Tatiana, Mikhail and Liana Mendakov Christmas 2008

Beginnings of a dream...

Here is an article written about Tatiana Mendakova,

Director of SunErgos International.

 To Russia with Love 

 July 2006

Tatiana Mendakov’s (Napelenok) life is a remarkable love story.

Ukrainian-born Tatiana grew up in the former Soviet Union where her parents were harassed and ostracized because of their faith in Christ.  The communist police often raided the home of her grandfather – a pastor – to confiscate Bibles.

Tatiana was nine years old when her parents fled the persecution in Estonia – a tiny state bordering Russia – and came as refugees to the United States.

Seventeen years later, her love for the people of Russia – and her heart to serve those whom Jesus called “the least of these” – provided the impetus for Tatiana to return.

In May, she moved from Spokane, Washington, to St. Petersburg, Russia, to minister to the city’s orphans and abandoned children – and to marry the local Nazarene pastor.

“My desire is to love people as God loves,” says 26-year-old Tatiana, a former member of Westside Nazarene in Spokane.

In Spokane, Tatiana served with World Relief, an evangelical agency that mobilizes local churches to care for newly arrived refugees and help them adjust to life in the United States.

As a former refugee herself who spoke no English when she arrived in the U.S., Tatiana understood well the struggles that many of America’s newcomers face – difficulty understanding people, the feeling of being an outsider, and lack of confidence.

It was the beginning of her ministry to marginalized people – a ministry that now continues on the other side of the world in St. Petersburg, a city of 5 million.

Today, Tatiana serves at the St. Petersburg Church of the Nazarene pastored by her 29-year-old husband, Pastor Mikhail Mendakov.  They married in June.

Tatiana met Mikhail when she traveled to St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) in 2001 as a Nazarene in Volunteer Service (now Mission Corps).  The experience not only began a friendship with Mikhail but also ignited a love for the Russian people.

God melted Tatiana’s heart for those she saw around her… men, women and children whose hollow expressions revealed the emptiness of their lives.  “Often, I’d ride the public transportation and look at the people’s faces,” she recalls.  “I would see so much pain and sadness that it would break my heart.”

Tatiana knew that many of those on the public buses would return home to gray apartment buildings, with no hope of a better life (the average monthly salary is $200-$300).  Even more heart wrenching, they had no knowledge of Jesus.

“So many Russian people are searching… but they don’t know where to turn,” she explains.  “People are starving for the Truth, but they often do not look for answers in the right places.  Some turn to alcohol or drugs; others try (religious sects).”

Many Russians – raised with the Russian Orthodox religion – are suspicious of evangelical churches.  “Sometimes it’s hard to explain that, yes, we are different from (Russian) Orthodoxy, but we are not a sect,” Tatiana says.  “It’s a long and difficult road.”

Driven by compassion for the confused and hurting people around her, Tatiana launched a non-profit ministry called Sunergos, meaning “working in unity.”  Working with the Church of the Nazarene, the ministry helps orphans, abandoned children and runaways through orphanages and children’s centers in St. Petersburg.  Many of the workers are Nazarenes.

“Together, we are showing Russia’s people that there is a God of love who has not forsaken them,” Tatiana says.

If you would like to support Tatiana & Mikhail Mendakov, click here.