Easter 2025 Baptisms

I grew up in an Orthodox Christian culture, and I was baptized at an early age. However, as my parents lacked the knowledge and our small town didn’t yet have a church, growing up I didn’t really have anyone to teach me about Jesus and what it really meant to be a Christian and a follower of Christ.  

As a young adult, studying in the university in Russia and then moving to study and work in Canada I was living very much in the secular world, living in sin and not recognizing it, and being self-righteous thinking that I was a good person. During that time, I would still believe that there is God, but I didn’t know who He was, and I would barely ever think about Him. My focus was mostly on material things and desires of comfortable life. 

It was not until 2 years ago when I found myself depressed, fearful, and anxious because of everything that I saw was going on in the world and because I felt utterly alone, living far away from my family, no husband, no kids, no true friends, just a history of heartbreaks and a job and bills to pay. For the first time in my life I cried out to God admitting that I didn’t know what I was doing, that something felt wrong about the way I was living my life and that I just don’t know what it is and I can’t go on like this by myself, and so I asked God if it was at all possible to please give me some kind of a clue on how to live this life right so that it is not in vain.  

I didn’t recognize it back than, but I know now that it was the very moment when I decided to trust God before I even knew Him, and His hand was on me right away. Instantly I was convicted about sin, and it would sit heavily on my conscience ever since. This conviction would end up being the turning point for me.  

I knew then that I wanted to have God in my life, but I didn’t know how to go about it. Unfortunately, even though as if out of nowhere I would start watching Christian movies and Christian YouTubers, at that time I was still blinded to the Gospel and to who Jesus is. As I searched, I was led to believe this idea that every religion is a way to the same God, I was deceived and distracted mostly by Vedas and associated eastern practices and beliefs that I now know to be pagan. Two years passed in search and confusion. 

In the end of January this year, the conviction of sin was still there, and it would deeply bother me. In my attempt to figure out what I should do, I was drawn to pray to ask God. Little did I know, God would do more than what I asked, He removed from my life everything that was not from Him. First, using Christian testimonies, He unveiled the lies behind the things that I found myself curious about for the past two years. This lasted for about a week, and by the end of it I came across the video with a Gospel. In that moment, it was just like the scripture says in John 9:25 “I was blind, now I see”. I finally understood who Jesus is, that it was the Holy Spirit whose patient hand was on me convicting and pointing me to Christ this whole time, and it was Jesus who was showing me the Truth, because He is the Truth, the Way and the Life. It was as if He has prepared my heart for His Gospel so that I could understand. I recognized fully that I am a sinner, and that to live this life right is to keep His commandments, and there was nothing I could do but to hope for His mercy on me, and so that moment I had a genuine contrition and repentance and a decision to turn away from all sin and to put my trust in Jesus as my Lord and Savour. 

It’s been only a couple of months that I started my walk with Jesus, and other than a very evident hunger for God’s word, my life on a surface it still the same, I am lacking in the same areas as before, but inside me, there is difference, whatever it is that I am lacking doesn’t torment me anymore, I have a quiet peace about it now. And that is a testimony to me. I know that it is that peace that Jesus promises to all weary who come to Him. I know now that I was never alone, and I have always been loved beyond my comprehension. I don’t know yet what plan Jesus has for me to use me for His glory, but I trust that He has one and my life walking with Him shall never be in vain. I would like to finish with a verse that the Holy Spirit drew my attention to as I was writing my testimony, “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statues.” Psalm 119:71 

When I was in kindergarten, one time at recess I was watching the soccer game. And I saw my friend Oliver get hurt because someone had kicked a ball at him. And his friend Malachi was comforting him, because it really hurt. And then I suggested to Oliver “shouldn’t you go and get back at the person who did that to you?” But then Malachi said, “The Bible says not to take vengeance.” And then I felt like I was drifting into space. I really understood that God truly doesn’t want us to take vengeance on anyone as the Bible says.

