CHIMKENT, Kazakhstan (UCAN) -- Father Ivan Flores spends five hours a day studying Russian. He is also constructing and painting a new tabernacle for the church in this southern Kazakh city, his new place of service.

The priest is a long way from home. He is one of two Argentine Incarnate Word priests who have taken over the daunting mission to nurture Catholicism in Kazakhstan's third-largest city. Holy Trinity Diocese in Almaty serves the Chimkent area, 1,000 kilometers south of Astana, Kazakhstan's capital.

Although churchgoers have increased tenfold since 1998, when St. Therese of Lisieux Parish was first established, this translates to a still small number.

Vladislav, a parishioner who gave only his first name, told UCA News about this growth: "Now our church has about 30 people attending, whereas in 1998, when the parish was set up in Chimkent, there were only three Catholics."

Father Flores and Father Ezequiel Ayala, temporarily on loan from the Incarnate Word mission in nearby Tajikistan, have taken on what two Spanish diocesan priests began. Fathers Jose Luis Mumbiela and Marcelo Miguel Vasquez set up the parish after coming to work in Kazakhstan.

Father Jose Luis left in 2006 to join the staff of the major seminary in Karaganda, closer to Astana. Father Vasquez went back to Spain in 2006.

"When I came here in January, I was surprised by how quiet the church is," Father Flores said. "Our churches in Argentina are usually full of people -- not only during the Mass but at other times too. Here everything is too quiet."

The priests face major challenges. Father Ezequiel Ayala pointed out that "people still don't know about the Catholic Church, and we have to deal with that." He is filling in for Father Esteban Dumont, who is on medical leave in Argentina.

The church compound, located on two hectares of land in a suburban area, has ample space. Besides the two-story church building, it has a garden with fruit trees, a garage and a guesthouse. Only a small nameplate on the front gate identifies it as a Catholic church.

Most of the parishioners are ethnic Germans, Poles and Russians. "But most of them were born here and speak Russian, so we celebrate Mass and other religious ceremonies only in Russian," Father Ayala said.

"The great achievement of the previous priests was that they could build and register the parish here," he continued. "We can only dream about such accommodations and such space for activities with children in Dushanbe (the Tajik capital), because the church building there is much smaller."

A dynamic that affects Church life here is that as Catholics were realizing that a new parish existed to serve them, and some people were baptized into the community, an exodus also was in progress.

"Many people are leaving Chimkent looking for a better life now, Catholics among them," Vladislav said. "We see the number of Poles and Germans is dropping, most going to Russia, but new people are also coming, various people who are new to the Church. This year we had four baptisms."

It is slow, painstaking work, Father Ayala acknowledges, but he also sees progress. "After our priests started to work here the number of Catholics increased a bit, slowly. I saw Father Esteban calling on each parishioner once a week. He was always on the phone, and it is good, because parishioners here feel that someone is interested in them," he said.

The church may be quiet, but not as quiet as before. "We run different kinds of activities for youth and children," Father Ayala pointed out. "Every Sunday Catholic children play computer games, football and table tennis."

The temporary assistant parish priest also noted with optimism that more help is on the way.

"We are expecting Incarnate Word sisters to come. Because of that, the parish life may become much more active and full of different activities with children and adults," he said.

Kazakhstan has about 250,000 Catholics, many of them ethnic Poles. Another 7,000 belong to the Ukrainian (Greek) Catholic Church. Muslims account for about 60 percent of the country's more than 15 million people, and another 30 percent are members of the Russian Orthodox Church.

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