Town: Kalush, Ivano-Frankivs'k region.
In 1969, in a Catholic family which kept religious traditions (not more than that) a girl was born, Irena Huseva. Her parents believed in God but their faith was limited to the celebration of Christmas and Easter, and she disliked Easter!
“This holiday was not associated with anything light for me. The trouble was that my parents used to take me to church for the tradition of blessing the Easter bread,” says Irena. “This was during the days of Communist rule. And teachers from my school stood in front of the church and drew up a list of all children who attended the service. Later those children faced serious problems at school. So, to get to the church we always tried some detours and even climbed over the fence. What is more, I was afraid of the church because pupils were allowed to visit it only when someone of their family members died.” Irena perceived Christianity in these dark colors because she had been successfully brought up by school, Pioneer system and Komsomol (the Communist youth organization).
When you cannot find sense in life you start looking for the Creator
Irena failed to enter the university on the first try: she did not pass her exam in Ukrainian. As it turned out later, some mistakes were added to her test on purpose. Faith in something wonderful and ideal started to shatter. “I saw that the society I lived in was merely an illusion,” she confesses. But after a year of work at the collective farm she was enrolled in the Foreign Languages Faculty in Ivano-Frankivs’k. “There my world view continued to be ruined,” says Irena. “There were a lot of Vice-Chancellors’ children among the students at the Faculty. We, ordinary students, witnessed how they easily got the best marks, just because of their status, regardless of their knowledge.”
In her fifth university year Irena was puzzled by serious questions concerning the meaning of life. She wanted to find purpose in life and decide what to do after her graduation. A group of friends who in the evenings met over a bottle of wine provided no answers. “I went along with them because they were my friends since childhood. But I went back home filled with emptiness. I wanted to howl with anguish and hopelessness. Depression overwhelmed me.”
As in the best tradition of classic action movies a ray of sunshine came out of the blue. A new teacher came to teach English to Irena’s group. His name was Jerry Elvey. Nobody knew he was a missionary. Only in the auditoriums it was heard that he had weekly meetings with students where they discussed sensitive topics. After one of the philosophical essays on the meaning of life Elvey approached Irena and said: “Do you know that there are meeting in our Faculty where students consider the same questions that puzzle you? Come and talk with them.”
This is how Irena showed up in the CCX group for students in March, 1992. Students from her Faculty read the Bible and reflected on life. “I was greatly impressed by those conversations,” says Irena frankly. “Right after the first meeting I came back to the dormitory, fell on my knees next to my bed, cried and prayed to God in a very different way. That was when I repented.” She was twenty-two at that time.
After conversion Irena kept on attending the meetings of CCX. She was, above all, attracted by the topics of conversations. They were vital issues, like “The meaning of life”, “Relationships”, “Marriage”, etc. Unlike her former companions, these people could sit and discuss serious topics without any outside stimuli. “There I met students who weren’t like the others: they got together at the dormitory and dreamt, they wanted to find the meaning of life, change society and know God… They studied the Scripture evenings and prayed for our university.”
Irena started to work in one of the schools in Ivano-Frankivs’k. That very year she took part in something new – in the first conference for students organized by CCX Ukraine. It was 1992. The movement of Christian students was growing along with the students themselves. There were ministry centers “burning” in Kyiv, Nizhyn, Mykolaiv, and Ivano-Frankivs’k. At the conference Huseva felt that she was spiritually growing. “We did not sleep at night but talked because we felt spiritual hunger,” she says. “After that event I started to treat my spiritual development more seriously.”
“How did your parents react to the changes in your life?” I asked Irena.
“My parents could not understand what was going on. Deep inside they were somewhat afraid to acknowledge that their daughter was doing something different.”
After she married Mykhailo (this man from Chervonograd was a student at that time) Huseva continued to teach at school day times, and the evenings they spent with and among students. “We lived on the outskirts of the town and sometimes late at night we went home on foot (there were no route taxis at that time). We were tired but inspired.”
In the middle of the university year, the couple hear alarming news about Jerry Elvey’s departure. Who would take charge of the ministry in Ivano-Frankivs’k instead of him? “Once we decided to come to Jerry and ask him about the future of CCX in Ivano-Frankivs’k,” recollects Irena. “Jerry, you are moving to L’viv. Have you thought about Ivano-Frankivs’k? What will happen to the ministry here?” He answered, “You know, I prayed to God for successors, and understood that people who will be concerned about the future of the ministry here will be my successors.” That is how the Husevs family became the first interns of CCX. In 1994, Irena attained the status of official staff worker of CCX, although she continued to work at school as a part-time teacher. “If I am not mistaken, we got around 25 USD of income per month. But the money did not matter much to us. We were so enthusiastic about students!” assures Irena.
Irena has worked for CCX Ukraine for 17 years already. At present she occupies the position of West Region coordinator. “I want students to feel the same way I did. I want them to find answers to their profound questions and see the living God in their lives,” she says.
Author: A.Gordyeyev.