Artem

My name is Artem, and I am from the city of Ternopil in western Ukraine, where I moved to study and live, leaving my parents and younger brother in my hometown. As far back as I can remember, my parents have always worked hard to grow their business. However, we faced great hardship when my mom got cancer. It was a difficult period but thank God we got through it and she's doing well now.

When I was fourteen years old, I met a Young Life leader who became a good friend of mine and invited me to clubs and camp. I really liked the atmosphere and everything what happened there. At Young Life camp, I reflected on many important things in my life and realized that Christ is my savior, and that I wanted to follow Him by dedicating my life to God. After that summer, I started studying at a closed military lyceum, almost losing all contact with my Young Life friends but not with God. When I moved to a new city for university, I joined a new Young Life team and have been actively involved in helping develop local ministry.

Now I am pursuing two higher education degrees at the same time because I want to not worry about my future. I am studying business and economics as well as transport technologies and logistics. In the future, I dream of developing my own business and being a leader for Young Life College students. Now, as a participant of the Developing Global Leaders program, I am growing and developing in my leadership skills with teenagers, to whom I want to be a true friend and a reflection of Christ.