When elected representatives sit in their plenary session, they calculate the efficiency of annual budgets and review the volume of the harvest. We at Salvation Church, however, look at different statistics.

You may remember last year's article on the "harvest" of couples in our church. Last year that number reached God's number of fullness (ie, "7"). We were all pleasantly surprised and pleased at that. At this point, at the close of this year, let's look at the marriage "total".

First let me say that the prognosis of the "sociologists" in our church was inaccurate. "Everyone who was going to do it, did it last year," - that's what the level-headed brothers and sisters of Salvation Church were thinking.

It was at just that time, when no one was expecting anything, that God decided to confound human wisdom and surprise everyone with His unpredictability.
A Poltava girl, Julia Kovaleva, had to move to Kharkov for a while for work, fervently hoping to return to her hometown and home church. For some reason every attempt to speed up the repatriation process ended in failure. Now, looking at this photograph, the reason becomes clear.

A Kharkov Cossack named Dmitry Sagaidachny captured the heart of our Poltava beauty and persuaded her to stay with him in the original capital of Ukraine. Now Dima and Yulia Sagaidachniy attend Calvary Chapel in Kharkov and have been serving in the Christian student movement Campus Crusade for Christ.

Let me tell you another story.
Another Poltava beauty named Anna was hard at work on her philosophical-historical thesis. During breaks from her academic work she chatted with friends on the Internet. A tall, handsome guy from Lugansk named Vladimir, taking advantage of Anna's break between (we presume) pages 13 and 14 of her thesis, added himself to her friend list. Unexpectedly the length of her breaks started to grow substantially. and Anna's thesis ended up being rewritten several times. But where's the problem with that? They started a relationship that is far more important than a thesis. Love blossomed!

Let it be noted: the first time vladimir and Anna talked on the Internet their conversation was limited to the Bible. What attracted them to each other was a love for God's Word.
Anna was able to persuade vladimir of the benefits of life in our city and brought another wonderful, godly man into our church. So now Vladimir and Anna Zemlyany are "plugged in" to active service in Salvation Church.

The 2012 wedding season continued with Igor and Julia Petrichenko.

Although Igor attended Salvation Church often, he still could not find a good reason to stay here. God decided to help him with the decision and brought the "reason" from far-off America. Or more precisely, Julia returned to Poltava after year at an American high school.

It was in America that Julia came to the Lord and decided that when she returned home she would definitely attend one of the churches in Poltava. By the will of God she ended up with us. And waiting for her in Salvation Church was not only a loving Christian family, but also her future Ukrainian husband.

So, dear newlyweds, build your family on the solid basis of God's Word. Through the storms may your family stand and be strengthened. May your holy lives and strong service shame the devil forever. May your love bear witness to the victory of Christ and His way over all the theories for gaining worldly happiness. Long life to you!

Tanya Varyanitsa