Transformation from a Horrible Childhood

This Sunday morning Tania read a verse from the Scripture. She could not wait to read it to Laura after church.
The verse said,
"...You may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light" (1 Peter 2:9).
Laura is an orphan girl who is grateful to God for taking her out of the dark. It may sound strange for any American or even a Ukrainian but Laura attends three church services every Sunday. It is Laura's way of thanking God. I admire this girl. What God should do in my life to make me go to three different churches every Sunday?

As a child Laura has seen hell. She was the third child in the family raised by an alcoholic mother who used to leave the children alone in the house for days while having fits of hard drinking. When this woman starved her older son to death, the state removed her parental rights. At that time Laura's sister was placed in the orphanage where two girls would meet again many years later. Little Laura lived with her grandfather for a while. One day her mother showed up and took off with the 5-year-old child. Two of them went to live at the old cemetery for about 2 years. Laura remembers that on rainy days and at night the two of them would hide in the mausoleums. The place was perfect for Laura's alcoholic mother as visiting families would always leave a glass of vodka and some food for the dead relatives. The child would walk around graves looking for a slice of bread. Laura said that one late evening she scared an old man as he saw her sitting on the grave covered in dirty rags and eating bread crumbs. He thought he saw a demon and ran away.

We met Laura at the orphanage-internot a few months after she arrived in 1999. The child was totally anti-social and, according to our psychologist, was a classic mental case. But we believed in God and His power in Laura's life. The daily hard work of Laura with our staff members (supervisors, tutors and a psychologist) would bring satisfying tears to their eyes many years later. Laura had seen hell but found love in her life. She is a totally transformed person now, beautiful and caring for others, still very special to God and us.

Approaching the church Marika yelled, "Look, here is Laura waiting for us!" Laura looked beautiful. Her hair was pulled back in a pony tail opening her pretty smiling face, she was wearing a new skirt and a jacket she had bought at the market herself with her first 200 grivna ($50) stipend. After Laura left the orphanage and went to a trade school in September, her life has changed. She turned 15 last July and has a new home, new friends, a new "mom".

She is living in a Christian home with a new mother Lina and five other girls Laura's age. Laura has her own room that she shares with Lena. Lena came to this house from an orphanage, too. This Christian home for orphan teenage girls is run by a Canadian missions organization. They just started this project last summer and were looking for another girl. The Lord sent them to us through our American friends in Odessa. Of all four of our graduates from the 9th grade Laura needed a Christian home and supervision the most. We did not want her to go and live together with her alcoholic grandfather in one apartment.

Laura left the orphanage-internot in May and was getting ready to go to a trade school. She was allowed to be at the state summer camp with all other children for the summer. We could not wait to tell Laura about the great news but did not find her at the camp. Her older sister Gala ran away from the camp and took Laura with her. We were looking for Laura over a month . Nobody knew where the girls went. We began to worry for Laura. The children said that Gala had a boyfriend who did drugs and that she got hooked on that, too. We almost gave up on opportunity of putting Laura in a Christian home. In August, a day before we left for the trip to US, a friend visited us who had seen Laura walking down the road in Sukhoy Liman, a village an hour away from Odessa. What an answer to weeks of prayers!
Three weeks later we returned to Odessa and called the staff meeting at the orphanage. Zina Michelovna, a 74-year-old supervisor, immediately volunteered to go in the village and find Laura. We all took off: Tania, I, Abygail, Zina Michaelovna with her 4-year-old grandson. We were one bunch of determined people. After two hours of driving around the village and talking to local people we finally found her. A cute six-year-old girl from the street lead us to Laura. She said she was Laura's friend and that they met in the park where Laura spent many days. She also told us that Laura and Gala were staying with a lady that Gala knew. The lady, her husband, three children, Gala and Laura spent nights in one tiny room. The girl was not sure about the address so Zina Michaelovna had to check quite a few houses before we found our Laura. Laura looked terrible: skinny, filthy, wearing a huge size skirt and a T-shirt. She burst out in tears and fell into Zina Michaelovna's arms.

We took Laura to our house and she stayed with us for a week, until the first day of school. We could not take her back to the camp after what she had gone through. She almost got raped by two drunks in the village, ate a bowl of potato soup a day, did laundry and babysat the children during the day for over a month. Her sister Gala would spend all days with her boyfriend in the city and come home at night. She promised every day to take Laura back to the camp but never did. Laura did not have money for the bus to go by herself and she hoped that we would come for her one day. She said that in her heart she knew we would find her.
Our week with Laura went by quickly. Besides Laura, we had two additional guests. But she was such a tremendous help around the house taking care of people's needs. She would always initiate to do something before we even thought of asking her for help. One night we had a few friends over and Laura quietly sat in the room playing with Aby. Then, when people got up to leave, she rushed to take the plates to the kitchen and wash them. We walked in and saw clean and dry dishes. It is just what a good daughter would do! And one Saturday morning Tania and two other girls from the 9th grade were going to the market to buy fall clothes and school uniforms for the 5th and 9th graders. Laura was ready at the door at 7am. Tania even did not have to wake her up. At the market for four and half hours Laura was happy to carry heavy bags. The girls almost had a fight over the bags because Laura wanted to carry everything we bought. What a grateful and caring heart!
The power of Laura's story is that despite the rags, abusive mother, drug addict sister, despair and pain in her life, love and faith do come out of misery. She learned to be strong, hard working and caring. Laura is off the street, she overcame a lot of mental and learning problems, succeeded to forgive her parents and love people. Now she is trying to help her sister Gala to stop destroying herself. We are so proud of Laura and grateful to God for the opportunity to take care of this child over 6 years.

I can not finish this letter without answering the question 'Why Laura attends three different church services every Sunday?' The answer is simple. At 9am she goes to a Baptist church with her new "mom" Lina and the girls. At 11am she is sitting in our church next to Tania and Aby. And there is nothing more touching then hearing Laura whisper into Marika's ear during music worship time, "Hey, this is another favorite hymn of mine! You will like the tune!" At 5pm Laura runs to another evangelical Baptist church to be with the young people. Laura likes her Sundays with God and close family.

God bless you,

Paul, Tania and Aby

Tax deductible contributions can be made out to :
Chapelgate Presbyterian Church
2600 Marriottsville Road
Marriottsville, Maryland 21104
memo on check: Account # 9284M Paul Becker Orphans Ministry
or
Ukraine Children's Aid Fund, Inc.
P.O. Box 2047
Ellicott City, MD 21043-2047
attn: Becker- Odessa