Pt 2: Yegor Hambaryan + Terminal Cancer Healing

[00:00:03] Welcome to the Ask About My Faith Podcast, where our hope is to inspire everyday faith conversations.

[00:00:09] I'm Jess.

[00:00:10] And I'm Abbey. We're excited to have Yegor Hambaryan return for part two of sharing his incredible

[00:00:17] story. Originally from Armenia, Yegor has worked in retail and spent nine years doing mission

[00:00:24] work overseas. Today, he's sharing incredible stories about boldly living out his life and

[00:00:29] his faith, including how he miraculously learned multiple languages and gets to share that story

[00:00:36] at work. He also shares a story of praying for a young boy with terminal cancer. You'll hear

[00:00:44] his fun and fearless approach to spreading the reason for the season at Target too. So let's

[00:00:52] jump in.

[00:00:56] Well, I love that in part one, you got to tell us so much about your time just like growing

[00:01:02] up in Armenia and then, okay. So let's just fast forward to now you're in America. You're

[00:01:08] in Minnesota. Yes. You came to America just a few years ago, right?

[00:01:15] Five. Five years. Okay. Awesome. Can you tell us the most recent story of sharing your faith

[00:01:23] that you can remember?

[00:01:25] Well, the most recent will be today.

[00:01:28] Yes. I knew it would be. Let's hear.

[00:01:31] Yeah. It's completely similar to, as you heard during this whole recording, I have a very beautiful

[00:01:41] accent and that comes really... When I, at my workplace, when I talk with people, the question

[00:01:52] I have been always asked, well, you have an accent. Where are you from? Oh, I'm from Armenia.

[00:01:59] And the next question will be, well, how come your English is so good? And then I like, can I share

[00:02:06] you a quick life story? And they are like, yes. And then I share how God gave me the languages, which

[00:02:14] is, I did nine years of mission work in the Baltics. And when I was working with Lithuanians, Latvians,

[00:02:26] Russians and Americans. When I was there, I knew that God brought me there. And all I had to do is

[00:02:34] confidently be annoyed and say, hey God, you brought me here. Holy annoying. I call it holy annoying,

[00:02:42] which is not righteous. Well, you are kind of like a confident, something's going to happen.

[00:02:49] Yes.

[00:02:50] So, and so I prayed, all I prayed, I said, hey God, you brought me here. You can give me the language

[00:02:57] in Jesus name. Amen. Went to sleep, wake up. And so I was in a meeting with Americans and my,

[00:03:10] the ministry, the ministry person met. He was like, he got in English. Would you be able to

[00:03:19] do crafts in a hope orphanage? And I respond to him back to English. Yeah, no problem. What, what,

[00:03:30] what would you like me to do? And he looked at me like, what just happened? Wait a minute.

[00:03:38] You told me you don't speak English. And I'm like, well, I kind of don't speak English. And I'm

[00:03:44] responding all in English. And you have a translator with you too, right?

[00:03:48] Yeah, I did have a translator and I sometimes used Google Translator. Yeah. And yeah, I'm looking

[00:03:58] at them. They are looking at me. They're like, well, wait a minute. What language did you just,

[00:04:02] yeah. What language did you just respond? Like, are you aware of what's happening?

[00:04:05] Yeah. And I'm like, I don't know. I'm probably talking in Armenian and I'm just responding back

[00:04:11] completely like all in English. And, and he's like, no, that's not Armenian. That's, you know,

[00:04:20] that's English. And I'm like, no, that's not. And I caught myself, I caught myself speaking English.

[00:04:26] It just like, and I was like really super excited, jumping, yelling, spanking English words.

[00:04:37] So God gave me a language and the same way God gave me Russian, Lithuanian, Latvian. So

[00:04:43] all the languages I speak, it's all God given. I did not learn them. I did not deserve them. I did not

[00:04:51] own them. I just simply asked God and God gave me. So the gifts of the spirit are real.

[00:04:56] Yes. Believing them.

[00:04:58] Yes.

[00:04:58] Pray and God.

[00:04:59] Wow.

[00:04:59] But there's nothing special about me. All I do is, you know,

[00:05:03] simply pray and ask God to give me the languages.

