Pastor Rowell Puedivan baptized Irada Flood at the Madison Community Seventh-day Adventist Church on February 17, 2024.
Irada shared her testimony with the congregation, and here is what she said:
I am from Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic. I would like to share my journey to God.
During the time of Soviet rule, practicing Christianity or Islam was prohibited, and in some years it was even the death penalty for those caught praying. The Soviet system replaced a faith in God with a belief in a communistic totalitarianism and dictatorship. My parents were atheists and followed the communist ideology “God doesn’t exist.” However, when the Soviet Union dissolved and I asked my Mom if she believed in God, she told me that she believed in God immediately when she saw me right after I was born in 1976. While she was holding me, she prayed for the first time.
People in the Soviet Union were hiding their beliefs until the late 1970s and early 1980s when practicing faith was decriminalized. From my childhood, I remember some kids started bringing bread or colored eggs to school on Easter and sharing them with other kids and saying: “Christ is risen!” I also began to see Orthodox priests or imams on the streets of my home city sometimes.
In the last years of the Soviet Union and after its dissolution, more literature about Christianity and Islam became available. I had weekly subscriptions to kids’ magazines and newspapers in which I read about a monthly subscription to a series of Bible studies for kids and teenagers. I decided to request the series of 12 brochures with pictures and texts. The first brochure started with Genesis, and the last two brochures were about Jesus Christ with the last chapter telling about new hope. It was my first time learning about Jesus Christ.
My family leaned towards Islam and identified themselves as Muslims. So did I. I read the Koran to grasp the concepts, but I didn’t agree with some principles as it contradicted my values. As a medical doctor, I always believed in the value of human life no matter what. I believed that I was not the one who would decide on human life. I believed that, with God’s blessing, I should use all I had to save patients without judging who they were and what they believed. I just couldn’t accept killing people based on their beliefs. So, I never completed reading the Koran, and I stepped away from Islam.
For many years after that, I was nobody: neither Christian, neither Muslim, neither Atheist, but I continued looking for a God or direction to find God. I was looking for something that didn’t involve prayer to idols, for a God who loves me the way I am, who doesn’t need me to go through rituals and foreign language prayers to talk with, who forgives me for my sins, one who is always here for me and protects me. At the same time, I had the feeling that I didn’t deserve God’s love and forgiveness because I was a sinner or because I didn’t follow rituals.
A few years ago, I met Dan when we worked together at the Deptartmet of Health Services in Madison. He organized a series of weekly spiritual discussions where we openly talked about different topics and discussed a section of the Bible that touched on the topic. Sometimes, I would be skeptical about answers the Bible had, sometimes I would skip the discussions, and other times I felt lost, had a foggy brain, or no interest. However, Dan continued to show me the beauty of faith in God and a love of Jesus.
Last year, a group of my friends were talking about the Universe and our beliefs. When I said that I was looking for God or direction, Asel Burnett (a member of the Waukesha Church) talked about the Seventh-day Adventist denomination, and I became interested in it. Later Asel offered to start Bible studies with Pastor Myoung Kwon. It changed everything I knew about God! I began learning that God was always with me, is always with me and will always be with me!
I soon met Pastor Rowell Puedivan and the nice people in the Madison Community Church. I feel like I am opening a door to something new and unknown with a warm and positive sensation that I cannot explain or rationalize. I am learning about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, and I think that journey might never end. And honestly, I want that journey to be life-long and to have God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit guide me in my life.
We welcome Irada as a member of our congregation and rejoice that she has given her life to Jesus.
Sue Martin, member of the Madison Community Seventh-day Adventist Church
