But not all is well in her world, because there is still a war going on in Ukraine, the country is in conflict, there are occupied territories, and people still suffer. Her final comment in the interview was, “We need to pray for Ukraine.”
CHAPTER THREE
Rita
Rita Kiyan is Oksana’s mother. She was born in 1958 in Pervomaisk and grew up in the Lugansk region. Her Ukrainian mother came from Cherkasy; her Russian father grew up in Volgograd. Rita finished school in Pervomaisk. She said she experienced a happy and carefree childhood in a small Ukrainian village.
She married very young. Rita met her future husband, Alexey, in a taxi. Though they lived near each other, they had never met, until they flagged down the same taxi. He was several years older than Rita. They dated for a little while, then decided to get married. She was fifteen years old when she married Alexey in 1974.
By the time Rita was sixteen, she had her first daughter Jana, and three and a half years later, her daughter Oksana was born. Rita was nineteen years young and had two children. Her little girls kept this young mom busy. Rita’s husband worked in the coal mines of the Lugansk region. He was on a technical team for the mine and managed his own schedule, as well as supervising workers under him.
Rita recalled a moving story connected to the mine. One weekend in 1977, Alexey was off from work. Rita’s mom, living in Cherkasy, sent a telegram informing them that she was feeling unwell and asking them to come. Rita and Alexey left rather quickly and drove to Cherkasy. The road trip took about seven hours. That weekend, a terrible accident happened at the mine. The lift crashed into the mine, and sixty people perished. Most of Alexey’s group of workers died in that accident. If Alexey had been there, Rita believes, he would have been killed for sure. Rita’s mom’s health quickly improved and she was on the road to recovery. Looking back now at this scenario, Rita considers this to be the first time the hand of God protected their lives.
During this time, neither Rita nor Alexey were believers. Rita explained that they were agnostics, because they would have said, “Yes, there is a God.” They never had doubts about God’s existence. But they were not Christians even though Alexey actually grew up in Christian family.
Her children, Jana and Oksana, grew up during the 1980s and 1990s in Pervomaisk. Alexey worked in the mine and Rita also worked for a time in the mining company, but her job was in the office, not in the dangerous shafts. In the 1990s, which were difficult years for the Ukrainian economy, Rita worked in a grocery store temporarily, supplementing their family income. She had also trained with a good hair dresser to become a professional friseur. She finished special courses in hair coloring and received a diploma.
Soon afterwards, her neighbor in Pervomaisk opened up a beauty salon and invited Rita to join her as hair dresser and coloring expert. Rita really liked this salon and was a skilled hair dresser. She worked there for many years and it was a wonderful time, reflected Rita. The salon became the best and most prestigious beauty salon in Pervomaisk. The clients were nice, educated, and cultured, and they appreciated the decent prices at the professional salon. The city was small, and no one made a lot of money. At this time, about 4,500 people lived in Pervomaisk.
Oksana and Jana played a lot on the streets of Pervomaisk with other kids. They went to kindergarten, elementary school, and secondary school. In their free time, they played in the woods. The girls even joined the children’s play group at a church. Rita would always try to be home when her daughters came home from school. She managed all the housework, the cooking and the cleaning, and supervised her daughters’ homework. Her work at the beauty salon was always part-time, Rita mentioned, so she could be there for her children.
After the traumatic event at the mine in 1977 Alexey repented of his sin against God, and became a Christian. So many of his friends and colleagues had died. Only a relationship with Jesus gave hope and perspective at such a time as this, he thought. But Rita would not follow his decision to become a Christian. She waited.
Alexey started attending church regularly, not just on Sundays, but during the week, too. He often invited his wife and his daughters to go with him. But they would always decline. They wanted to stay home and relax. They were a fairly typical family. Rita thought that it was good enough to believe in God in general terms. She was busy with the children and with her work at the salon. She watched her husband go to church three times a week.
Alexey became really involved in the ministry of the Baptist church to the point where he practically worked at the church full-time, in addition to his full-time job at the mine. Rita thought, “I don’t need that; I believe in God. I am good. I am busy.”
At home, there were not too many conflicts, Rita said, even though she was not a believer and Alexey was. Rita watched the new life her husband lived. Rita knew for herself, that she always believed in God. But she considered it unnecessary to go to church. Her thought was that “everyone can make up his own mind about what to believe and what to do about his beliefs.” The local church was very conservative in Rita’s view. She watched it and decided she did not like it. But God kept working in her life.
Rita’s mom eventually died, prompting a thinking process in Rita’s mind about grief, loss and eternal life. Her daughter Oksana had recently become a believer whose life was clearly changing from selfishness to acts of service. Rita, still skeptical, began to go to church, and she listened and kept listening to the word of God. She heard in the messages that a person cannot keep the Law, that repentance and confession brought new life, and that believer’s baptism was the public step to then become a member of the church. She did not want to take the first step, but eventually she repented – at the age of thirty-nine. The year was 1997, and Rita had waited twenty years to make the same decision Alexey had made, professing her personal faith in Jesus Christ.
But God had even greater plans in mind for Rita. Alexey, her husband, became the pastor of the Baptist church in Pervomaisk in 2001, when the current pastor of the Baptist church suddenly decided to move to Kyiv to start a new ministry. For nine years, Alexey had served as a deacon in the church. He built the church building literally stone by stone. He was involved from the first stone to the last brick, and rejoiced when the dome was put into place. During his time as a deacon, Alexey would work in the mine at night; during the day he would work at the church; and in-between, he would study theology. Alexey finished pastoral studies at an institute, and the church called him to be the new pastor. Alexey served for six years as senior pastor and Rita became a pastor’s wife. Surprise! “God’s ways are indeed mysterious!” she laughed.
Rita’s ministry focused on hospitality, organizing luncheons during the building phase of the church for all the workers, and hosting groups in her home for Bible study. During this time, Elisey Pronin was already a member of the church. The Baptist church, consisting of about 400 members, organized teams and groups working for the good of the community. Evangelism was a vital part of the church’s ministry. The church also established a rehabilitation ministry and provided humanitarian aid to those in need. They even started a home for orphans.