Before this, every time I got hurt, I just knew that I would get back at the person who hurt me. Even if it was an accident. Before this, I remember being pushed by older kids and it would always make me so annoyed and angry. But now, after talking with Oliver, I began to realize that I was wrong and that I am a sinful person. And I knew I needed forgiveness from God for my own sin and for the sins I have committed.

On April 16^th, 2023, it was during Bible time in our house. And we finished the Bible reading, when my dad asked me if I wanted to become a Christian. I had prayed with my Dad, “Dear Jesus, please forgive my sins. I believe that you truly died on the cross to save me from my sins. And I believe that you were raised from the dead and went up to heaven to give me life.” Jesus took my sin and guilt away. And he can give me the Holy Spirit to change me. He has helped me to believe that he is the true God and king of all kings and lords.” As it says in 1 Chronicles 29:11 “Yours O Lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in the heavens and is in the earth is yours. And you rule over all.”

Now that I am a follower of Jesus, He is changing me. I know that Philippians 1:6 is true, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in [me] will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ!”

Some of the ways God is at work in me are that he’s shriveling up my old sinful heart like a grape in the sunshine, turning it into a raisin. I feel the brightness of God’s Holy Spirit is at work in me. Now I am a Christian, I want to treat others like people have treated me, and I want to follow God from the heart. God is changing me to love helping others who are new to our church and our community. I like reading the Bible now, because the stories are based on examples of great men and women who loved God with all their heart soul mind and strength. Also I like the stories of Jesus and reading about him healing other people and how he came into the world not to condemn the world but to save the world. When I remember what Jesus has done for me it makes me feel like I am truly accepted into God’s family, and that he loves me.

My name is Jennifer and I have been coming to Christ City for two years now. Life before Christ has been filled with a lot of unsettlements. Outwardly, life before Christ looked great, where I have good friends and family that I can spend time with. However, inwardly, I was constantly filled with a lot of anxiety and fear of not being accepted by the society in general. Perpetually, I would ask myself if I’m good enough or performing up to standard. It was just an overall unhealthy way of thinking 

I have been on cross path with Christ since elementary school! I went to a Christian high school, but I did drift apart a little during university. God has sent me Angels to bring me back to Him from my current workplace, which I am so grateful for.  

Since putting my faith in Jesus, life now is filled with thankfulness and content. I constantly think to myself for how lucky we are to be loved by God in such a gentle and patient way. It helps me reprioritize and understand what’s truly matters. A quote that I have been keeping in mind lately is 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. With His continual guidance, I hope to learn more about this love He has for us, and to live a little closer to Him day-by-day.  

On and off I have been thinking about getting baptized, since high school, but I have been always hesitant to pull the trigger. I think this stems from fearing that I am not going to be a Christian that is good enough to serve God. As I continue to learn about God though, I have come to realize that it truly doesn’t matter. God has loved us and accepted us as who we are, and that’s purely from His grace and goodness. I want to be baptized to show my faith in Him, and to celebrate His greatness outwardly to others.  

Before I came to Jesus, I always wanted to have fun and know everything. I didn’t have many friends and sometimes I wished that I had the things my other classmates had. Sometimes I didn’t know “obvious” words since English was my third language, and that made me feel left out. The three main sins that I struggled with were not doing chores (and disobeying my parents in general), watching pornography, and yelling at my siblings. All of these sins were about me and what I wanted: I didn’t want to do chores because I only wanted to do things that were fun; I first watched pornography because a classmate told me to search it, and I was curious; I yelled at my two younger siblings because I felt annoyed by them.

At the time, I thought going to church was just something our family did, and I didn’t understand the deeper meaning behind it. But in 2021, I started going to Caleb fellowship with other teenagers and over time, as I continued to learn God’s word, I grew to have a better understanding of the Gospel. These times of fellowship also caused me to have more questions about God, and I started to consider more seriously whether he was real. My parents have always been very supportive by answering my questions, and all along they continued to share the Gospel with me. Over time, it became attractive to me, and I believed that what I was hearing about God was true.

