My name is Valentin. I was born in Lebedyn and currently live with my grandmother, 2 aunts and my uncle. When I was born in 2001, one of my aunts had joined the church and in 2003 she decided to get baptised. I was born in Lebedyn and currently live with my grandmother, 2 aunts and my uncle. When I was born in 2001, one of my aunts had joined the church and in 2003 she decided to get baptised.
My auntie began taking me to church when I was around 3 years old, where I joined the Sunday school and also grew up attending the camps also spending a lot of time in the church and mission centre. Sometimes I had moments when I didn't want to go, however, because of my aunt, I continued to go and kept finding out more about God.
Sometimes I didn't understand God and didn't read the Bible often. In such moments, I was influenced by people who were involved in wrong things. Whilst I knew what was right and what was wrong, the sin in my heart was bigger than I thought. So, in these situations, it was very difficult for me to be a good example for others, to be the light of Jesus Christ even while attending church, being in the camps, it was still very difficult to fight the sin in me.
Last year I had a great desire to be a youth leader, helping to show young people that we have a different and wonderful way of living than what they might be used to. My desire is to show to them that there is a great purpose in our life, that real happiness is in God. There are other ways to be truly happy. I have a lot of youth ministry ideas for the future, which include youth meetings, trying to solve their life and spiritual problems, praying together, to go to the town centre and share God's Word to the youth who don’t attend church and having phone calls with those who now study in a different town in order to keep in touch with them. I know how difficult it can be live on your own in a different place without people you know and without your home church.
I pray for our church, our youth and believe that a lot of young people will follow Jesus and that our team will continue to powerfully share God's glory and power.
