How did it start?

For me, being born into the family of communist/Orthodox tradition, religion was boring. A little reserved by nature, I liked studying and reading, music practicing and enjoyed the company of a couple of friends.

How does one find God in their life? I found him in moments of inner search, when something seemed amiss in my life. My parents were doting and loving, my relatives and acquaintances understanding and supportive of my successes. How can something seem amiss in a seemingly happy life? I couldn’t quite explain it myself, and it was puzzling for me. I felt there was something else that I should know, something more that I should do. My career seemed predictable enough – university studies, a job of a teacher or a translator, personal life, social life… Yet, as I was growing up and reached my late teen years, I felt more and more out of place.

That was a time when the Iron Wall fell, and the Cold War was over. The borders were opening up and more western influence was allowed to flood the former USSR. With first Pepsi and Cola, bananas and frozen pineapples (exotic!), porn and pirate videos also came many missionaries and church representatives from about any denomination there was under the sun. The land opened up in a vortex of voracious consumption of anything and everything different, non-Soviet, formerly forbidden.

My University buddy happened to come back from Poland with a stack of colorful posters she picked up from somebody on the train station. Being a Christian, she felt it was her duty to immediately dispatch her possessions with the rest of us, heathen. Mine was called “The Signs of the End’ with some ominous drawings and a picture of smiling Jesus (odd to the Orthodox/communist mentality).

The poster belonged to the missionary group and was in need of serious proofreading and correcting. Having read half of it and getting somewhat captivated with the message, yet lost in statistics, the idea came to me to write on the address and offer my help as a translator. It was accepted, and thus began communications between me and a couple of sweet people who were handling productions back then. Later on I was invited to one of the Christmas events hosted by the group in my city, and suddenly, bingo! The chemistry! I found what I was looking for. I felt it inside, I got peace and the feeling of belonging to something even greater then the little team of dozen sincere, kind, principled people that I got to see on December 1990 Christmas show.

Little did I know that among them and their colleagues I would find my friends and mentors, brothers and sisters, God-mothers and God-fathers, and soul mates. I had no idea that one day I will become one of them, singing from stages, holding seminars and events, reaching out to the lowliest of all, and speaking in the halls with authorities and more! My fate was sealed! My life was bought with a price, and the meaning of it didn’t even begin to dawn on me. Sweet mystery called ‘future’! I felt that I would be able to peek into it and know where my life was heading! It was great!