Loving “their” enemies
By Janet Walker
“Many times in the night I cry from the depths of my soul for the Soviet-Afghan War veterans. So often I feel their pain. I identify with the biblical prophet Ezekiel, for he knew that God alone could breathe life into the dead (Ezekiel 37:4,5). I know that only God can breathe new life into the veterans. Please pray and believe with me, my wife, Julie, and our team in Russia that God will raise up a vast army of redeemed veterans.”
— David Leatherberry
David and Julie Leatherberry went to Afghanistan in 1976, obeying God’s call to share the gospel. They lived among the Afghans, loved them and shared the gospel with them. They were in Afghanistan in 1979 at the beginning of the Soviet-Afghan War. During part of the war years, they worked with Afghan refugees in Pakistan and Germany. In 1997 they returned to Afghanistan to live in Kandahar among the Taliban.
But in 2000, their ministry took a new direction. For the next three years, they taught in Bible schools in Eastern and Central Europe and the former Soviet Union. During those years, God unfolded a new opportunity that stemmed from their years of work in Afghanistan.
Through a series of events, David and Julie sensed God’s leading to share Christ’s love with Russian veterans of the Afghan War. In 2003, they moved to Yekaterinburg, Russia.
About a two-hour flight southeast of Moscow, Yekaterinburg is Russia’s fifth-largest city. Here David and Julie coordinate a Russian-language, bimonthly newspaper, Afghanets. The newspaper targets and is distributed to Soviet-Afghan War veterans throughout Russia and several former Soviet republics. Classified as a national newspaper, it is registered with the Russian government. Assisting the Leatherberrys are missionary associate Joshua Payne and a Russian editorial team.
The primary purpose of the newspaper, according to the Leatherberrys, is to offer veterans spiritual help and hope for the future. Each issue includes informative articles on sports, health, legal issues and other topics, plus crossword puzzles and even jokes. Most importantly, it presents the message of repentance and features testimonies of veterans (Afghan, Chechen, Russian and American) whose lives have been changed through a relationship with Christ. David writes the editorials, addressing difficult issues such as “Why did I survive?” and “Is life fair?”
Currently, about 17,000 copies of Afghanets are printed with the help of Light for the Lost funds. The paper is distributed to veterans throughout Russia, including patients at 65 veterans hospitals and inmates in 69 prisons.
More than a million Soviet soldiers served in the Afghan War from December 1979 to February 1989. Most of the veterans are now in their 40s, and thousands suffer emotionally and physically from their experiences.
David and Julie understand to a great degree what the soldiers went through, because they witnessed the war firsthand. When the soldiers hear the Leatherberrys’ story, they know they have found people who can identify with their experiences.
“We were living in Afghanistan when the Soviet soldiers came in ’79,” David says. “We saw the young teenage Soviet soldiers, and we knew they were in for great trouble. My heart ached for the Soviets as well as for the Afghans whom Julie and I had grown to love.”
During the war, the Leatherberrys tried several methods of reaching Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan with the love of God, but nothing seemed to work. Little did they know God was preparing them and would open that door at a later time.
In 1996 David’s book, Afghanistan, My Tears, written with the help of Bob Abbott, was published, describing the Leatherberrys’ love for the Afghan people and the struggles of the war-ravaged nation. After the book was translated into six languages, a Russian-speaking woman urged the Leatherberrys to make it available in Russian as well. Unsure whether such a book would be accepted by Russian veterans, David began to do research. He read about their hardships and trauma.
One day as he prayed for Russian soldiers, he asked: “God, is this just a burden I have to pray, or should I actually do something to help them?” He opened his Bible to the Book of Nahum and read: “He summons his picked troops” (2:5, NIV). Then he looked back to verse 3: “The shields of his soldiers are red.” Immediately, David thought of the (Soviet) Red Army that went into Afghanistan, and he knew God was asking him to do something.
