On my trip here in Central Asia today, I'm meeting with a pastor couple in a newly started convert church for people who have left Islam and become Christians. They have invited me and a new convert couple for lunch. The drive there is beautiful, with cultivated fields, villages and towns. There are mosques everywhere I notice, even in the smallest village. After a few hours of driving, I arrive at the priest couple's home. They welcome me and I greet the new convert couple. Her name is Zamira and his name is Zhenis. As we sit and eat and talk, I notice their smiles and laughter. There's something special about them, I think and then say, "You seem so happy!". Zhenis replies, "We have Jesus in our hearts, so we are happy, but I'm almost happier than Zamira because I've come back to Jesus again!".
All Christians in our village slowly fell away from God due to persecution, except Zhenis' mother
Then the man Zhenis starts to talk: "I'm about 30 years old now, and Zamira is a little younger. We have been married for four years and have one child. I came to faith in Jesus and the Bible when I was seven years old. My mom and dad had become Christians and taught me about God. My mother is still a Christian, but my father unfortunately fell away from God during persecutions against Christians in 2003 and he started drinking alcohol. All Christians in our village slowly fell away from God except my mother. Her name is Nargiza. She has held on to Jesus and the words of the Bible as the only Christian in the village. She is a woman of prayer. When I think about it, it must have been very difficult for her, but she doesn't show it. My uncle is also a Christian. He lives in a slightly larger city and serves as a worship leader in a church. My sister also became a Christian not too long ago. She lives in another town far away. We still live in the village where my mother lives."
"I was the one who first came to believe in Jesus," says Zamira. "My mother-in-law Nargiza asked Zhenis, 'Can I take my daughter-in-law on a picnic with some friends? Zhenis said yes, not knowing that it was a church picnic. So I went to the picnic and there I asked many questions to the Christians and that day I had a powerful encounter with God when they prayed for me."
"I was all up and down because Jesus had met me. I was just so happy," she smiles.
"The following week I went to church for the first time and it was a great experience because there I met other Christian converts who felt the same way I did, and now they have become like family to me."
The Imam and Zamira's family were shocked when they found out she had become a Christian
Zamira continues in a happy voice: "I asked Zhenis if I could get money for the bus. He gave me the money, but he didn't know it was to go to church. A month went by like that. In that month, I also went to a church conference for three days, with an excuse to meet some good friends."
"But then after a while, my parents found out that I had become a Christian, and my family was furious and went to the imam. The imam came to our house and we were sitting around the table and he said to Zhenis "'your wife has become a kaffir (infidel) and you should divorce her'.
Zhenis recalls: 'I answered him very calmly: I have also become a Christian and I will not divorce Zamira'. Then the Imam, Zamira's parents and her brother were very shocked."
Zamira says: "Since then I didn't dare visit my brother because he wanted to beat me up, because he was very angry with me".
"Since then I haven't dared to visit my brother because he wants to beat me up, because he was very angry with me"
Zhenis: When my relatives heard that I had become a Christian, they brought the village imam and also several of my colleagues and they put pressure on me and told my employer: "Zhenis is a dangerous man and he is trying to thwart the faith of Muslims". But my boss didn't want to fire me. But everyone in the village now looks at me as if I am very strange!"
"We want to move to another city," says Zhenis. "Because the pressure and threats are intense, and here in the city there are our convert brothers and sisters. But I take joy in these hardships and persecution for my faith in Jesus. Everyone knows I am a Christian in the village. It's been over a month since I came to faith."
Family tried to pressure Zamira to say Islamic creed
Zamira: "One morning all my parents and three siblings came to us and they gave me a long lesson. They wanted me to read the "Six Kalimas" (Islam's creed). "Do that and we will forgive you," they said. But I didn't want to repeat the kalimah facing Mecca. Then they said, "You're not our daughter anymore, and you shouldn't come to our home anymore. Either you are with your Christian husband or with us,' and they cursed me in anger and then said, 'You have left us because you have left your Muslim faith. I told them, "I will not turn away from you, it is you who turn away from me, you will always be in my heart", but they would not listen and left in anger".
I ask: "So what has happened since then? And how did you come to believe Zhenis?".
Zhenis: "A month ago, I was baptized along with nine other Christian converts. It was a very big day for me and all of us. What I have experienced with God this year is probably the greatest thing I have experienced in my whole life."
Then Zhenis suddenly looks at me and says with conviction in his voice: "You see, I really knew him! I really knew Jesus when I was a child, and now he has come back into my life.
Zhenis comes back to faith because of Zamira
Zhenis says: "When I was a boy, I really believed in Jesus and the Bible. I really knew Jesus! But then I fell from the faith and the years passed. About three years ago, I started to become a very convinced Muslim, I read a lot in the Quran, went to Friday prayers and grew a beard. But then Zamira became a Christian, and it completely pulled the rug out from under me! Because everything that Zamira experienced made a huge impression on me. At first I was shocked, then I was angry. She talked about her faith and kept mentioning the pastor's name in church, so I said "why do you keep talking about that man? I am your husband! I want to meet him and ask that priest some questions!". Then we meet with the pastor and his wife, and after many hours of conversation, I accepted Jesus and had a powerful encounter with God." Then Zhenis suddenly looks at me and says with conviction in his voice: "You see, I really knew him! I really knew Jesus when I was a child and now he has come back into my life! It just changed me and I will never be the same again. I'm never going back to Islam again! I was a convinced Muslim, but now I've become a convinced Christian!"
Zamira suddenly says, "Yesterday my parents came to visit me again and they were with two imams this time. The one from the village and the one who is above our area, and they put pressure on us again."
"But we won't give up," says Zhenis firmly. "There is no way we will go back to Islam, absolutely not. I'm willing to suffer even if I have to go there. I don't want to go back."
Zamira agrees: "Me neither, it's never going to happen".
Subsequently, the couple experienced physical attacks and were also under death threats. Therefore, the convert church in the town, with the support of Danish European Mission donors, decided to help Zamira and Zhenis move from the village to the town where the church is located, as the couple did not have the means to move themselves.
