A First in the United States

Last August 20 to 22, a peak attendance of 670 from throughout the United States and Canada were thrilled to attend the first Russian-language district convention held in New York City. All the talks were delivered in Russian, and a full-costume drama, featuring the Bible account of Jacob and Esau, was presented by members of the Russian Congregation of Los Angeles, California. It was truly a highlight of the convention.

Another convention highlight was the baptism of 14 persons, all of whom appear in the accompanying photograph. Several traveled some 2,500 miles [4,000 km] from Portland, Oregon, and from Los Angeles and San Francisco, California, to be baptized at the convention in New York City. Previously, these 14 had lived in the former Soviet republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine. Their experiences reveal how much they treasure the knowledge of God and the freedom to worship him.

Svetlana (front row, third from the left) was raised in Moscow. At 17 she married a famous singer many years older than she, and in 1989 they came to the United States with their infant son. Her husband traveled extensively, and five years later they were divorced.

When Svetlana met a Witness coworker, her friends warned her about getting involved with what they told her was “a sect that would take control of [her] life and take all [her] money.” Yet, she wanted to learn what the Bible teaches. About being shown God’s name in the Bible, she says: “I was greatly impressed that the Witnesses were the only ones making it known.”

As a youth, Andrei (back row, third from the left) left his home in Siberia for advanced training as an athlete in what today is St. Petersburg. Soon afterward, the Soviet Union dissolved, and in 1993, Andrei, at age 22, immigrated to the United States. He explains: “I began to think about God and started going to the Russian Orthodox Church. Once, during the Russian Easter celebration, I stayed in church the entire night seeking to draw close to God.”

About this time Svetlana met Andrei, and she told him about what she was learning from her Bible study. He agreed to accompany her to a meeting of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and afterward he accepted a Bible study. In January 1999 they were married. After their baptism at the convention, they were radiant.

Pavel (back row, fourth from the left) was born near Qaraghandy, Kazakhstan, but later moved to Nal’chik, Russia. This large city is close to Chechnya and Dagestan, where so much fighting has occurred. Pavel first met Witnesses there in August 1996, but he migrated to San Francisco the following month. He was involved in drugs and had fathered a daughter, who was left in Russia with her mother.

Immediately after arriving in the United States, Pavel contacted Jehovah’s Witnesses and accepted a Bible study. He straightened out his life and wrote to the mother of his daughter about his newfound beliefs. She is now studying with the Witnesses, and there are plans for her to come to the United States so that she and Pavel can marry and serve Jehovah together in California with their daughter.

George (back row, second from the left) was born and raised in Moscow. He came to the United States in 1996, and the following year he married Flora, who was originally from Azerbaijan. George attended the Russian Orthodox Church, but after reading a copy of the Watchtower magazine, he had questions about the Trinity doctrine. In response to his letter to the Watch Tower Society, he received the brochure Should You Believe in the Trinity? In 1998 both he and Flora began to study the Bible. Now she also plans to be baptized.

Another convention highlight was receiving greetings from Moscow, where 15,108 had assembled for their convention during the same weekend. How thrilled delegates in New York City were to hear the announcement that 600 had been baptized there! That was particularly true in view of the ominous newspaper and television reports that had begun to appear in the United States and elsewhere in the week leading up to the convention date.

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The first Russian-language district convention in the United States

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Bible drama presented in New York by the Russian Congregation of Los Angeles

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These 14 baptized in New York are from six former republics of the Soviet Union