Adriana is a student at the Christian University in Chisinau, Moldova, with help from Blythswood’s pastoral support fund. Qualified as a primary teacher, she is studying social work. Here she tells us how she became a Christian.

Our parents had a drink problem. Social services obtained a court order and placed us four children in a boarding school. On the first night, the girls in the dormitory knelt down and prayed. Hope was born in me: if I start praying, God will hear me. I began to pray to a God I did not really know, but deep in my heart I believed that He exists and that He hears.

That first summer I was taken to a Christian camp. For the first time I heard about Christ. It was my first repentance – childlike, yes, but no less sincere. I returned from that camp with Christ in my heart.

In fourth grade I broke my leg and spent a month alone in the infirmary. There was a blue children’s Bible there with pictures and I read it. The Holy Spirit was transforming me from within. This helped me to cope with difficulties during my years at boarding school.

A woman who visited the school was given permission to take me and my sister and brothers to church. It was an opportunity to escape the walls of the school which I felt suffocating. I used to pray that my parents would stop drinking. Why did I not deserve to live with my mum and dad like other children?

After six years we were allowed to go home one summer for the first time. I had expectations that they had stopped drinking but when I arrived the situation had only got worse. I was disappointed in my parents but especially in God. For six years I had prayed that He would heal them from their addiction but they had only got worse. I returned to school depressed and I turned away from God.

After finishing school, I entered college where I lived for two years without God. But God did not turn away from me. He continued to work in my life, healing my wounds through friends whom He sent to me. One night, at the end of my second year, I burst into my friend’s room in tears, saying that I could no longer live without God. The next day we went to an Orthodox church but there was no service. Still, this first step gave me courage. My sister and I got back in touch with Aunt Dusya who had taken us to church when we were children. She suggested we go back to camp.

By the end of the year I realised that I wanted Christ to be my God again. Fear overwhelmed me that He would not forgive me for turning away from Him. He sent people through whom He showed His love, mercy and forgiveness. I repented and accepted Christ as my Redeemer and was baptised.