They say that it's easier to empathize with someone who is sad than to rejoice with someone who is happy, but we are certain that the members of Salvation Church weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice sincerely and whole-heartedly. So let's rejoice along with…

 

 

 

 

… the family of Pasha and Alina. On January 10, 2014 in the Christian Ministry Center two young people held their joyous wedding ceremony. As Alina tells it, she never even noticed Pasha at church until he started paying attention to her through online social networking. His daily question in vKontakte, "how are things?", was the start of the newly formed Pavlenko family. We are sure that even after 50 years of life together their interest will not wane, that the love of this young couple will grow stronger and deeper. And by the way, Pasha and Alina's honeymoon isn't just going to be a time of relaxation for them, but a time of missionary service among the youth of the country of Georgia, as well. And now let's look at the numerous weddings in 2013.

 

 

Andre and Marina Repalo

"We met through a mutual acquaintance. We became good friends almost at once, but we didn't stay just friends for long. In fact, from the time we first met, God was showing us that we were meant for one another. After a month of prayer the Lord dispelled all our doubts and we decided to get married. We waited two and a half years for our wedding day, but we don't have any regrets and are happy that God brought us together as a family."

 

 

Andre and Olga Chizmar

"We met at Christmas, December 25, 2011. That was when Andre started to pray about his future wife. In the summer of 2012 I met Andre again and noticed that he was paying special attention to me. I asked him a pretty direct question: 'What do you want from me?' Why did I ask that? I wanted to know how serious his intentions were, since I didn't know what his interest in me was. Andre answered that his intentions were very serious. From that time we started to pray together. God showed me that Andre was the man I had always dreamed about, only better. Andre know from the start that I was the only one he wanted to marry. He proposed on February 6. We registered our marriage on May 8 and held the church ceremony on July 13."

 

 

Albert and Oxana Morohovets

Editor's note:
At the moment this happy couple is engaged in Christian ministry in the village of Dykanka, in the Poltava region, and is expecting a baby. Right now they are especially in need of prayer.

"We grew up in different churches and under different circumstances. But we were both certain that the most important part of finding a spouse was prayer. We knew that only once we had certainty from God would it be possible to take the first steps in a relationship. And that is what happened in our lives. Albert had certainty from God and asked me to pray with him. Soon I was able to accept his proposal. We went through the marriage preparation course and the counseling with the pastor and then we took the final step in forming a family - the wedding ceremony."

 

 

Roman and Svetlana Melnik

"Roman and I met by chance, through the online social network vKontakte. I knew that he was a Christian, so I confidently invited him to a youth conference that took place in December 2012. Roman said that when he saw me at the conference, even before he spoke with me, the Lord immediately said, "That's your wife." We got acquainted and learned more about each other. In my eyes Roman is a great testimony to how the Lord changes a person and gives him new life. I understood that God does not stand idle, especially when a person really needs Him. We began to meet. In 6 months Roman proposed and we decided to get married."

 

 

Vladislav and Yevgenia Futoymas

Editor's note:
Vlad has been coming to our church for a while. He came to Poltava from the Cherkasy region and enrolled in the Poltava Dental School. During this time the youth of the church have found him to be an exemplary Christian and great friend. Recently he married a girl from his home region, a wonderful Christian girl, Zhenya. Now they are attending Salvation Church. They are active participants in Vladimir Golovash's small group. When Vlad is finished with his education they plan to return to Cherkasy. We will have a hard time letting them go, but God is in charge…

"I got to know Vlad a long time ago. He started to come to our church in 2007. He read his poetry. I went up to him and told him he had done a good job, and that's when he fell in love with me. Our youth leader asked us to do a project for SMS club: during the course of a week, write SMS messages to the person whose name we pulled from a bag. The SMS message needed to be a prayer request and the part of scripture we were reading at the time. I reached into the bag with the slips of paper and thought: 'Vlad'. Later he told me that for a year he had been praying that he would read my name on the paper. Once he wrote me in vKontakte that I was very good and that he were my father he would never let me marry anyone. I laughed and said that my father had always said: 'Ginger, marry me.' Vlad wrote the same thing. I said I would, along with dozens of smiley faces. It's no wonder they say that in every joke there's a drop of truth. After that at rehearsals for skits at church, at camp, in children's ministry ... he was always there, supporting me in everything. I knew that no other man would ever love me like he does. Then - our first date, saying 'I love you', flowers, a ring, embroidered towels and many prayers. There was a lot of good, and some bad, too, but we got through it all and as a result we trust each other. 'A cord of three strands is not quickly broken', this became our family motto."

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And now let's talk about the children!

The first to hear the blessed cry of a baby in 2014 were Oleg and Karina Bondarenko.

"Happy news for you!
Karina has given birth to Maria!
Maria! Maria! Maria!"

On the day before Christmas Karina Bondarenko proved the truth of God's word (Genesis 3:16), and, as Mary the mother of our Lord and every other mother, experienced the pain of childbirth. As a result we have beautiful little Maria! We congratulate papa Oleg and mama Karina on the wonderful Christmas gift that the Lord gave them!

 

 

And let's not forget the five other children who delighted us with their arrival in 2013

Yevgeniy Drabinko 11/5/2103 (papa - Sergey Drabinko, mama Lyudmila Drabinko)

 

 

Zlata Reshitko 12/23/2013 (papa Sergey Reshitko, mama - Irina Reshitko)

 

 

Yaroslav Blinov 11/28/2013 (papa Vitaliy Blinov, mama - Yulia Blinova)

 

 

Nazar Yarmoshevich 2/9/2013 (papa - Alexander Yarmoshevich, mama - Yulia Yarmoshevich)

 

 

Valeria Morohovets 4/18/2013 (papa - Vyacheslav Morohovets, mama - Ivanna Morohovets)

 

We pray for good health and God's blessings for all of these little ones! We hope that the 'fruits' of 2014 will be no less abundant than those of 2013!

Tanya Varyanitsa