From four cultures, music team shares a single passion
The music team — Anya, Daniela, Renata and Sergei — performs in a Siberian church.
By Daniela H. in Siberia
Two years ago, God put it on the hearts of four people from four different cultures to start a Buryat music group in Russia. Our group — with members from Canada, Switzerland, Moldova and Buryatia — has the vision to bring Buryat melodies into our mostly Russian churches.
Our hope is that our Buryat brothers and sisters can see the value in their own music and culture and believe that God can use this to reach out to others. It has been amazing to see people’s reactions when they hear the familiar sounds of their culture in an unexpected place!
All of us have neat stories about how God has grown us into serving Him through music. Sometimes God plants dreams into our hearts that later become true in a way we had never imagined.
Renata’s parents call her a miracle child, mostly because she was born early, at six months. Music has always been a part of her life. When she was 19, she began to play the violin. She thought about learning to play the cello next, but this never happened. Many years later, after she moved from Canada to Russia to serve with SEND, Renata heard the music of the morin khuur. She immediately fell in love with this traditional Buryat “cello.” Now she takes lessons from one of the best morin khuur
players and plays the instrument at church.
Anya’s story is one of persistence. As a child in Buryatia, she was known to be totally unmusical. Still, at the age of 15, she insisted on taking guitar lessons. Her teacher thought it was hopeless, but to his amazement, she had a breakthrough in the second year and started to have a feel for music and rhythm. Anya became a believer through the worship times in church, but when she joined the choir, the ladies asked her to sing more softly, because she couldn’t get it straight. Undeterred, she never stopped dreaming and praying that one day she would be able to sing and serve God as part of the worship team. One night, the Lord answered her prayers and gave her the ability to hear and sing in tune! Now she plays the guitar and the piano for our group and sings in our church.
When Sergei from Moldova sang at church as a teen-ager, others would employ a common Russian phrase, saying: “You are absolutely unmusical. Obviously a bear has stepped on your ear.” So he started to ask God for a miracle and after a while, to everyone’s astonishment, he was able to sing along. He picked up his brother’s old guitar and taught himself to play it. He became part of the music team at his church in Moldova, where he also learned to play the bass guitar. Then he moved to Buryatia, married Anya and fell in love with Buryat music. What a perfect fit!
I am the fourth member of our Buryat band. In Switzerland, I grew up playing four different instruments, but due to a medical condition, I lost the ability to play any of them. I let go of them with great sadness, glad that I could at least still sing. But then, over the course of eight years, God gave me back all my instruments, one after the other. Now I lead the Buryat music team, and I recently started to write melodies in the Buryat style.
The four of us all enjoy our weekly practices and the opportunities we have to play in churches. We resonate with what Johann Sebastian Bach wrote beneath each of his religious compositions: Soli Deo gloria!
Glory to God alone!
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Choosing a Missions Organization: Why SEND International Stands Out “Why should I be a missionary through SEND International?” Jenna, a new missionary in Eastern Europe, shared with us what she appreciates about working with SEND. The highlights for her are: - Devotion to prayer - Diligence in communication - Commitment to development - Intentionality in accountability Prayer “Back in September of 2022, the Lord reconnected me with SEND after I had met them a year prior at the Moody Bible Institute. However, before he would sign me up for anything, my Missions Coach encouraged me to pray. He said something to the effect of, "I know that you've been praying on your own for a long time. But as the Church, we are not called to walk alone. So, you and I won't talk for about a month unless you have questions. I want you to go pray with 5 or 6 others from your church about where God is calling you." That October, more than 10 friends prayed with me and we saw God answer as He directed me to Romania. From February 2024 to November 2025, I had the pleasure of being a part of team meetings in Romania with my SEND colleagues. Our meetings were four hours long, two for prayer and two for business. This has been the minimum for our team. There are also prayer meetings with the local churches we partner with, among smaller groups within our team, of course prayer with many of you across the pond, including those at our US office. The organization was built, has been sustained, and continues to run on prayer. This is my favorite thing about SEND. Communication As I mentioned above, we have a two hour block for business / ministry details in each of our meetings. This provides consistency across our team which works alongside three different churches and in a variety of ministries. It also helps us to communicate about the need for change or growth, alongside what is working well. In addition, my team director also meets with each of us, allowing us to communicate needs, considerations, and prayer requests. I've also enjoyed getting to work with SEND workers outside of my immediate region . We receive emails with the minutes from the Europe leadership team, Friday communications from our international director, and information regarding projects that affect our work among the unreached. In December of 2024, our international director at the time wrote a note to my parents for the first Christmas that I was gone. If nothing else had convinced my mom yet, this did. He took the time to care for me, but also to care well for the parents that were sending me (What it meant to my dad and mom for him to do this well has been one of the greatest ways I've been supported.). I also have some pretty wonderful regional directors. These people have prayed alongside us (while also serving in their own countries of service), they have taken time to come visit and encourage our team, and they have also taken the time to encourage the people in our churches. Development SEND has provided much in the area of development and care (spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally). At our regional conference (every three years), there have been medical check ups available, counseling options, and time for connecting with others on the field with similar experience. At our conference last October, I connected with a missionary who served overseas for many years, and is now serving on the administrative side of SEND. She has met with me since then for mentorship and has also invested much of her time recently in preparing a retreat for the singles across Europe. Accountability Over the years I have read and heard amazing stories of how God has worked through missionaries. God has done great things and great things He is still doing! However, people who have committed their lives to the Lord in this way are not “super Christians”. We are still humans with the same struggle against flesh that others have . A major challenge is in being isolated -- living in areas with little to no presence of other believers to sharpen them can cause many difficulties. SEND has been a great resource in this area too. Through my team, I have an accountability partner that I meet with monthly. When my regional director came to visit, he and his wife spent a day with me and asked intentional questions about how I lead, handle conflict, and how I am growing in general as a Christian. In addition, my teammates share their wisdom with me on a regular basis. These things and more have assured me that SEND International is a highly valuable organization and I'm excited to partner with them in service to, for, and with our great God! Interested in being sent by SEND?
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