They were stopped at an intersection when she knocked on their car window and asked for directions. Disheveled, disoriented and on the brink of suicide, the forty-something woman was clearly lost in more ways than one. It was easier to take her to her destination than to explain how to get there on the city’s winding roads.

And that’s how God brought Elena into the East-West missionaries’ lives … and neither Elena nor the missionaries would ever be the same. 

Not long before, Elena emigrated from Russia to the Middle East. Shortly after her arrival, she was scammed out of her life savings. With no money to buy food, she ate from dumpsters for three weeks before she was institutionalized.

And that’s when Elena began her slow descent into Schizophrenia.

Elena is trilingual and was once a tour guide at a prestigious museum. Now her mental illness and medication leave her unable to care for her most basic needs.

The East-West missionaries befriended Elena and minister to her with their lives. They take her to doctor appointments and advocate for her … sharing the love of Christ in word and deed.

As they have shared their lives and the love of Jesus with Elena, she has come to trust them and even say she believes in Jesus—readily agreeing with them during times of prayer.

Elena came from the brink of suicide to the love of Christ demonstrated by East-West missionaries. Both are forever changed.