Personal Testimony
of Nikolay Oleynik

I was born in 1937 in Zhitomir region, Ukraine. I cannot recall happy days in my childhood and youth, quite the contrary. I almost do not remember my father. When World War II started he was called to the Army and he was killed in battle in 1943. My mother was working from daybreak till late at night to feed two children. That is why my education was on the street and at the school. I finished 10 grades of high school, then Zhitomir technical college and was called to Soviet Army. For 26 years I served in Strategy Rocket (missile) troops. I was later married, and we had one daughter and lived in a military town of Zhitomir region, Vysoka Pich (High Stove).

You may ask if I was happy all these years? According to worldly conception, probably yes: not bad salary (but only now, when we compare our salary with military man of advanced foreign countries, we can say, that our salary was low), we were furnished a dwelling place (an apartment with all facilities, - it was real progress). I was happy with my wife and my daughter. They were both in the University doing good, and I was successful in military service. For the last 11 years of military service I was chosen to be secretary of the Communist Party of a large subdivision. As it has to be for a communist, I was a real atheist. I did not want to even hear about God, but at that time nobody would speak about God. But in my soul I felt a lack of something all the time, there was no full satisfaction from my life, and even my military service was missing something.

In those days, many times the world was on the edge of a new World War. All the time a thought haunted me, that one of these days, according to somebody’s order, strategy missiles with powerful nuclear charge would be rained down on peaceful citizens of other countries. And the other countries, with the same powerful weapons, would rain upon us, on our families, and on peaceful citizens (nobody tried to hide this, we were preparing for it). Often questions would rise in my mind. What am I living on this earth for? What is the meaning of this life? And I could not find the answers. In 1986, I was transferred to the reserve. The time of desirable "freedom" from military way of life came. Later, "freedom" from the communist regime (collapse of USSR 1991) came also.

But this freedom did not bring desirable results: people grew poor and turned more to drinking and other lasciviousness. The same was happening with me also. The breakdown of my family was taking place. All attempts to solve these problems on my own ended in failure. The Devil began to tighten his ropes around me, tighter and tighter. But God began to knock at my heart.

First God began to knock at my heart through my wife, Tanya. At that time, she was sincerely looking for God. In the beginning I perceived this with hostility, considering it as accusation from her side. Then God brought my wife together with the family of Brother Stasik Galickiy (now he is God’s minister in Kornin town). I started visiting the services in Vysoka Pich (High Stove) town and reading the Bible. At first, I was looking for places in the Scripture that supposedly would justify my behavior, and emphatically I defended my point of view. But brothers and sisters of the Church with love and patience explained to me these portions of Scripture. I was more and more convicted by the truth of the Word of God. I was now working as a military guard in one of the plants of Zhitomir City. Brother Stasik Galickiy invited me to the service in Zhitomir city that was held in Trade Union Culture hall. In that service there was a preacher, Eugene Thompson, whom I saw and heard for the first time. During his message, something already was trying to lift me up from the seat. And when he made the call to repentance, invisible power led me to the stage. I bitterly regretted and repented of my licentious life, asking the Lord’s forgiveness and confessing Jesus Christ as my Lord!

This day in 1997, I will keep in my memory forever as the day of my New birth. From that day, my Christian life has started. Today in our family, we call Brother Gene Thompson our "mentor" in the Lord. From that time answers began to come about sense of life; I came to the knowledge of the great love of our Lord Jesus Christ and His reformative power in my life.

Are all the problems ended in my life? Certainly not! The Devil does not release his prey so easy. But when you are with God, there are no unsolved problems. I testify that the Lord completely freed me from bad habits as smoking, drinking alcohol, and evil speaking; my family is restored. We have received a long-awaited apartment in Zhitomir city. Now I have the possibility to more fully dedicate my life to the Lord, and to live a life of the Church. In my prayers, all the time, I thank God that He has the ministers that do not account (consider) their own time and distance, but help people to be free from the slavery of sin, and to get real freedom!

Be blessed! Amen.