[00:05:06] Yes, a lot of faith. Believe.

[00:05:07] Yeah. So did you find out you spoke all those languages this same way where it's like you

[00:05:11] accidentally started talking to someone? The Russian language was, I was sitting next to

[00:05:16] the kids and they were using profanity and I was like, look at them and responding. And

[00:05:24] they were like, what? What?

[00:05:26] What?

[00:05:26] What?

[00:05:26] He's a spy.

[00:05:27] He's a spy.

[00:05:28] We thought you could understand.

[00:05:29] He's a spy.

[00:05:30] Yeah.

[00:05:30] Yeah.

[00:05:30] And like they run away from me and I'm like, why are you running away from me? Like answering

[00:05:35] them in Russian. And they're like, because you know our language. You're like, what are

[00:05:38] you talking about? I don't know Russian language. And he's like, that's the thing.

[00:05:42] You're a liar. You're a liar. And they run away from me. And they were like,

[00:05:45] oh, okay. I speak Russian.

[00:05:48] Okay. I speak Russian.

[00:05:49] Yeah. And in a camp I discovered I speak Lithuanian and then, and in Latvia I speak,

[00:05:55] yeah, I discovered I can speak and understand Latvian too. So all glory to God. Yeah.

[00:06:01] Yes.

[00:06:01] Okay.

[00:06:02] So recently based on the need, I didn't pray about Spanish, but I literally picked up Spanish.

[00:06:09] Really?

[00:06:09] Like first time, like every time someone comes and says, I'm like, I'm Spanish. And

[00:06:14] in my response, like, I'm like Google Translator. Let's try.

[00:06:19] Honestly?

[00:06:21] That is crazy. Well, I was going to say you work in retail, so you probably get a wide range

[00:06:26] of people. Yeah.

[00:06:27] And in Minnesota we have a lot of Spanish speakers. So that makes sense.

[00:06:30] Yeah. They are awesome. They are actually, kudos to Spanish speaking families. The one

[00:06:37] thing I love about them. And I think if people can learn that culture from them, I love how they

[00:06:44] value family. I think that's the most important part, how they stay together, how they support each

[00:06:49] other. I have seen so many people coming and you know, they are so generous. They will be always like

[00:06:56] outrun in generosity to each other. Oh, let me buy you this expensive device, or let me buy you this

[00:07:02] expensive case. Or like, they are like really good. And you can see even some parents, they have no

[00:07:10] problem working day and night just to provide something specific for a kid or for a family

[00:07:17] member or support someone who, but they have no idea. It just, someone came from Mexico or

[00:07:23] somewhere else and they just like, oh, we just met him, but he's from our country. We are supporting.

[00:07:29] Yeah.

[00:07:29] And thinking like, that's Jesus, you know, again, the hilarious part, most of them, their names are Jesus.

[00:07:36] Right. He's got a lot of Jesuses.

[00:07:39] Yeah.

[00:07:39] Okay, wait. So you were saying that-

[00:07:41] So just today.

[00:07:42] Yes. You got to share that story today.

[00:07:43] This came up.

[00:07:45] Yeah. And I was talking with one of my business customers and he asked and I shared how God

[00:07:54] gave me the language and he was in shock and, you know, and he told me 20 times that he couldn't

[00:08:00] believe it. And I was like, I have nothing to prove to you other than, you know, I don't lie,

[00:08:06] just sharing what I share. But like, if you want proof, I can call Matt and let him share,

[00:08:12] let him share how he discovered.

[00:08:15] Was it with our friend, Matt Rosin?

[00:08:18] No, Matt Rosin came four years later. Yeah.

[00:08:23] Okay.

[00:08:23] That was the director, Matt, for the organization.

[00:08:28] Got it.

[00:08:28] For our listeners, if you also want to hear another fun-

[00:08:32] Yes.

[00:08:33] Episode.

[00:08:33] Fun episode. Tune into Matt Rosin, one of our earlier episodes.

[00:08:38] Yeah, two years ago almost.

[00:08:39] Yeah.

[00:08:39] Yeah.

