Matveychuk, Katerina

Description

Tell about your childhood, school, family, etc.

I was one of five kids in our family. My father took part in the war against Finland, and later fought the Germans – all the way to Berlin. My mother and all of us, kids, spent the war years with the unit of partisans led by Sydir Kovpak. After the war, I completed secondary education and went on to obtain degrees from the Ukrainian Agricultural Academy and Institute of National Economy. I majored in economics, physics and mathematics.

Where did you work? Was your work good? Were you happy with your job?

I worked as an economist at Sergey Korolyov Industrial Association. I also taught higher mathematics at Taras Shevchenko National University. I liked my work.

Tell about your present life.

I wouldn’t call it life. It’s survival. I was hit by a car on a pedestrian crossing. I survived four clinical deaths. I spent almost a year in the hospital, including 2 months in intensive care unit. I underwent several surgeries. I have remained crippled, my health is very poor. I have limited mobility. Medicines are very expensive. I have to take them for life. I have a sick heart – my heart valve does not work properly. Life is difficult.

Have you accepted Christ? How long have you been following the Lord?

I continue to live thanks to God alone. When difficulties arise, I remind myself that Christ is always near. Trying minutes, hours and days are a sort of a test that each person needs to pass. We should always remember that Christ suffered and died that we might live.

Tell about one thing your sponsor needs to know about you.

We are related not by blood, but by our faith in Christ. We ought to lift our prayers for the soldiers, widows, orphans and all those who suffer because of this war. Let us pray together for peace in long-suffering Ukraine.

I am deeply grateful to my sponsor for his support.