1Pet.2:5 ¡°¡¦you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.¡±

1. A dead stone

I was born in 1982 in a small city of Ukraine. My dad wanted a daughter and was very happy. At first, I was an obedient daughter, but when I was in my teens, I became unthankful and angry toward my parents, always complaining and comparing them to other parents. When I saw quarrels between my parents, I became rebellious against my dad. When my mom had nervous breakdowns, I accused him of all our sorrows and thought that I would never forgive him. I would shout at my dad or not talk to him for a few days. I hated myself for behaving in such a way toward my father, but I could not change my stone-like heart. I thought that I was not worthy to live because I only hurt people around me.

In 1999 I entered Kyiv National University in chemistry. But my student years turned out to be absolutely different from what I heard and dreamt of: a difficult program, debauchery and cockroaches in the dormitory, treachery, envy and rivalry. It was difficult for me to study and I wanted to quit, but because of a fear of remaining in the country, I continued to study. One sparkle of hope glimmered in my heart – I dreamt to find a foreigner in Kiev and marry him. I hoped to find pure love, but I myself turned from a pure girl into a lustful, proud, and haughty girl. Trying to compensate for a lack of love and an internal dissatisfaction, I ate and slept a lot. When I was alone, I cried much and complained of my life which I hated, but could not change.

2. Jesus has made me a living stone!

I came to church because I saw that my classmate had changed from constantly crying and being dissatisfied into a joyful and bright girl. I came up to her and asked what happened to her. She blushed and told me that she began to go to church, so I invited myself to go with her next Sunday. I started to study the Bible with Missionary Rebekkah Levitsky because she was dressed beautifully. From her I received so much love that sometimes it seemed to me that she was my mom. At the 2000 Spring Bible Conference, I accepted Jesus into my heart through one verse from the Bible, John 8:11, "¡®Then neither do I condemn you,¡¯ Jesus declared. ¡®Go now and leave your life of sin.¡¯" Jesus knew all my sins, though I carefully hid them from others, but He did not condemn me and instead out of love, incurred all my sins and faults. The grace of forgiveness of Jesus cured my wounded heart. It gave me freedom from self-condemnation and hatred. I could ask for forgiveness and be reconciled with my father, and now we have a good relationship. Jesus is that desired Husband whom I searched for all my life.

Through Bible study I accepted Gen.12:2, ¡°I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing." Until then, I only dreamt to receive from God a good husband and to establish a happy family. However, God¡¯s plan was much greater. God wants to make me a great woman of faith and a blessing for many people and nations. Through M. Peter, God gave me vision that God will change Ukrainian women into missionaries, into women of spiritual influence for the entire world.

3. A source of blessing for America

I received a missionary calling for the first time through Isaiah 6:8, "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ¡®Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?¡¯ And I said, ¡®Here am I. Send me!¡¯". I thank God that He called me to be a missionary to America through establishing a house church with Shepherd Ilya Ushomirsky from Chicago UBF in 2005. God fulfilled my dream to marry a foreigner and gave me the best husband with a pure heart, who is mild and loving, who I could not even dream of. A key verse of our family is 1Pet.2:5, ¡°¡¦you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.¡±

This summer, God helped me to receive an American visa by faith through the prayers of many of God¡¯s servants and to participate in the international conference at Purdue University, though before I was refused a visa. I have been in America for 3.5 months. From the very beginning, I experienced power and consolation from God through inviting one sheep to the international conference. We got acquainted with Camila through the English language courses. She said that she suffered because of divorce. When I invited her to the conference, she agreed to go at once and paid the conference fee of $170. Through the conference she indeed found comfort in God through Jesus¡¯ sacrifice. For the first time in her life she felt the love of God.

My new mission field is Northeastern Illinois University. I fell in love with it from the first time I saw it. It has 12 thousand students and 80 different majors. One of the superiorities of Western high schools is the possibility to have a registered Bible club and study the Bible at the university and student campus. Shepherds of our church have established and registered the True Vine Club. Once a week we have group Bible studies at the university cafe and many students gladly come to study the Bible. They bring their friends. As a result, I met Laura and arranged to study the Bible 1:1 with her. God has helped me to serve as a shepherd and Bible teacher in this club and to share Jesus¡¯ love with spiritually thirsty students.

From a human point of view, I do not have anything that I can give to rich and proud students of America, but from God¡¯s point of view, I have the greatest wealth: I have Jesus and confidence in his love and desire to save everyone. Wealth did not make Americans happy and most of them died without Jesus. God wants to feed these hungry people with the word of God and to warm them with God¡¯s love through me.

The first time I was in America I was more a tourist, therefore, everything was very pleasant to me. I know that real missionary life is full of rejection, loneliness and sufferings; therefore, it is so precious before God. I want to follow Jesus by the way of the cross because I have no other meaning of life. May God be with me through the Holy Spirit so that by his strength I could be an excellent English Bible teacher for students of America. I pray that God may use our family as a house church and a source of blessing for students and world mission. In the end I want to thank God sincerely for all of you, my beloved brothers and sisters, my dear shepherds. Thank you for your love and prayers for me. I especially thank God for Dr. Peter Kim, his sufferings, tears and training, for helping me like a daughter with the heart of God. Dear brothers and sisters, let's participate in the remaining sufferings of Jesus Christ together. May God make Ukraine and the USA shepherd nations and missionary-sending nations.