Joe Ragan

This was the first time that I can remember that I haven’t been with family or friends on Easter. I traveled to Almaty, arriving on Saturday, so that I could attend an English service on Easter Sunday.
When I arrived for the service, I couldn’t believe the hotel they were meeting in. [...]

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PRIORITY: The Kazakhstan parliament is debating a new law to restrict evangelistic efforts here. Some of these restrictions include: all “missionaries” would have to be registered (however, the law is written as such that every member of every church would need to be). Sharing with friends, co-workers, and strangers could constitute a [...]

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I have cable TV and only have two English channels, CNN and a EuroSports network. Most of the good sports stuff is on during the middle of the night here, so most of the time during the day they repeat sports news. Of course, all of it is about European sports, so there [...]

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The Kazakh Parliament is debating whether or not to restrict all missionaries in the country by requiring them to register with the government. This includes even nationals.
Pray for God to intercede. As I have more information, I will post it on the website.

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Thank you for taking time to pray for these requests.
PRAISES: Alosha, a young man that I met during youth camp last summer has checked in to a Christian drug rehab center. I am praising God for this development since he has always said he didn’t have a drug problem. Pray for his [...]

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Snow has been falling everyday here now for 4-5 days. Most of the time it’s just a little. When I arrived back in Karaganda on Tuesday evening, the snow was falling and everything was covered in white again. It was all so nice.
By the time I went to bed it had stopped [...]

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Long distance bus rides are never fun, even in America. I have ridden the bus on numerous occasions in America and a couple of times in the former Soviet Union. I prefer to take the train here, but there are times when the bus does get you there faster.
I traveled to Astana, the [...]

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I met Alosha last summer during our church’s youth camp. He is 17 now, but at the time he was 16 and hooked on drugs. We had long conversations about his addiction (which of course he didn’t see it that way).
My wonderful pastor, Valodia, was able to finally get him to check in [...]

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Well, I’m a Texas boy, 100%. So, when I was asked to come to Karaganda I immediately went on the internet to see what the temps were. In December I found the temps to be around -10 to -15 f. In January much the same with snow in the forecast often.
I’m a [...]

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Well, today I sent the notice that I had a new website. I owe a HUGE debt of gratitute to Steve Blackwood. He does this for missionaries around the world. He had almost completed my site before I moved to Karaganda, so he had to undo a lot of what he already [...]

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