I come from a family who are originally Orthodox Christians, however only my grandmother was a real believer and she prayed daily through prayers that she had memorized, kneeling in front of the icons of saints. My mother would attend church with her three times a year, first at Easter when the Easter bread, called Paskas and the Easter eggs were sanctified. Again on Transfiguration, the day in remembrance of event when Christ was transfigured with Moses and Elijah in the presences of Peter, James and John. It is also referred to as Apple Savior when the apples and honey are sanctified. A third time my mother would attend church with my grandmother was on the celebration of the Baptism of Jesus and this day is special for the sanctification of water that is considered being holy and helps you heal during the year. One would fill your bottles for the whole year and the water wouldn’t spoil, so the blessing was repeated then the next year.

As a child I tried to ask questions about God, but my grandmother, who was born in 1914, was illiterate so she could explain very little.

I was 13 when we bought a cow and I was put in charge of taking it out to graze. There I met with other village shepherds and shepherdess. Some of them were believers. One of them, a Christian woman named Maria, told us, teens, many different stories: life stories and stories from the Bible as I found out later. Later in a local Pentecostal church they started to have a movie week: every evening of the week they showed some Christian movies and other teens from Christian families would leave their cows in the field with Maria, she would look after them till teen’s parents would come later and pick up their cows, while they all went to see the movies.  My parents agreed to this too. That’s was how I was introduced to church and came for the first time.

Then in the middle of the summer one of our pigs got sick, so my mom woke me up to go and call on my aunt who was a vet.  So, I did, it was 4am. When I returned, I went back to sleep as my duty with the cows started at 6am. When I fell asleep again that morning, I had a dream. It was a dark night and I was in the field with other herdsmen. We were going to have a meal together and a voice said: Christ is the Lord! After the words a star appeared in the sky and a wonderful music started and then other stars appeared but that first one was the biggest.  And at that moment my mom woke me up to work.

Later in August we were invited to come to a baptism on the Dnipro River. My friend and I went there to see something that we had never seen before. At the end of the event they had Christian literature to give away, but because of the crowd of people wanting to get those we didn’t get any as there were not enough books for everybody. But they invited us to come to church and get one there. So the next Sunday we came. But the person who promised to give books to us was absent as he was in charge of the literature for the Southern region of Ukraine and travelled a lot. The next Sunday they didn’t have literature as it had not arrived from Finland yet.  So I went to church every Sunday for over a month before I got my New Testament. And when I started to read it, I already recognized some Bible verses I’ve heard from sermons at church. I continued coming to church.

Meanwhile people started asking my mom why she let me go there. There were rumors that the church was a sect and they sacrificed children and turned off lights and did bad things. So, my mom asked me thoroughly about everything that I did and what was said in the church. I thought that she was curious and gladly shared things I’d seen and heard.

I had another gift from the church pastor and the literature person, a Children’s Bible, and the next Sunday my mom didn’t let me go to church anymore. I obeyed and afterwards I felt guilty for not going and finally I stopped coming to church.

It was until the Harvest Celebration the last Sunday of September that I was invited to come to church again for the celebration and to meet the guests from Finland. I went to church that day the 29^th of September 1989 and repented.  My mom tried to stop me from going to church but I insisted. Later she agreed to come to the local church with me several times and even attended church without me.

Later I started to help with leading Bible classes in an orphanage. Then I joined a worship team in the church. And when there was an opening for a new church, part of our youth went to serve there and I went too.

In 1994 I was baptized and became a member of the Living Spring Pentecostal Church and I still am a member of the church today.

God is also the One who fulfills our dreams in a way we never expect. When I was in kindergarten, I loved it there so much that I had a dream to become a kindergarten teacher one day. However, it didn’t work for me to enter Pedagogical College because of the high number of student in competition for positions that year, so instead I finished 11 grades and went to Medical College and became a pharmacist. I worked in pharmacies for two and half years and then I’ve learned about the Christian Institute that was to open in my city of Kherson. That was a really good opportunity to acquire a Christian education and I went there to study. I became a Sunday school teacher for children. I realized my dreams had come true only years later. Additionally, I was able to start a puppet ministry at my church. Our team of 6-10 people visited many orphanages, schools and hospitals with puppet programs allowing many children hear about God’s love for them.

After I got my BA in Christian Education with Tavriski Christian Institute I stayed there to work, first, as a librarian and later as a secretary. Being a secretary for 15 years I received experience working with documentation and now use this experience as PROMISE’s office assistant.

Then God brought another opportunity into my life. In 2018 I went through a special training to become a literacy teacher with Literacy & Evangelism International from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Since then, I have had at least 6 students, both adults and children, most of them are the Roma people, and additionally I have helped with workshops for new literacy teachers.

As I acquired this knowledge God revealed to me that I could use it for PROMISE’s ministry as well as quite a number of the guys we serve are illiterate. Unfortunately, state institutions for the disabled in many cases suggested that those who have physical disabilities are also mentally retarded and there’s no use to teach them to read and write. We have started the process of giving literacy classes to one of our guys, but then the COVID-19 quarantine stopped us from being able to access the orphans. I’m sure that God will see to it and soon we could do more for His glory.