Yelena and Kseniya Fyodorovich
There are some difficulties In our family. My mother had to seek solace in God, she prayed, read the Bible, visited the Orthodox church, and she used to take us to Church. We loved to look at all the decorations of the church, breathe in the incense smell, our childhood fantasies were so inspired by the surroundings, but we did not understand what is going around.
Grandpa was the true embodiment of a man with the character of a Christian for us: in work, with no exclamation, while he is having a breakdown he told “with God, all things will pass,” he gave us a good example.
Our neighbor was a very lovely and kind grandmother named Raya. Grandma Raya really was like a “little island of sunshine”. We lived in a place where everyone was enslaved by the spirit of drunkenness, anger, where people were completely immersed in gossips and scandals. And she prayed for everyone, she was a real instrument in God’s hands, all the children of the street were running her, she was telling us about God, we prayed together and loved to sing in praise of God.
Once in ordinary work hours, my mother met a woman, they talked a lot about life and she gave advice based on the Bible. Soon she invited us to the House of Prayer for a Sunday meeting, where we started to understand something new for us from listening of this sermon.
It was a turning point in growing – teenage rebellion, imitating of “All-Knowing Adults,” with angry, envy, and insolence…
Sometimes she realized that such behavior did not please God, but her heart closed more and more.
Elena got into the university and left for Tomsk. New city, new people, the desire to be on the same page with all, new companies. All of this is distracted to a world with no God, in a world of emptiness, but in the suitcase was a Bible – a gift from her music teacher.
After moving to Novosibirsk, Lena began to communicate with Christian students from the university, it was our fine thread on the way to church.
Ksenia was faced with the reality of a family without God. It seemed like she could amend everything by hurting everyone, by showing her opposition but was sinking more and more into a fog herself. God was knocking through the events and people. Sometimes I visited the temple, house of prayer, it was like a breath of clean air, but when I came out from the temple, I started to breathe my own air again. Before Easter, on Sunday night, I was a full fear inside of me, as if someone was standing nearby and knew everything that was in my heart, I wanted to scream, my mother was there… I kneeled down, in a hysterical, then prayer and a new life…
As time went on, 2017, the sisters were back together.
Thank God my parents had worked very hard to get us the opportunity to go to the big city. Before we left, we decided we wanted to find a church, but maybe not immediately …
Novosibirsk, September. We are at a meeting of the CCS (Community of Christian Students), opposite me a nice girl Svetlana Biryukova, kindly invited us to the church “Salvation”.
And then the second to last line, the kind smiles of people, Alexander, holding his Bible, which was the first Bible in the hands of Ksyusha, sermon, worship, it’s like a new light goes on, a youth meeting, a small group in simplicity, all with God and about God. Never before have we experienced such fullness of life, contentment and calm. Life began to change, our characters, actions. Trainings: 1st course (introduction to Christianity and the Bible), 2nd course (preparation for baptism) … its completely different world.
Summer June 30, 2018 …
– Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and your Savior?
– Yes, I believe!