mother, Masha, was baptized. For another year and a half, God worked on and prepared his heart. On the 8th of March, 2016, we had a great celebration: the baptism of the incredibly active, good-hearted, encouraging Zhenya. Well before his baptism, he was an integral part of the life of the church, took on responsibility, shared his faith in God at work and with his friends. Once he began to develop a personal relationship with God, this helped him blossom even more. The brother is a peacemaker &ndash; as soon as he became aware of any kind of misunderstanding, on the spot, he would make haste to reconcile. Husbands of our sisters would ask, &ldquo;Will Zhenya be at church today? We like talking with him heart to heart, and about God.&rdquo; Zhenya was 39 years old. He has two beautiful daughters &ndash; Katya, 13, and Nastya, six. He worked as a computer administrator. His wife, Masha, is seven months pregnant, expecting another daughter, Dasha. The entire family loves the church deeply. A week ago, I read to Zhenya this passage from the Bible: <em> &#8220;However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.&#8221; &ndash; <\/em> Luke 10:20. We rejoiced together over how great it is, that our names are written in heaven. Two days ago, on the 5th of December, Masha called in great distress, asking for us to pray, as, suddenly, after work, Zhenya&rsquo;s legs wouldn&rsquo;t work. We all prayed. Zhenya was taken to the hospital and Masha went with him. There, Zhenya&rsquo;s heart suddenly stopped. God called him home&hellip;just two weeks short of his 40th birthday, and he has made it to heaven. Acquaintances and distant relatives, with great empathy, are saying to Masha, &ldquo;How are you going to get along with three children and a bedridden mother who is an invalid?&rdquo; She answers, &ldquo;I am not alone. I have God and the church.&rdquo; We are doing our best to spiritually support our dear sister Masha and her daughters, Katya and Nastya. They love God, are holding on to Christ and are getting ready for the birth of the new baby, Dasha. <em> Editor&#8217;s note: <em> As of Thursday, February 8, our sister, Masha Kochetkov, in Volgograd, Russia, safely delivered her third child, a healthy baby girl, as predicted. Mother and baby are reportedly doing well. Masha&#8217;s <\/em> father, who has terminal cancer, is thankfully able to stay with Katya and Nastya. Masha&#8217;s mother is an invalid and completely bedridden &ndash; Masha is her caregiver. Please pray for the spiritual strength of this young family! The rest of the church lives quite far away from them. If anyone is interested in more information about how Masha and her daughters are doing, as time goes on, please feel free to email <a href=\"mailto:tammy@missionstory.com\">tammy@missionstory.com<\/a><\/em>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The small church of 18 members in Volgograd has had to say farewell to a young father, baptized just two&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":5543,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"post_folder":[151],"class_list":["post-5542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-testimonials"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/41ef8012-5eff-4311-8424-e1f832ca907b.jpg?fit=1024%2C512&ssl=1","author_info":{"display_name":"dtadmin","author_link":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/author\/dtadmin\/"},"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phsvEw-1ro","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4003,"url":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/strong-willed-william-odhiambo\/","url_meta":{"origin":5542,"position":0},"title":"Strong-Willed William Odhiambo\u00a0","author":"dtadmin","date":"October 2, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"It was a sad moment for the Malaba Church of Christ and the entire North Rift Churches in Kenya as they gathered in the little town of Ukwala in Ugenya Constituency, Siaya County on the 21st of September to bade farewell to a brother who had dedicated his life to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Testimonials&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Testimonials","link":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/category\/testimonials\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/William-Odhiambo-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/William-Odhiambo-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/William-Odhiambo-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/William-Odhiambo-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4353,"url":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/teens-on-a-mission-in-montego-bay\/","url_meta":{"origin":5542,"position":1},"title":"Teens on a Mission in Montego Bay","author":"dtadmin","date":"June 6, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The theme for our family of churches in Jamaica for 2019 is \u2018Gen 2 Gen\u2019, which means generation to generation and we have placed extra emphasis on reaching out to our youths and meeting their needs. In Montego Bay, special events, outings and lessons tailored with our youths in mind\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Families&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Families","link":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/category\/families\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/montego_bay_teens.jpg?fit=681%2C608&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/montego_bay_teens.jpg?fit=681%2C608&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/montego_bay_teens.jpg?fit=681%2C608&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4398,"url":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/how-one-brothers-faith-impacts-the-mission-in-yola\/","url_meta":{"origin":5542,"position":2},"title":"How One Brother\u2019s Faith Impacts the Mission in Yola","author":"dtadmin","date":"May 23, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Yola literally means a \u2018great plain\u2019 or \u2018vast plain land\u2019, and is the capital city and administrative center of Adamawa State in northeast Nigeria. On this vast plain land, God is moving in incredible ways. To God\u2019s glory, we have started a seed fellowship in Yola and the city\u2019s spiritual\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/emmanuel_abengowe_nigeria_yola.jpg?fit=812%2C473&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/emmanuel_abengowe_nigeria_yola.jpg?fit=812%2C473&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/emmanuel_abengowe_nigeria_yola.jpg?fit=812%2C473&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/emmanuel_abengowe_nigeria_yola.jpg?fit=812%2C473&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5690,"url":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/europe-eurasia-western-europe-item-8784-god-is-at-work-in-lyon\/","url_meta":{"origin":5542,"position":3},"title":"God is at Work in Lyon!","author":"dtadmin","date":"November 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Good news from the Lyon Church who are very thankful for the sacrifice of brothers and sisters in the US supporting the EMS.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/5ccee5e5-27ed-4f7c-a7a9-910e06f1740a.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/5ccee5e5-27ed-4f7c-a7a9-910e06f1740a.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/5ccee5e5-27ed-4f7c-a7a9-910e06f1740a.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/5ccee5e5-27ed-4f7c-a7a9-910e06f1740a.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4834,"url":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/chippewa-valley-church-our-god-story-from-0-to-100\/","url_meta":{"origin":5542,"position":4},"title":"Chippewa Valley Church: Our \u201cGod-Story\u201d From 0 to 100","author":"dtadmin","date":"December 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The Chippewa Valley Church was planted in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, by Joel and Christy Peed, along with Kenny and Laura Tubwell and Preston Peterson, in 2006. Now, in 2018, we are a family of over 100 members with inspiring \u201cGod-stories\u201d to share, stories of how God has powerfully moved amongst\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CVCDec2018FamilyandSelfiecopy-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CVCDec2018FamilyandSelfiecopy-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CVCDec2018FamilyandSelfiecopy-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CVCDec2018FamilyandSelfiecopy-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CVCDec2018FamilyandSelfiecopy-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4627,"url":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/how-one-brothers-faith-impacted-his-family-in-namibia-southern-africa\/","url_meta":{"origin":5542,"position":5},"title":"How One Brother\u2019s Faith Impacted His Family in Namibia, Southern Africa","author":"dtadmin","date":"February 28, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"When O\u2019Brien Hekandjo became a disciple of Christ in March 1997, he had no idea how his decision would affect the rest of his family. Twenty-one years later, his faith and example have resulted in the baptisms of seven other family members - including his parents - in Namibia, southern\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Testimonials&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Testimonials","link":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/category\/testimonials\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/HekandjoFamily.jpg?fit=1023%2C689&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/HekandjoFamily.jpg?fit=1023%2C689&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/HekandjoFamily.jpg?fit=1023%2C689&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/HekandjoFamily.jpg?fit=1023%2C689&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/41ef8012-5eff-4311-8424-e1f832ca907b.jpg?fit=1024%2C512&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5542"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=5542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}