Lena got pregnant at 16, became an alcoholic and came under the spotlight of the authorities

I am a mother of three children, my son Ivan, 11 years old, my daughter Nastja, 5 years old, and my youngest son Alyosha, 1 year old.

We live in a two-bedroom apartment on the 5th floor where the roof is unfortunately leaking. My income is very low and I haven't been able to afford to repair the apartment or pay the heating bill for several years!

Picture right: Lena with the children at the kitchen table. The fruit in the bowl that was always there until it went bad has now been replaced with products from the bags that the family receives every week with support from the Danish European Mission.

Living on the streets

I came into contact with church relief work when I was only 10 years old, back in 1998. My family was poor and drank, and there was often no food at home, so I sometimes lived on the streets and came to the church feeding center to get food. There I also met Marina, who was in charge of the church's social work.

At 16, I got pregnant by a man who was abusive and left me. This resulted in me having a major alcohol problem. My second and third children have different fathers. My situation became increasingly worse and more desperate.

The fruits on the table

Several times the authorities tried to remove my children, who were living in a dirty, damp and cold apartment, and often without food. I therefore always had fresh fruit in a bowl on the table, which we didn't eat! Imagine if the authorities came and wanted to take the children away! That's why there was always fresh fruit in the bowl, so they could see that we had something to eat and then they left. This happened several times, and each time the fruit in the bowl saved the situation. We would eat the fruit when it went bad, and only then would we put new fruit in the bowl, which we wouldn't touch!

This is how it went for a very long time, until we started receiving the "white bags" from the church with food. That was about 2 years ago. We were actually some of the first to receive this amazing help in the form of large bags of food.

Inviting Jesus into the heart

Me and the kids started going to church then, and we still go today. We are really happy about that. As time passed, I understood who God was and one day I invited Jesus into my heart.

Photo right: Lena Kazanceva with her mother and children Ivan, Natasha and Alyosha. Here they have received the New Testament. 

Tak

Since then, I have held on to Jesus and it really means something to me to come to church and hear the word of God.

Our situation in the apartment is still unchanged, but we believe in God now and we have experienced that He cares for us. Therefore, the future looks a lot brighter than it did just two years ago!

We would like to say thank you to the church and to those who have helped us. May God also help and do good to you.

With love to the Kazanceva family

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