Many veterans who receive Afghanets write and request New Testaments and Christian literature. The staff maintains a large wall map in their office, color coding the locations of the veterans who write to them, the hospitals and prisons receiving the newspaper, and the churches that help distribute copies to veterans.
“The map is a prayer tool for us,” Julie says. “I get excited when I look at the places marked on that map. Many small villages are included where we have no missionary or church. Yet Afghanets is going there, proclaiming the love of Christ and helping people know how they can experience and know God.”
A leader of a Soviet-Afghan War veterans union read the newspaper and was so touched by it that he handwrote 91 names and addresses of veterans and sent them to David. “Please send this newspaper to my men,” he wrote. “It will help them.”
Another veteran, after reading an article entitled “Why Should I Forgive?” traveled with his young son to Yekaterinburg by train — a trip of several hours. He wanted to meet David and ask more questions.
Since receiving a copy of Afghanets, Magamet, a former soldier, has visited David several times. He always listens carefully as David explains the gospel.
“Many people told me that it would never work — an American producing a veterans newspaper for former Soviet soldiers,” David says. “I was told, ‘They will never respond to you.’ But that hasn’t been the case.”
When David has the opportunity to engage veterans in conversation, he begins by telling them that he was in Afghanistan at the onset of the war. Once the Soviet veterans realize he was there and he understands the people and the culture, they open up to him with their stories. They appreciate someone who will listen and who obviously cares for them. They do not fully understand how David and Julie can love both Afghans and Russians, but that question opens the door to an explanation of God’s love.
American Vietnam veterans helped equip David for this outreach. Because their experiences parallel those of the Soviet-Afghan veterans, they were able to explain the trauma the Russian soldiers are still suffering.
“Due to their common war experiences, American Vietnam veterans are held in high esteem by the Soviet-Afghan War veterans,” says Leatherberry, “and as a result the American veterans can minister to the Russian veterans in ways that others cannot.”
Aware that the Russian veterans so greatly respect and identify with their American Vietnam War counterparts, the Leatherberrys invited three Vietnam veterans — Eugene Bryant, a Marine combat veteran from Waukegan, Illinois; Scott McChrystal, an Army combat veteran from Springfield, Missouri; and Al Riddle, a Navy veteran from Warren, Ohio — to Russia to participate in the first public meetings for veterans. They advertised the September 2006 meetings on radio and TV and in the newspaper.
Partnering with a local church, the Leatherberrys rented a 600-seat hall in Pervouralsk, a 45-minute drive from Yekaterinburg. The American Vietnam veterans shared their testimonies, and Igor Kililyov, a Russian veteran and a team member working with the Leatherberrys, sang songs he has written especially for Soviet-Afghan War veterans.
Andrei, a veteran of the Soviet-Afghan War, attended the meetings and shared his testimony for the first time at this event. Andrei was a major in the special forces in Afghanistan and was traumatized by the war. Upon his return home, he could not find a job. Discouraged, he became an alcoholic.
Previously, Andrei’s wife, Ludmilla (who had accepted Christ), had told David about her husband. Although David had never met Andrei, he faithfully prayed for him for two years. The day came when Andrei repented, surrendered his life to Christ and was made whole. Now his greatest desire is to reach other veterans for Christ.
Attendance at the meetings was good, and the Leatherberrys are hoping to host more events like this in various locations.
“We want to hear from American Vietnam veterans whose lives have been changed by Christ,” David says. “We need veterans who will prayerfully consider partnering with us in ministry to Soviet-Afghan War veterans. Our veterans can minister in ways others cannot.”
David and Julie believe God will fulfill their dream of returning to Afghanistan one day with a host of redeemed Russian veterans.
“This will bring us full circle in our ministry,” David says. “To obey God and leave Afghanistan was extremely difficult, but we have learned that we can always trust Him — even with what we do not know or understand.”
JANET WALKER is assistant editor of the Today’s Pentecostal Evangel World Missions Edition.
American Vietnam veterans interested in contacting the Leatherberrys for more information may e-mail them at tpe@ag.org.
E-mail your comments to tpe@ag.org.