[00:08:40] Igor, do you remember a time that you shared that story and it like, you know, led to a

[00:08:46] much like a deeper conversation. It led to more of, you know, their life being changed.

[00:08:53] Yeah. So, um, you know, first of all, if you have never shared your faith and you have never

[00:09:03] experienced the joy of sharing, it's like having the ability to do something good and you are not

[00:09:10] doing good. So there is a, the sharing about faith can be very beneficial to everything from,

[00:09:19] first of all, being faithful to God and listening what he does. And then also it will enable you to

[00:09:26] be more bold in your faith. Also, it will make you way more happier because you've finally followed

[00:09:32] the command that God gave you.

[00:09:35] Right.

[00:09:36] And yeah, and in the end of the day, um, you know, for me sharing my faith is, is not like

[00:09:44] I kind of must do it or I want to do it. It's something that I cannot not tell you other things other

[00:09:53] than Jesus.

[00:09:54] Yeah.

[00:09:55] Yeah. And, um, I have, I actually know that I shared this story with you, but let me share this story

[00:10:02] again. Uh, so yeah, um, there was a family who visited from, um, Nashville. The visit wasn't as

[00:10:12] pleasant and I actually will kind of like not share too much, but, uh, what I would share, uh, this

[00:10:21] lady approaches, uh, you know, to a place where I work and what she wanted to buy. She wanted to buy a

[00:10:28] device for a kid, uh, her kid who is going through a cancer treatment and they were here because

[00:10:37] Minnesota has one of the best children's hospitals. I wish Minnesota has one of the best children

[00:10:44] doctors. They pray for the kids that they get healed. You know, I like always make, yeah. So

[00:10:49] she shares why she's here. And, um, the first thing that come to my mind is like,

[00:10:58] Oh, we are gonna, you know, first of all, like without even asking your permission, like,

[00:11:04] Hey, let's pray. Like if I have a chance to pray for you, I'm not going to ask your permission.

[00:11:10] That's not your job to give me your permission to pray for me because that's my job to pray for you.

[00:11:15] So I think Minnesota Christians and Christians in United States are too nice to each other or too

[00:11:21] nice to other people. And that doesn't allow them to share. So I was like, well, let's pray.

[00:11:26] So I asked the kid's name and let's name the kid Aaron. And so we actually, kid's name is Aaron.

[00:11:36] So yeah. Yeah. I think he remembered because he's in my journal. I prayed for him today. Uh, so, um,

[00:11:44] yeah. So it's like, Hey, let's, let's pray. I asked the name and we prayed. Uh, we, we, the specifics

[00:11:54] that I want to share, the doctors didn't tell a good things about the health of this kid.

[00:12:01] Yeah. In, in my prayer, um, you know, sometimes when you pray for people, God gives you an extra

[00:12:10] wisdom specific things to pray. I remember praying for a blood flow, for a muscle release, for a spinal

[00:12:19] cord to align for, for, yeah, like a kind of like a things to disappear. I don't even remember the names,

[00:12:27] but I, I named out things that medically I wouldn't be aware. Like I just prayed. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, um,

[00:12:35] we prayed and I said, oh man, she just light up. She gave me a hug crying. And my managers know that's

[00:12:43] a normal thing. Everyone comes and walks with me. They don't give me a hug or like super happy and go,

[00:12:49] um, uh, I'm trying to remember either was it the next day or a day after she brings that kid to my

[00:13:00] workplace to introduce me completely healed. Wow. Yes. So like praise God first that God heals

[00:13:11] people, God heals kids. Yes. Thank God for the willingness of praying. And I also thank God for

[00:13:19] the willingness to just be in a place to accept the prayer. Yeah. Um, and all I had to do.

