VITALI’S STORY: I was born in September 16, 1980 in an atheist home. My mother is a pharmasist and my father was a dentist. From the time I was a small (7-8 years old), I was very rebelious kid…..I would run away from home to come back again in the evening the same day :-)….I would do bad things like call my mother bad names at those times my father would take a belt and catch me to punish. I was a smart kid, because I realisex if scream loud enough the neighbors could hear me and rescue me. My parents every summer would send me to my grandmother in Omsk so they could have some rest from me. I will come to my grandmother and would spent entire summer (3 months) playing outside with my friends.
One day I saw my grandmother dressed really nicely, when I asked her where she was going to, she said: “The Baptist church”. She promised to take me to the same church next Sunday. Later when I came to church with her, I remember rivers of tears and many many questions I had. (although i was small boy I felt like I’m a sinner before God)
In 1993 my father died after a terrible heart attack. I was really depressed like my mother and my younger brother Alex (who is 5 years younger than me). So when my grandmother came to visit us I was ready to go to church….but in my city (Krasnoyarsk) of 1 million people I never heard about a protestant church, so when she said she is going to find one I knew she had no chances. So eventually without knowing the city she simply would go on one trolleybus and then another bus and so on peeking outside to see a church building. Finally she saw a building where they told her that it was a construction site and gave her an address of an old house, – “the House of Prayer”.
We came to that church and I asked Jesus to be my Lord and Saviour, God changed me and gave me a new life. My mother and our neighbors were surprised to see how different I became.
JULIA’S STORY: I was born long time ago in Saratov, Russia. My parents were atheists and I never heard about God from them. After I graduated at teacher’s college I applied to study at University (teacher of biology). As i studied part time I worked full day in school. I always were amazed how desperate people were for love, but at the same time they are cruel, full of hatred. Is there justice in this word? These and other question gave me no rest. Meanwhile my life was the same – work in school: checking assignments and preparation for a next lesson. So sometime along the road my aunt from Bulgaria invited me to come and visit her. Since I wanted to change my lifestyle I was happy to go to Bulgaria.
Although I was away from home, I still had some emotional problems. I lived 4 months in Bulgaria and my cousin Sofia kept on telling me about Jesus Christ and His death on the cross for my sins. When I came back I met with Jehovah Witnesses and for about 6 months they came to our house. When I found out from Sofia that they were the occult I decided I didn’t want to see them again.
So in summer 1996 there was a Christian music festival in Saratov. There God touched my heart, I felt his grace and love towards me. The next day I opened 4 spiritual laws booklet (someone gave it to me the previous day), reading it I realised that Christ died for me personally. All the time before this festival God knew about me, and despite of my sins He continued to love me. I realised that life with Him is better, than without Him, as He wants the best for me. I’ve asked Jesus to enter my life. Since then my life started to change. I’ve seen my attitude towards life changed. There were no more lonlingness. The purpose in life was born that day. Very soon I met with Christian students and went to a Christian camp. Later I started to work with students and few months later became staff with Campus Crusade for Christ.
In 2000 i went to Krasnoyarsk to join a team there. I met Vitali short after that. In September, 5 2003 we got married and in November 22, 2006 God gave us a son- Timothy. On September 1, 2010 God gave us our second son – Elisha. On May 5, 2016 God gave us first daughter – Mila.
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