Our interview with Dmitiry
Let me ask you first of all, where were you born?
I was born north of Afghanistan in the small country of Tajikistan. Most families had 10 or 12 kids. There were 8 kids in my family, actually 9 but one did not survive.
I lived there until I was 12½. I’m the middle one in the family. My whole family immigrated to Oregon, where we were placed in a small church basement. We lived there for a year and a half, tried to learn the language and come up with some kind of income. We arrived with $100 in our pockets.
Were you raised in the church?
I was raised Seventh-day Adventist in Tajikistan. We were not allowed to meet in a building. We met in our homes and sometimes we would meet in the pastor’s home because he converted one of his rooms into a church. We would meet there at 2:30am so no one would see us. We would black out the windows.
So you are kind of used to what we are going through now?
Yes. I grew up in that controlled environment. However what we are going through now is not as bad because we had no YouTube and no live streaming. You were not supposed to say a word about Jesus. If you did you could go to jail or even end up forfeiting your life.
Did you know anyone that happened to?
Yes. There was a church where the pastor ended up in jail and they closed the church. Even today that building is still closed.
What do you think about what is happening today in terms the soon return of Jesus?
I definitely see the signs of Jesus returning. Because He said in the Bible that there would be one central government and religion. We can see that in Revelation and we are told that people will be forced to do what they do not want to do and people who stand up for it will be persecuted. It will be interesting to see if we will even have an off line church again in the future. Perhaps then they will control YouTube and live stream. God talked about this when He told us that we would be going through some tough times. But when we see these things happen the Bible says: "lift up your hands and say glory.”
I think we are living in the December” of the world’s history. We are living at the “end of the year.”
How did you meet your wife?
I met her at church. I was playing music with my brother and some other musicians. Her dad was a pastor of a small church and I was playing on the stage. I saw her and I thought to myself “I want to talk to her!”
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