[00:13:25] Yeah. He was like terminal or not doing well. Yeah. And then they must have done another scan or,

[00:13:31] you know. It's terminal like, um, um, like kind of like a stage four cancer. Yeah. Yes. So yeah,

[00:13:39] the kid was stage four. Yeah. Stage four. Got it. Okay. Yeah. When I met him,

[00:13:44] I remember he didn't have hair, which was lost, uh, due to a lot of chemo. Sure. Uh,

[00:13:51] what his mom shared that, um, he had a swollen face from all the chemicals. And when I saw him,

[00:13:58] he didn't have a swollen face at all. Wow. So it was like, God, like restored and all of it. So he was

[00:14:05] actually let go either. I don't know if it was the next day or a day after. Sure. So,

[00:14:11] but like, what I want to share. Yeah. I mean, can we just pop like, like,

[00:14:14] can you just imagine? Oh man. Like the doctors and everyone just being so shocked because

[00:14:18] here's this kid, like we're about to stage four flew to Minnesota to do all these treatments,

[00:14:24] whatever it was. And you know, maybe they're about to go and do a scan. Cause they're thinking,

[00:14:29] wait, your side effects seem to be like really improved. Yeah. Let's try and figure out what's going on.

[00:14:34] And it's gone. It's gone. That's insane. Yeah. Um, I mean, so first of all, praise God. God heals.

[00:14:41] Yes. Oh, God healed me so many times. Like I won't even go there because I have so many testimonies.

[00:14:47] But like the one thing I want to say is what I always like, I love to think about the moments and

[00:14:55] the question I ask myself going to sleep is imagine I chicken out. I did not pray.

[00:15:05] And imagine where would the life of that kid be? Yeah.

[00:15:11] I'm not saying my prayer that was my prayer did anything. I'm sure God will find so many other

[00:15:17] people to pray. If you are not obedient to God, God always has a ways to complete his plan.

[00:15:22] I'm confident on that. Right. Yeah.

[00:15:26] But the thing that I experienced that day, I would never again give an opportunity

[00:15:34] to an enemy to take away from me knowing the joy of experiencing healing.

[00:15:40] Yes.

[00:15:41] A presence of God, a praise of God.

[00:15:43] God. Uh, and there is like nothing more joyful than being obedient on that second and or like

[00:15:50] saying words that you don't know, just like pray out and trust God. He's going to do the thing. And

[00:15:56] again, nothing special about me. Just like super simple. I know who God is. Yeah.

[00:16:01] Like, um, my challenge will be always if you have never fell in love with God, please do. Yeah. If you

[00:16:10] have never fell in love with your prayer life, please do. It doesn't supposed to sound like,

[00:16:17] oh, I already heard this. I want that to awaken everyone who is listening. If you never fell in

[00:16:25] love with the presence of God, then you are missing a lot. You are missing the experience of the fear of

[00:16:32] God, the power of God, the glory of God, and the things that God has for you. Um, yeah, I had recently

[00:16:40] a challenge. Like it was so simple. One of a friend of mine and I was talking with him and he was like,

[00:16:50] yeah, I don't want to miss this. I don't want to miss that. And it was, we were talking all about

[00:16:55] sports and you don't want to miss it. And it just kind of like came to me like, here we, I'm here to

[00:17:03] help you, your relationship with God. There are things that you say I don't want to miss because I will

[00:17:10] let the team down. What gives you the right to have a heart to do not let down your team,

[00:17:19] but with an ease, you can let doubt, let down God. Like, I don't know. I'm like,

[00:17:25] always it's like, let's respect God because he does deserve that. Yeah. Let's, let's walk in his

[00:17:33] presence with thankfulness. It's a good reality. I just, yeah. I just like, hey, let allow God

[00:17:43] to do miracles and more. And when he does it, do you know the secret of having more miracles?

[00:17:51] Think about it. Don't keep it to yourself. Yes. When you keep it to yourself, it's biblical. God

[00:17:56] doesn't give you extra because now he knows you are not going to share. Why give someone something to

[00:18:02] someone that is not shareable. You know? Right. Yeah. That's like a rule. So yeah. Share about God

[00:18:09] and don't be afraid. What, what, what other person's going to do to you? All they're going to do is say no.

[00:18:16] Right. Right. Yeah.