When I finally understood that I needed to turn away from my sins in order to follow God, that’s when I began praying more often and asking God for help. Now I know I am a Christian because I see that I am a sinner needing Jesus, who was sent from God to die on the cross for me. I know it is my faith in Christ alone that will give me salvation. I am very thankful that God has grace for me, that I have been transformed to be more like Christ, and that God continues to answer my prayers when I need help. Now I pray when I get tempted, and I make plans ahead of time to help me stop my sinful actions. For example, I only use the computer when my family is around; if I begin to yell at my siblings, my family will give me hugs to help me calm down; and I consistently help with chores around the house. I want to be baptized because I want to show the world my faith and share the wonderful news that I am saved.

Before coming to know Jesus, I was lost in the world. I was constantly grappling with insecurity – chasing people, places, and things in some attempt to fill the void inside of me. I had many resentments, mostly against my family. I was struggling with addiction, eating disorders, poor quality of relationships, and so on.

My first encounter with the Lord was when I was in the hospital, hearing voices disguised as people who I resented, telling me to harm myself. In the midst of that, there was one voice that I didn’t recognize, telling the malicious voices to leave me alone, and telling me that I needed to build a relationship with God. I still feared church and sought spirituality elsewhere.  I prayed regularly, and experienced some reward, but I was still caught in the cycle of making poor decisions.

Then one day, I was experiencing immense grief on the account of decisions I made while searching outside of Jesus to feel better – in those moments I was praying for forgiveness and later on I had a vision of a father, different than my own, consoling a child, who was me – saying that they forgave me. I knew He was God. Soon after, I started attending church.

Though I once feared the discipline of the Bible, I now see God’s word as guidelines to live a fruitful life. Today, I am working towards having a better relationship with my family based on forgiveness, because Jesus has forgiven us.  Today, I can recognize my sin and that I need a Saviour. “No one can serve two masters, for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Matthew 6:24) I spent my whole adult life up to this point chasing money, status, and anything that would give me glory so I could find love. Now I know God’s love for me and how it extends beyond worldly things.

I’ve grown up around Christianity my entire life. I’m in a Christian family, I’ve always gone to Church every Sunday, and I go to a Christian school. I always considered myself to be a Christian, and I thought I knew what that meant. However, I did not have a personal connection with God, and I didn’t really understand the Gospel. When I was younger, Church to me was mostly for hanging out with friends and having fun.

My life started to change in the spring of 2019. Our family switched churches, and we started coming to Christ City South Van. This was hard for me because everything I thought Church was got stripped away, and I began to wonder what Church was all about. I started attending the sermons, but I didn’t really think about them or how they applied to my life. I definitely didn’t feel like I was walking with God, and I didn’t have a personal relationship with him.

A few years ago, my life started to take a very dark turn. I struggled with pornography, and it really impacted my life negatively. I didn’t feel happy, and I felt very lost. It was the first big struggle in my life where I didn’t know who to turn to for help. I thought I could fight it on my own, but I couldn’t, and I kept falling back into temptation. I knew that it was bad and that it was hurting me, but I didn’t know what to do about it. Eventually, I prayed to God one night to help me overcome it. I thought he was going to fix all my problems right away and that I would never fall back into temptation. However, I immediately did, and it started to get worse. I was really torn because I always thought that God answered prayer. I started to wonder “What if God is not listening?” or “Is he even there?”. I also got frustrated because I kept thinking I wasn’t the person I should be. I acted completely normal on the outside, but on the inside I felt lost and confused. This caused me to fall into sin even more and it started to get worse over time. I also found myself not being very nice to other people, but I kept pushing it to the back of my head every day and tried to focus on school and other activities to distract me instead of filling the emptiness I had.

