When he was sent to a boarding school in the Ukraine, Mamonov experienced tremendous loneliness. His parents left him there as a small child and he hasn’t seen them since.

“Life was very difficult for me,” he says. “I grew up unwanted. My bad behaviour kept me from finishing studies in college. I hung around with the street boys and committed many crimes. I ended up being locked away in prison.”

After he was released from prison, Mamonov was indebted to a couple who ran a farm. He became their slave for three years to pay off the debts. “I worked hard in the fields and was hungry a lot. I wore shabby clothes and became very ill. There seems to be no hope for my future,” recalls Mamonov.

“When my three years of slavery was over, I remembered walking on a road and seeing a poster on the wall for a church service. Something was pushing me to go there. I was desperate for a new life.”

He went to the church service and met some Bible League-trained Christians. “I repented of all my sins at that service,” said Mamonov. “God presented me with a new future—a future with Him. I joined their Bible study and began to learn about God. When I live with God everything changes in my life. I become joyful and I feel a sense of purpose in my life. I am more confident about my future now!”