Rob’s Trip through Central Asia

Two thousand years ago, Central Asia was the world’s hub of activity and modernity. People passed through Central Asia with goods, stories, philosophies, religions and diseases. They travelled on the network of trade routes called the Silk Road. This region has known its share of power struggles and conflict. Genghis Khan of the Mongols, Peter the Great and the Russians, and even more recently the Soviet Union have ruled here. Now in this modern age, Central Asia is a still a crossroads between ancient and modern, East and West, Europe and Asia, Christendom and the world of Islam.

We decided to send Rob—an Orlando native, musician and friend of Pioneers—to see how God is moving in this ethnically and culturally diverse region of the world. Follow along as he hears the stories of the people that the Father is drawing to Himself.

Rob Goes to Central Asia

Rob Experiences Death and Life

In this second video of our Middle Ground series, our tour guide (Rob) heads out of the city with Pioneers workers. They visit a mountain village and a traditional summer pasture where a shepherd tends his flock. Rob experiences both the rich hospitality of a meal with his hosts and the unsettling reality of what it took to make that meal possible.

Rob Climbs the Holy Mountain

In this video, our tour guide experiences more of Central Asia. He discovers worker ants, a cave of wisdom and the promise of a fertility slide. He recieves the blessing of a local woman and hears the heart music of the people and prayer with believers. Watch Rob on this leg of his journey.

In this video—the fourth and final in our Middle Ground series—Rob accompanies Pioneers workers in Central Asia through routines of daily life. They walk through the city streets, interacting with a downtrodden man and a woman who is happy in her cultural traditions. They end up at an orchard in the “Celestial” Mountains. This reminds Rob that there is work to be done until the day Jesus returns.

Rob Ends Up in an Orchard

Want to learn more about what life is like for believers in Central Asia? Ask us for a copy of the ebook, They Loved Not Their Lives: Stories of Transformation from Kyrgyzstan. Originally published in Kyrgyz and translated into English, it includes testimonies from 60 believers.