[00:18:17] Yegor, you also, um, one of the things you shared with us is that you like to share about your faith

[00:18:22] when you're just in the store, you know, Walmart, Target, grocery store, wherever. Can you share a

[00:18:28] story that, uh, it comes to mind from that type of setting? Definitely. Uh, well, uh, my favorite thing

[00:18:38] is catching people and praying for them without permission in a holiday season at Target, at Costco,

[00:18:47] or places. And so fun story, not even a funny story. Um, so I was in a, in a Target

[00:18:58] and I was like, I love Legos. I can buy Legos forever. And if you ever want to give me a Christmas

[00:19:04] gift or someone else who's listening, you can reach me out. I can give you my address and you can send

[00:19:10] me all the Legos you want, but I'm kidding. So I was in an aisle buying Legos and there was this lady,

[00:19:17] um, you know, kind of looking around and, um, there was like a Christmas tree,

[00:19:25] uh, Lego sets, a lot of baby toys and other stuff. And then I see a person and I'm like,

[00:19:33] let's share the joy, you know, let's go tell them about Jesus. And so I go there and like,

[00:19:39] hey, so awesome. Me and you get to celebrate the birth of Jesus. And this lady is looking at me,

[00:19:46] like, who's Jesus? And I'm like, whoa, you don't know who Jesus is. Okay. First of all,

[00:19:54] who you believe. And, and she was like, I don't believe anyone. I said, that's okay with me today.

[00:20:00] You are going to believe in Jesus and, and I'm not going to let you have another choices, you know?

[00:20:07] So then the one thing I said, I said, Hey, uh, I don't know why I said that, but I said, Hey,

[00:20:12] you have, first of all, you have the most beautiful eyes. And I believe Jesus is looking

[00:20:17] at them right now and she's smiling. And I said, second of all, I don't know what you are going

[00:20:24] through and what make you have zero faith on anyone. Even if you don't believe and have faith on God,

[00:20:32] God has faith in you, whatever you are doing, keep doing. And, and, and I continue like these

[00:20:38] challenges in your life are not meant to break you. You are learning from it. So I have a lady now

[00:20:44] tears up with her beautiful eyes and she's like, okay, okay, keep, keep talking. And I'm like, okay,

[00:20:51] well, let me tell you about Jesus. Just, just to let you know that Christmas is,

[00:20:57] is coming to celebrating the Christ who was born and he's your savior. And I'm just a free gift.

[00:21:04] And I, and, and I, and I said, I would hate for you to miss this opportunity to celebrate his

[00:21:12] birthday. And don't, one of the best ways to celebrate his birthday is bring a gift for him too.

[00:21:20] And the, I think one of the free gifts you can do is like, give your heart to him.

[00:21:25] And as soon as I said it, like this lady already like gone, bawling and like, she's like just crying

[00:21:31] and very emotional. Wow.

[00:21:34] I had, I had said nothing special other than speak the truth and speak about Jesus and,

[00:21:39] and just being bald. And, and then I said, well, I feel like I'm supposed to pray for your daughter.

[00:21:47] I didn't even ask if she had a daughter.

[00:21:49] Hmm.

[00:21:50] And I'm going to pray that your daughter will call you today.

[00:21:55] And she's going to tell that how much she loves you.

[00:21:58] You know, sometimes you are like in your back, like, does she even have a daughter?

[00:22:02] What if the daughter is like, yeah.

[00:22:04] So, and I keep, keep saying, I'm going to pray for a great night's sleep.

[00:22:08] I'm going to pray for the miracle of Jesus to come to your heart.

[00:22:12] Mm-hmm .

[00:22:12] And I said, by the way, uh, repeat after me.

[00:22:16] I didn't even say do you want to accept Jesus?

[00:22:18] So I made her pray the prayer of salvation.

[00:22:24] And the truth is we have power in our tongues, power to create and power to destroy.

[00:22:31] I always use that power to create.

[00:22:34] Yes.

[00:22:34] And you know, it's the presence of God.

[00:22:37] So like, I'm not going to shy and say, oh, does she want to pray or not?

[00:22:41] No, you are praying.

[00:22:42] If you are there, you are praying.

[00:22:44] So she prayed, accepted Jesus.

[00:22:47] I prayed for it.

[00:22:48] And then she goes, I haven't spoke to my daughter for three years now.

[00:22:53] Wow.

[00:22:54] Uh, I used to drink a lot and now I'm sober for a year and my daughter won't speak to me.

