Monday, October 22, 2018
Updated Country Profile - Kyrgyzstan
Click here to access our updated Reaching the Nations country profile for Kyrgyzstan. The Church missed its window of opportunity to enter Kyrgyzstan in the 1990s when religious freedom laws better accommodated foreign, proselytizing Christian groups. Today, the Church has the virtually insurmountable barrier for 200 adult citizen members required for government registration. Although a mission branch exclusively services Kyrgyzstan under the Russia Yekaterinburg Mission, no official branch meets within the country. A member group has historically functioned to service American military personnel. A senior missionary couple on humanitarian assignment has served in the country since the mid-2010s. There are no translations of Church materials into Kyrgyz although there is a small number of translations of materials in Kazakh which is mutually intelligible with Kyrgyz.
Cool quote from Joseph Smith about church growth
ReplyDelete"Friendship [is designed] to revolutionize and civilize the world...Let us pour forth love--show forth our kindness unto all mankind, and the Lord will reward us with everlasting increase; cast our bread upon the waters and we shall receive it after many days, increased to a hundredfold."--History of the Church 5:517
Great quote. The good will by our regular members and specially assigned missionaries is an infectious thing.
ReplyDeleteI can agree on that. That said, I would issue a caution, which I have mentioned before. The Savior set the perfect example of how to love others, but more than that, he set the tone for how we can do so without loving, condoning, supporting, or approving of behavior that should not be occurring. "Hate the sin but love the sinner" is an adage which I feel still very much applies to the Church today.
ReplyDeleteAnd Joseph Smith was quoted as saying: "A man filled with the love of God, is not content with blessing his family alone, but ranges all over, anxious to bless the whole human race." That is one of many reasons why I am grateful we can share ideas, thoughts, and our testimonies in public forums such as the comment threads of this blog. I hope we can all continue to encourage, uplift, and inspire one another and help our mutual faith to grow. If so, platforms for discussions such as this will have served their established purpose well.
And in that vein, I wanted to pass along something. With my ongoing gratitude to all who comment here for uplifting, encouraging, and inspiring me through these threads, and with my continued thanks to Matt for providing updates found here, for letting such discussions take place, even those wide-ranging in natures not directly related to the topics posted here, and for continuing to allow me to share such things, I wanted to note here that I have had to take time earlier this afternoon to fix issues with the current template and layout which I was using for my blog, and I am welcoming feedback on the new look, feel, and navigation capabilities with the new layout, in addition to also welcoming comment on any and all other content at any time. The address of my blog follows below for any who may want to look over any new content or test the new layout. Thanks again to you all.
http://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com
If I may, Meagan T., I would also like to take the opportunity to offer you a personal apology here if I went overboard in my contributions to our discussion on the earlier thread. I have been dealing with an extended period of personal illness, and part of my battles in that regard have been to be somewhat disagreeable at times in my personal interactions with others. I find that I can speak my mind directly and without regret initially, but later on regret being too forcefully or not sufficiently compassionate or agreeable in my response. I deeply regret anything I may have said which offended you or anyone else who witnessed my incompetent and inappropriate behavior in weighing in on that discussion, and would like to assure you all that that kind of behavior is not typical of me.
ReplyDeleteI have always tried to live by the idea in my public discourse with others that we can all disagree without becoming disagreeable, and, unfortunately, the impact of the stress of the latest illness I have been experiencing has led to my being less patient with and kind towards others than is usually typical for my nature. I hope you all will please accept my profound apologies for my misconduct in this regard. Thanks again, Meagan, for that inspiring quote. I appreciate all of you who comment here for adding to my understanding and at times changing my perspective on certain issues we have discussed, and would like to personally and publicly pledge my commitment to being more civil in my contributions here in the future. May the Lord bless us all in our ongoing discussions in this regard.
There are (now) 7 faithful members of the Church in the Republic of Kyrgyzia. They are wonderful people who hold onto their faith. They aren't allowed to hold any kind of meeting, as it's strictly forbidden. They can occasionally travel to Almata for a meeting here or there, but this costs money.
ReplyDeleteThese members hunger for the sacrament. The crave the presence of the Priesthood. They cherish their copies of the Book of Mormon in Russian (which is the Lingua Franca of the region).
We love them and miss them all. God bless Kyrgyzia!
I'm considering spending the summer studying abroad in Kyrgyzia. I'm an RM from the Bulgaria Sofia Mission. Does anyone know who I could contact to find out if there are any other members in Bishkek? If you see this plz answer ASAP! cheers
ReplyDelete