Lena was invited to attend an InterVarsity conference in Kyiv, and shortly thereafter, she decided to begin ministry with InterVarsity to college campuses in L’viv, Ukraine. The team of InterVarsity missionaries has regular training and education conferences to equip their staff for their ministries. Lena greatly enjoys her work with InterVarsity in Ukraine, and her fellow missionaries have become dear friends to her. Her financial support is not fully raised yet. Disciples Church supports her work at InterVarsity monthly.
Lena is still studying at UBTS. She cannot say right now where her future lies – in student ministry or in international missions. But one thing she affirmed strongly: she wants to follow God, no matter where He leads her. She is convinced that you can be happy in the place where God has planted you. Ministry is possible wherever you are, and God will use you as He pleases.
Looking back, Lena said, she sees that God was faithfully leading her. Her life experience has given her the confidence to trust God for her future, no matter where and how. God has worked all things for good. At present, Lena lives with her sister Vika and her brother Vova in a small apartment and they enjoy close fellowship with each other and do ministry together at Disciples Church.
CHAPTER TEN
Veronika
Veronika grew up in Pervomaisk, in the Lugansk region. She was the second born of four siblings. Her father worked as a driver; her mom worked part-time as a nurse. The family lived first in a small house, but in 1998, when she was eight years old and had already started school, her parents bought a bigger house that needed a lot of repairs. Veronika remembered that the repairs to the house took so long, that by the time it was finished in 2012, she already had left home and was married.
Veronika’s parents were strong believers; as far back as she can remember, they went to church. Every Sunday, she attended worship services, her father served as a deacon in the church, her mom led the choir. Her father has an excellent baritone voice and often sang solos. Her father even managed a little ensemble. Her parents were modeling to her how to be servants in the church. Due to her parents’ example, Veronika wanted to serve in the church, too. She went to Sunday school and Christian summer camps.
One Christmas season, the church prepared a Christmas play, and she was chosen to play Mary. Veronika went to pastor Elisey and asked him to explain the role of Mary; she wondered how she could play the role of Mary even though she had not repented of her sin. Elisey helped her understand her need for salvation, and she repented and received Jesus as Lord and Savior; she was ten years old. According to her church’s policy, she couldn’t be baptized at this age; she needed to wait till she was almost 16. Veronika was baptized in 2005.
Veronika finished school in 2008 and began her studies at the foreign language institute, Horlivka Institute for Foreign Languages (Donbass State Pedagogical University). Veronika returned from her studies in Horlivka every weekend to her hometown of Pervomaisk. She sang in the choir on Sundays as part of her ministry, even while away in college. She finished university in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in foreign languages.
Veronika met Artur in youth group at church when she was a young teenager. While Veronika grew up in church and in a Christian family, Artur, on the other hand, came to faith through a youth outreach program; he followed his profession of faith in Jesus by being baptized in Pervomaisk. Artur was five years older than Veronika. They spent time together in Sunday school and youth group. While Artur was studying at a Christian Institute in Kherson, they did not see each other much. But there was already a spark between them. Artur came back to the region in 2008 for his friends’ wedding. At that time, Veronika was eighteen years old. From then on, Veronika and Artur stayed in touch by phone, and basically dated for three years this way. Eventually, they planned their wedding with her parents’ blessing. They married in 2011. Veronika said they would have married earlier, but her parents did not approve of an earlier date.
There were challenges in their young married life; but the problems were nothing compared to the trials they would face in the near future. Their oldest son Benjamin was born in 2012. With his birth, life as a mom and homemaker began. They lived near the church in the small city of Pervomaisk. Elisey Pronin was the pastor of the Baptist church. When Benjamin was a month old, Veronika stepped back into church ministries again, having the help of her mother-in-law, who babysat Benjamin. Veronika sang in the choir, which her mother conducted and in which many of her siblings participated, as well. It was a family affair. Together with her older brother, she started a youth club called JAM, Jesus and Me. At the JAM club they would sing songs, play games, and study the Bible. Artur was helping with the Bible study part of JAM. The young people had an opportunity to fellowship, get to know each other, and even go on summer camps together for more fellowship and Bible teaching.
During the week, Artur went to work, and Veronika and Benjamin stayed busy at home, often visiting her parents who lived only 10 minutes away. Veronika remembered that in Pervomaisk you could do everything on foot because the city was so small, everybody was friendly, you always had help. Veronika recalled that she could simply call a Christian brother or sister from the church, and they would come over, put Benjamin in the stroller, and go for walk with him, so she could do some ministry in the church, enjoy a break, cook, or get some cleaning done. The family of God helped each other in practical ways; it was a way of life for all of them.
Veronika was a young mom when everything began to change for her in 2013; the unrest had started in Kyiv. Then the conflict spread to Slovyansk, still about fifty miles from Pervomaisk. Veronika remembered that no one thought that the political crisis would affect their lives, or that war would come to their city. Friends and acquaintances came to visit them in Pervomaisk, telling them about the situation in Slovyansk. Veronika saw no evidence of the military in her city at the beginning of 2014.
Russia annexed Crimea in March 2014; then Crimea underwent the so-called referendum and separated from Ukraine, becoming part of Russia. People in Pervomaisk suddenly started to talk about a referendum for the Lugansk region.
One of the first shocks Veronika remembered was when she received a call from Artur, who told her that the brothers and sisters were called to the church to protect the building. No one really knew what was going on, but everyone knew that the church had to be protected. It was the first phase of fear for Veronika; she knew that war was coming to her city. This war was coming into their lives, their home, their church. The church building was only a five-minute walk from their house. The church brothers organized themselves into groups to guard the church.
Veronika still did not see any military on the streets of Pervomaisk. She said they continued to live their daily lives, but with fear and worry. Her friends and family experienced check points and street blockades. Her sister was studying music and had to travel to a neighboring town every week. She had to show her passport every time she went back and forth between the blockades. Veronika herself did not see these blockades since she was home with Benjamin. Some news outlet said that the Ukrainian army would dissolve the blockades; this claim was repeated often, but nothing really happened.