I was born in a non-Christian home. My mother divorced my father because of his drinking.  Years later, my father was found dead.  My mother blamed herself for his death because she had not forgiven him.  Shortly after that, my aunt believed in Christ and she supported my mom through this difficult time. My mother also believed in Jesus and we started to visit the Baptist church. I was 10 and for me all this was new and interesting.

Later, because my mother was raising me alone, she was working on Sundays and was unable to go to the church. I began to lose interest in church. Instead, I just wanted to spend time with friends, doing what I wanted. My mom was sending me to the church, but I was staying only long enough to learn who gave the sermon. Then, I would go to smoke with my friends. In the evening, my mother would ask how the church was. I told my mom: “Pastor Jacob had the first sermon and I didn’t understand everything that he said. The second sermon was in Romanian, and I have no idea what it was about” After a short time my mom understood that sending me alone to the church did not help and I stopped going to church.

While attending college I met a woman from the church we used to go to and she invited me to celebrate Christmas at the church. I agreed and was surprised that people remembered me, and my name.  They asked how I am doing, where I study, what I like. They showed interest in me, and my life, and wanted nothing in return. I was amazed! My friends never cared so much about me. I was invited to the church again and I began to go regularly. I remembered things I learned in childhood about Jesus. One day I started to ask myself "Who am I? Am I Christian? I am saying that I am Christian, I know a lot of God, but I don't live how He wants me to live. My actions are different from my words.” I wanted to decide these questions and determine for myself what I believe.  For me it was easy. I visualized God in my life, and I started to move to God.

In the church, I met my wife – Karina. She also was a musician and we found many things in common. Together we had served in the church, in the worship group and after a few years we married. Together we met with missionaries from Campus Crusades, which served in our city. They were different from most Christians in our city, because they were sharing the Gospel and helping people in their spiritual growth. We desired to be part of this ministry and after some time we decided to devote our lives to serve God. We spent a lot of time in prayer, and we heard a clear answer from God, that we should commit our lives to serve Him in Transnistria. 

We became staff with Campus Crusades in 2012 and continue to serve our Lord. Praise the Lord for what He is doing in our lives and around us. We witness many miracles He did and we are looking forward to seeing what He will do through us. First 5 years we served with the Student-Led Movement team in Tiraspol. After we moved to the capital city Chisinau and were some years part of  the operation Team. Right now we are part of the Digital Strategy team and we are able to use our talents and skills for sharing the Gospel.We are very glad to serve the Lord with all our family.

Contacts:

• Email: oleg.dermenji@cru.md
• Phone: +373 69 369957