May 29, 2000
Lost package leaves trail of gospel witness
___MOSCOW--A package lost in a Russian subway touched four lives with the gospel, reported Texas missionary D'Anna Beaty.
___ Valentina, Beaty's Russian-language teacher, arrived in class one day carrying her passport and papers in a sack with a plastic handle. She brought the material so Beaty, a missionary with the Southern Baptist International Mission Board, could help her prepare for an interview at the U.S. Embassy.
___Valentina was trying to secure a tourist visa in order to visit the United States this summer, and she already had been turned down once, Beaty said.
___"She asked me to go over the papers with her and think what she might do to make the process successful this time," Beaty reported.
___The next day, Valentina returned to class looking disheveled and like she had been crying, Beaty said. "She said the day before, after she left me, she was in the (subway), and it was really crowded. When she finally was pushed into the car, she realized she didn't have her packet in her hand. Only the plastic handle was in her hand."
___Valentina lost her passport, papers, photos and letters. She also lost a couple of books Beaty had given her, "God, Are You There?" and "How to Study the Bible," both printed in Russian.
___"She went to the police, but of course they could do nothing," Beaty said.
___"She and I prayed together, and she prayed that God would do his will, whatever he wanted in this situation. She told me this was the first time she had prayed this."
___Beaty encouraged Valentina, urging her to "leave the problem at the feet of Jesus and not worry."
___Beaty also prayed for Valentina. "I asked the Lord to use this situation to strengthen her faith (and) to give her back the packet, if it was his will."
___That prayer was being answered, even as it was being prayed.
___Valentina returned to class, holding up her package.
___After giving up on the police, Valentina had returned home. When she arrived, her neighbor, with whom she had only visited four or five times in 15 years, called to say she had a package that had been delivered for her.
___The package included all the items Valentina had lost.
___Her neighbor told Valentina the story of the package, Beaty reported. "She had come home that day, and as she was getting off the elevator and going to her door, a lady came up to her and asked her to give the packet to Valentina. The lady said she couldn't stay because she had a log way to travel home, but asked the neighbor to please ask Valentina to pray for her because she was going to the hospital for surgery soon. The neighbor asked her to leave her phone number, but the lady said no."
___While the neighbor recounted the story, Valentina unpacked her package, checking to see if everything had been returned. When the neighbor saw Valentina's Bible-study books, she asked Valentina if she studied the Bible.
___"The neighbor is 70-something and a pensioner," Beaty said. "She told Valentina she often tried to study the Bible but that it is boring. She asked Valentina to help her study, and Valentina agreed."
___Later, Valentina told her brother--who was visiting her for a few days--what happened to the package, and she credited God with its return.
___"Her brother asked Valentina if she really believed it was God's work," Beaty noted. "Valentina said: 'It's Moscow, a city of 10-plus million people. My packet was lost ... and a sick lady came far out of her way to return it and ask for prayer. The neighbor she left it with has a desire to study the Bible, and I am just learning, and she and I will study together through this lost-and-found packet. Of course, who else but God?'"
___Then, her brother asked her to show him "something interesting" in the Bible, Beaty said. "He said he never knew the Bible had such good things, and he would like to begin to read it."
___The incident made a huge impact, not only on Valentina, but also on the three other people who handled the package, Beaty said.
___"Valentina looked at me and said: 'Now I see the key. I prayed not that God would help me get what I wanted, but that God would do what he wanted through the situation, and he has touched four lives through my lot packet,'" Beaty reported.
___"We praised God together and prayed for all four lives."
___Beaty has spent three years as an International Mission Board missionary in Russia and recently completed a year of living in the United States before returning to Moscow, said her father, Dewayne Beaty, associate pastor and minister to senior adults at First Baptist Church in Longview.
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