The Puzzle of Elijah - страница 2

Several months later he returned home. His life was still in danger, as the Germans were in every village of the Ukraine. He joined the Baptist church, where he met a beautiful girl, Maria, and married her. At first, he worked at a grocery store. Later, he became a supervisor of agricultural workers. During evenings he would do wood work and build furniture. Peter also became a pastor of a Pentecostal church in his village. With Maria, they had eleven children. My Mom, Vera, is their third child.

Peter & Maria Lysenko My Mother – Vera Lysenko

Several years later, Peter developed a tumor in his head and almost died. His wife and children prayed for him, and God healed him. Disabled, Peter could no longer work and stayed home with the children.

Maria worked as a nurse to support the family. At that time, to practice one’s Christian faith was unacceptable to the communist government. Because Maria was a Christian, she was sent far from her village to work with disabled patients, so she would not tell people about God. Soon, she lost her job. Peter went to Kiev and talked to the governor. He told him that he defended his country and became disabled. His wife, Maria, the only source of income, lost her job because she was a Christian. Peter asked for help. The governor was not happy about this situation. He promised to write a letter to Maria’s employer. Maria got her job back.

The police actively searched for people practicing their faith. If caught by the government, they were subject to fines, persecution, even imprisonment. The government threatened to take away the children of Christian families, if they kept teaching them about God. In order to worship God together, families had to gather in secret at someone’s house, in the woods, or in another village, where they were less known. Freedom of religion, as we practice it in the United States today, was prohibited. Something as simple as a church building was not allowed to exist. To protect the church and its members, parents strongly encouraged their children to marry within the faith. Therefore, it was important for Christian families to know each other and to rely upon each other. Mom’s and Dad’s families lived thirty minutes apart. They met during church activities.

Christian children were generally not accepted into college. Only those, who had straight A’s and didn’t have to take an exam, were accepted. Still they were always oppressed. My Mom was one of the lucky few, accepted into college and allowed to complete a degree as an Engineer/Technologist. My Dad received his training through college and later through his job, and had professions as a Diesel Locomotive Engineer, Electrician, Welder and Plumber.

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My Dad knew and loved my Mom since she was thirteen, but he had never told her. Upon returning from the Soviet Army during 1970’s, at age twenty-one, he asked my Mom to marry him. She agreed, and they have been very happy together. They lived by his parents, who divided their land into four plots and gave a plot to their three oldest children, including my Father. Dad was a machinist at a train station, and Mom supervised a meat company. The first few years of their marriage, with the help of relatives, they built their house, while keeping full-time jobs.

My parents first had two daughters. When time came for me to be born, the doctor and Mom were the first ones to welcome me into this world. At that time, Fathers were not allowed into the delivery room. When Dad came to visit Мom and the baby, the nurse greeted him,