[00:23:01] Mm-hmm .

[00:23:03] Uh, and I was like, God promises she will speak to you.

[00:23:10] Wow.

[00:23:10] All I did is just prayed for her.

[00:23:12] I don't know the backstory if it's even called or not, but like something that,

[00:23:19] you know, be bold.

[00:23:21] It's like, again, did I share anything about me with that lady?

[00:23:24] What do I do?

[00:23:25] How much I love Legos?

[00:23:26] No.

[00:23:26] No.

[00:23:27] No.

[00:23:28] No.

[00:23:28] But did I share what I'm celebrating and what she should celebrate as well?

[00:23:33] Yeah.

[00:23:33] Yes.

[00:23:34] Yeah.

[00:23:34] Mm-hmm .

[00:23:35] So imagine so many broken people and, and I challenge everyone.

[00:23:43] Mm-hmm .

[00:23:43] When you are at the store, look at people.

[00:23:47] Yes.

[00:23:48] If you are not bold enough to go share them the joy of Jesus, pray for them,

[00:23:54] look at their directions, pray for them.

[00:23:56] Right.

[00:23:57] And if Jesus says, go tell something, you better do it because-

[00:24:01] Don't miss the other day.

[00:24:02] You better be bold.

[00:24:03] No.

[00:24:04] Right.

[00:24:04] Right.

[00:24:05] Don't, don't, like, it's not about you.

[00:24:08] Mm-hmm .

[00:24:08] Wow.

[00:24:09] Mm-hmm .

[00:24:10] There was a guy named Moses.

[00:24:11] He couldn't speak, but he led the whole nation out of Egypt.

[00:24:14] Right.

[00:24:15] Like, if a person like that can do stuff and his name will be written, like, so do you.

[00:24:21] Yes.

[00:24:21] Like, it's not about you.

[00:24:22] It's not about your talents.

[00:24:23] God's, God's, God doesn't have a talent show.

[00:24:26] All God has is you.

[00:24:28] God uses simple humans.

[00:24:31] Yes.

[00:24:32] Nothing extraordinary.

[00:24:33] So be open for it.

[00:24:35] So, yeah.

[00:24:36] I have so many stories at Target.

[00:24:39] Yes.

[00:24:39] Gosh, Yegor.

[00:24:40] Yeah.

[00:24:40] And the checkout, like, I would go and there is this guy who has like a half a hand and

[00:24:46] like kind of in a wheelchair and he always checks the checkout.

[00:24:50] And I will go, his name is Eddie, and I will always go and like put my hand on him and do a secret

[00:24:55] prayer.

[00:24:56] And then two months later, he's like, why do you put your hand on me every time you go?

[00:25:01] I said, well, I'm secretly praying for you.

[00:25:03] And I'm like, well, now you can pray for me openly.

[00:25:06] What do you want to pray for?

[00:25:07] And I'm like, oh, what do you want me to pray for, Eddie?

[00:25:11] And he's like, well, I had a bad day.

[00:25:13] You can pray for it.

[00:25:14] And so I simply prayed.

[00:25:15] Great.

[00:25:16] Yeah.

[00:25:16] People want prayers.

[00:25:18] Yeah.

[00:25:18] Yes.

[00:25:19] And there are so many things.

[00:25:22] I love all the ways that you, I mean, your faith is clearly the center of who you are,

[00:25:28] how you live.

[00:25:29] And it's just been so inspiring to hear your stories.

[00:25:32] And I love the challenges you've given us.

[00:25:36] And I'm excited to listen back to our interview several times.

[00:25:40] And I feel like there's so many nuggets that we're going to take away.

[00:25:43] So thank you.

[00:25:44] Yeah.

[00:25:44] Praise God.

[00:25:47] Thank you for listening to the Ask But My Faith podcast.

[00:25:49] We'd love your support in continuing to bring you encouraging and inspiring stories.

[00:25:54] Please subscribe, rate, interview wherever you're listening.

[00:25:57] And you can learn more about us and donate at askbutmyfaith.com.

[00:26:02] God bless you this week as you go out and share your faith.