At that time, we went through a series in Youth on the testimonies of the leaders. As I listened to how God found them in their troubles, I felt the Holy Spirit speaking to me in a way I never felt before and I heard him calling me to follow him. He filled me with conviction, and suddenly I knew that I needed Jesus as my Saviour. Over many months, I continued to pray, and I started to find myself closer with God. I still sometimes gave into temptation, but I also realized that God is always with me even though I am a sinner. I started to read the Bible and I began to grow in my faith and understanding of who God is and what he did for me. Over time, I fell into temptation less, and eventually I completely turned away from pornography and now I’m walking with God every day!

I’m a lot happier now with Christ because I know that I don’t have to walk alone. I know that I will still encounter many challenges throughout my life, but I don’t have to worry because I know that Jesus died on the cross for me and that he paid the price for my freedom. One of my favourite scripture passages is from Psalm 40, and it says “I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure“. I want to be baptized because Jesus is my Savior. I don’t have to try to go through life on my own because he is with me, and he will always guide me. I want to let go of my old self and embrace my new life in Christ.

 I grew up very far away from Christ. I was under the impression that there could not possibly be a God out there anywhere who created our universe; it was too big an undertaking for any man to do, so surely it must have been impossible altogether. And if there was no God, then that meant my life path was my own responsibility. I saw to it that I found a purpose and a sense of protection for myself (spoiler alert: my way didn’t work.) 

I came to know God in a difficult way. At 21 years old, my first long-term relationship ended. A lot of my sense of purpose had come from this relationship – I wasn’t me, I was a girlfriend and had a role to play. A lot of contentment came from this relationship too – I felt as if I was so full of love, and I finally had someone to give that love to. Little did I know, I did have someone to love, but they weren’t here on earth. When this relationship ended, I found myself dependent on nicotine to ease the pain. I was vulnerable and afraid of doing life by myself after having someone to depend on for so long, and I turned to material items to get me through it. 

God encountered me in the depths of my sin, and pulled me out of this gigantic hole I had dug for myself. He revealed Himself to me in videos on social media, until I finally took the bait so to speak and started exploring a relationship with him, with the help of my dear friend Emma and her wonderful family. My sin was revealed to me in John 3:20-21, which reads “ All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.” I spent so long doubting and hiding from God due to shame, but no longer. 

Since coming to know God, my life has been filled with the sense of purpose and protection I was always looking for. As Psalm 3:3 reads, “But you, O LORD, are a shield around me; you are my glory, the one who holds my head high”. I walk now knowing that above all other titles and roles in life, I am a believer of God; my sins atoned by my saviour Jesus Christ, and my Lord forever a shield around me. I am full of love for Jesus, and I owe every success and ounce of growth in my life to Him and Him alone. 

Life before Jesus I was very lost. I was always searching for something to fill a void. I turned to drugs and alcohol at a very young age. I struggled to make sense of my life and purpose here on earth. I always believed in a power greater than myself, but it always felt so unattainable.

I tried over the years to seek out diffrent forms of spirituality, but nothing gave me what I saw others experiencing. I tried going to church and loved the fellowship but still felt I was missing something. About 2 years ago I met my current sponsor. I was struggling to stay sober and was desperate for God in my life. My sponsor is a Christian and through her guidance I began to open up to exploring what it truly meant to be a Christian. I decided to talk to Pastor Jake and ask questions that had been stopping me from pursuing Christ in my life. After that conversation I just opened my ears a little more, started reading about Jesus and joining groups to help me grow and meet other Christians.

I thought I couldn’t be Christian if I didn’t know the bible and because i have sinned and am not perfect. I was wrong. I’m exactly what Jesus wants.

Just like a great King he has offered us paradise in his Kingdom. He used his power to bring us Jesus so we could be saved and have eternal paradise through HIM.

Some passages that have been helpful for me are;

Romans 3:23-24 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Luke 5:32 have not come to call the righteous but the sinners to repentance