Visit with Lidia K.

Lidia is 86 years old, and recently Lena had the opportunity to visit her.

Lidia lives alone and has no grandchildren. Her daughter died in a car accident 17 years ago. However, Lidia’s son-in-law is a wonderful caretaker. He visits every Sunday, brings Lidia cooked food, delivers her food vouchers, and buys her groceries. A Stephen Minister also serves Lidia.

Three years ago, Lidia had a bad stroke, and she does not go outside since then. She has difficulties speaking and walking, yet she is full of peace and God’s grace. Lena recalls, “She was one of the most hospitable hosts I had visited. As soon as I entered the kitchen, she began fixing some potatoes with mushroom (even though she could hardly walk).” She even told Lena to sit down, telling her that she should eat first. She cooked some food that her son-in-law brought, and she wanted Lena to try it.

Lidia told Lena that she met the Lord through St. Paul’s Church when she first started attending. She grew up in an orphanage in the city of Uman. Lidia last saw her parents in 1941, just before the Nazis took them to a concentration camp. She and her older brother (who was later lost) were brought with many other kids to a local orphanage. When the Nazis invaded Ukraine, they bombed the town. At the end of the war, when the Nazis were defeated and were moving back to Germany, Lidia said they were burning everything on their way. 

The view from her orphanage's broken windows was terrible—she saw all the burning and bombings. Lena asked, “And what about your orphanage? Were you evacuated then?” Lidia answered, “No. We were there.” Shocked, Lena asked, “But the town around you was merely destroyed.” Lidia replied, “Lena, we, children, were praying. Having been raised in the Soviet system with no spiritual values, in the toughest times of fear and despair in our orphanage, we, kids, would get under our beds and pray. This is how I learned that God existed and He cared. No kid from our orphanage died during WW II.”

After the war, Lidia was moved to Kyiv, where she finished school and technical college. She then went on to work at one of the biggest plants in the former USSR. Her husband was an abusive alcoholic, and one day she just took her daughter and left home.

Lidia was always a good swimmer, and she believes that endurance from swimming helps her “put herself together” now.

In the photo, you can see Lidia with a present from MMK—a beautiful handmade blanket from the US. Lidia loved it!

Your generosity encourages people like Lidia and helps them stay rooted in their faith. Thank you!