He left his family and escaped across Siberia, 6,600 ks to freedom in China. There he married my Lithuanian mother.
Before long they moved to Shanghai.
We lived through Japanese occupation; and then at the end of WWII, my school was closed...
1938
I was born in Shanghai, and there I started school. We spoke Russian at home and German at school.
We lived through the Japanese occupation; and then at the end of WWII, my school was closed and my brother and I roamed the city streets —notorious for vice and corruption.
In 1949, when the communists were only 3 months from Shanghai, my family fled China. For the second time, my father lost everything! With Mao Tse Tung as leader, Communism’s Internationale sounded triumphantly.
1949
My first journey brought me to Sydney, Australia. At nearly 11 years of age I had to catch up to 3 years of missed schooling — in a new language—and without help. The trauma was so great that my brother and I no longer wanted to use the Russian language.
Yet despite all obstacles, I came to the Lord when I was 14, and was baptised at 16. Soon after that, I committed myself to do God’s will in my life.
I went on to complete High School and Teachers’ College, then taught in NSW schools for 8 years. It was also in Sydney that the Lord gave me a partner for life.
I was in charge of a 6-teacher area boarding school at Samberigi for 3 years. During that time there was plenty of opportunity to teach them about the Lord.
It was a highlight of school holidays that I could visit pastors in very remote areas with some of the school boys.
1967-1969
Papua New Guinean children are lovable and eager to learn. Some of 6th grade boys were 16, 17,18 years old! But they valued the opportunity of schooling.
I was in charge of a 6-teacher area boarding school at Samberigi for 3 years. During that time there was plenty of opportunity to teach them about the Lord.
It was a highlight of school holidays that I could visit pastors in very remote areas with some of the school boys.
It was a wonderful adventure, as I discovered God’s grace and love for these people!
After ordination we served in city & country churches in NSW for 13 years.
It was to join an evangelistic expedition in W. Siberia, Russia.
I had been concerned for persecuted Christians in this land for many years.
1992
In 1992 I received an intriguing invitation.
It was to join an evangelistic expedition in W. Siberia, Russia.
I had been concerned for persecuted Christians in this land for many years.
Foreigners like myself were invited to see what evangelical churches were doing in evangelism after the fall of the Iron Curtain.
It was amazing to be doing evangelism by ship. The Rimsky Korsakov carried about 100 Russian and Ukrainian Christians, pastors and evangelists, and young people.
The Ob is the highway to the far north. In summer it ferries people; in winter it freezes to a depth of 1.2 metres and becomes a road for heavy vehicles.
Christians and political dissidents had suffered great cruelty under the Russian Orthodox church as well as under Communism over many years. After 70 years as a closed society, many Russians were suspicious and depressed…
Russia was in great need of the Gospel.
We held meetings in various towns along the river.
Many responded, because they wanted something deeper to fill the emptiness that atheism had left behind. It was on this trip that I first met pastor Roman, Sveta and family. They were a young missionary couple from the Ukraine. They existed in this harsh land with little support from those who had sent them.
Bishop Pavel Bak was committed to training promising young people from the very start.
Russian Federation
After this, regular visits to Russia helped me to build a network of relationships with Christians and non-Christians.
Bishop Pavel Bak was committed to training promising young people from the very start.
He invited me to lecture at the Moscow Theological Institute to pastors at in-service courses.
At one of these courses I met Bishop Fedir who had planted 36 churches in the far North.
He brought to the in-service course a number of young converts whom he had discipled and who were now pastors themselves.
It was a time when people in Ukraine were excited over their independence from Russia.
Ukraine has a population of over 46,000,000, and evangelical churches were making the most of every opportunity to reach Ukrainians with the Gospel.
They were training young people such as Olga, to carry out this task.
To date
In the earlier years we employed a coordinator who liaised with churches, pastors and teaching institutions on our behalf. This coordinator translated our study materials and organised the recording of lectures. These were done properly in professional studios in MP3 format, and made available on CDs for distance education.
To avoid study material that might be culturally irrelevant, we have kept strictly to producing biblically based material.
We have also spared no expensive to have translations done into Russian that have maintained a high literary standard.
Ewald has travelled to numerous places in the Russian Federation and throughout Ukraine, and Armenia, at the invitation of the teaching institutes, to lecture.
We are now taking some of Ewald's Russian lectures and gradually putting them up on YouTube.
