From Darkness To Light

Justice and hope for at-risk children and families
PO Box 685 Murrieta CA 92564 (951) 696-5244
www.mercyprojects.com
October 2013
From Darkness To Light
The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy.
But I have come that you may have life and that more abundantly. Jn 10:10
During a recent visit to Ukraine I had the
opportunity to attend the Teen Challenge coffee
house ministry and meet up with Gena Korovai
and Maksim Demkin. Gena and Maksim both
work as counselors in our summer camps. (L to
R: Gena, Maksim and Jeff in Kiev. Follow them on
Facebook)
Gena is 41 years old, speaking in Russian, and as
he shares his story, he is not proud of his past
life. His only goal is that God would use his life
story to bring people to Jesus Christ.
Gena Korovai - In the book of John the Bible says, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and
destroy" (John 10:10) I can say that this is true. The devil stole my childhood, my school years, my
family and friends, and my health.
I was eight years old when I started smoking. I came from a good family and my parents worked
hard. I cannot blame anyone for my bad choices. I was living at home but was being raised on the
street. I was rebellious against my parents and my father was
always working.
At 16 I started injecting heroin. Two times I was in prison. The
first time was 1 ½ years and the second time was 3 years. In
2009, I had no place to live and would sleep under a fence. A
bacteria infection was eating my fingers away. I had scabs all
over my body from injections and skin infections. I was a scary
homeless drug addict. Nobody would help me. Everyone turned
away.
Emergency workers brought me to the hospital to die. One day
two women visited me with shining eyes. They said that Jesus
loved me but that was nothing new to me. I knew the gospel
story. I had heard it all before. One girl said that God wants to
have a relationship with me. Jesus died not so you could have a
religion tradition, but He died so you could have relationship.
This was new information for me. After some weeks I left the hospital and went to live with my
mother. I also started going to Russian Orthodox churches but my pain didn’t go away. I was
searching for truth and couldn’t find it.
Those two girls invited me to a picnic and I decided to go and see what kind of cult they belonged
to. During that picnic I watched people have fun, play football, sing songs, and not take drugs and
drink alcohol. I watched one guy there who kept smiling the whole time. At the end of the day this
same guy named Sergey Glushko came up to me and asked if he could pray for me. I was sitting
there with no teeth, a dirty tee shirt, no smile, and this guy wanted me to pray. I didn’t know how
or what to say, but the Holy Spirit came upon me and I began to cry. That night God released me
from 30 years of smoking, hard drugs, alcohol, and cleaned my heart.
I found freedom from my sin and God began working
in me. I began reading the bible and went to the train
station to tell kids about Jesus. Today I live on faith
and tell people about Jesus. I work in the Mercy
Projects camps and love to help kids understand
what the road of rebellion means. And, guess what,
the Lord has restored my teeth. A dentist did the
work for free! Another miracle!
Maxsim’s Story - Like Gena, Sergey found me in a
drug rehab clinic in Kiev. He was visiting the clinic
with people from Teen Challenge. You see, I was on the streets since I was 7 years old. I left home
and wanted to be independent and hang out with my friends and escape from home. I was using
drugs and alcohol for 16 years including heroin and other hard drugs.
When I was 19 I went to prison the first time for 3 years. I got released but my lifestyle didn’t
change. I went back to prison for two more years and got out in 2006. I was 26 years old and
began using drugs again. I felt like my life did not have any meaning without the drugs. I was 53
kilos (115 lbs) very weak, wounds covered my body and I was living on the streets.
A policeman paid for me to enter the rehab clinic. He was not a believer but he knew me for a long
time. He said; “I am sick and tired of you. If you come back to the streets I will put you in prison for 5
years.”
While in this clinic Sergey Glushko told me that
God had a plan for my life and he invited me to
come to the Teen Challenge coffee house. Sergei
would pray with me and told me of a Christian
rehab center and that God would provide for me
there. All those years I did not experience any
freedom from my sin. None of the programs
delivered me from my addiction.
At the Christian rehab center however, I went
outside to a field and cried out to God in repentance. This time of praying and repenting lasted
about 3 days. Eventually I started working with Teen Challenge and going to the streets and
rescuing kids out of the train station. The Lord has changed my life and I now serve Him by
helping other people. Gena and I work in 5 different clinics around Kiev and share our testimony.
We work in the youth camps and we testify that Christ is the answer in every situation.
Maksim and Gena pray that Mercy Projects will keep sharing the good news of
Jesus Christ. They are thankful for our help and partnership in reaching
children at risk with the gospel.
Please join with us to help redeem lives by the power of Jesus Christ.