Jehovah Always Makes the Way Out

My family will always be grateful for a special visit in 1976 from my aunt and uncle. My uncle, who was studying with Jehovah’s Witnesses, told my parents that he had learned something new about the Bible. First, he mentioned what Jesus said about the religious leaders of his day in Matthew chapter 23. Then, he pointed out the similarities between religious leaders in Jesus’ day and religious leaders in modern times. My mother, a devout Catholic, could not believe that Jesus had condemned religious leaders so outspokenly. So she decided to see for herself what the Bible said.

We were living in Lithuania, which at the time was part of the former Soviet Union. Because the government severely restricted religious freedom, very few people owned a Bible. So Mother borrowed a Bible from a church, read directly from it, and confirmed that Jesus had indeed condemned the religious leaders of his day for their hypocrisy. My mother was intrigued and, wondering what else the Bible taught, obtained literature from the Witness with whom my uncle was studying.

Soon, our family started to attend congregation meetings held by Jehovah’s Witnesses. Because their work was banned, the meetings were held in a different location each time, at times in a nearby forest. My mother was baptized as a Witness in 1978, along with my twin sister, Danguolė, and me. We were 15 years old at the time. My father was baptized a few years later.

Jehovah Made the Way Out During My Youth

One month after our baptism, Danguolė and I became targets of persecution at school. During a special event in the school auditorium, teachers noticed that the two of us did not stand up for the Soviet national anthem because of our Christian neutrality. The teachers gave our names to the principal. He notified the secret police, known as the KGB, who soon visited our family and interrogated us.

Danguolė and I also had to withstand the constant pressure of atheistic propaganda. For example, when we were 16 years old, our class was assigned to write an essay on the theme “Why I Don’t Believe in God.” Since I disagreed with that theme, I wrote “I believe in God” on a piece of paper and placed it on my desk. When the teacher saw the paper, she became angry and shouted, “Then write why you believe!” I was happy to have permission to write about my beliefs, and my sister began writing about her beliefs too. When two girls saw what we were writing, they also wrote about why they believed in God. That is just one example of the many times I have seen how Jehovah can “make the way out” of difficult situations.—1 Corinthians 10:13.

For one month, the responsible brothers loaned us a copy of the book From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained, published by Jehovah’s Witnesses. As far as I know, at the time, there were no more than four or five copies of the book available in the entire country. Danguolė and I told each other, “If only we could keep this book!” But since we could not, we did the next best thing—we copied the book by hand! Our hands hurt, but we were overjoyed to have the content of this publication to build our faith.

In 1982, soon after I turned 19, I received a two-year prison sentence for refusing to join the military. I found it challenging to be in prison, surrounded by criminals. But I am grateful that I could occasionally meet up with another Witness who was located in the same prison camp. I completed my prison term, but that would not be the last time I would see the inside of a prison.

Blessed With a Faithful Wife

After I left prison in 1984, I met and married Lidija, a beautiful and spiritually-minded sister living in Ukraine. After our wedding, Lidija left her home country and moved to Lithuania to join me. Because she and her family were Jehovah’s Witnesses, she also had faced severe persecution during her school years. During those trials, she drew strength from the experiences of those who had endured Nazi concentration camps or Siberian exile.

In the 1980’s, Jehovah’s Witnesses were still under ban in Lithuania. So Witness weddings often doubled as two-day conventions. That was the case with our wedding. Our guests offered congratulations, but we also listened to several talks, sang dozens of songs, and even watched four full-costume dramas. From what I remember, there were about 450 people in attendance, including relatives from all over the Soviet Union and even uninvited KGB agents, who were recognized by some of the brothers!

Back in the Courtroom

If one prison term did not reeducate a Witness prisoner to agree with Soviet policies, the government sometimes sentenced him again. So within a year after our wedding, I was back in the courtroom. I spent the day in the courtroom while Lidija, who was pregnant, spent hers in a nearby hospital. I was not allowed to visit her during the trial. However, I was able to walk over to the hospital during a courtroom break and stand outside her window. She opened the window, and we had a few precious moments to encourage each other. Later that day, I was sentenced to three years in prison.

Tragically, two days later, Lidija had a miscarriage. She says the emotional pain she felt was like being torn in two. In addition to having to deal with that tragedy, Lidija was also adjusting to life in a new country and to living with my parents, who spoke little Ukrainian or Russian—the languages that Lidija spoke. Still, Lidija relied heavily on Jehovah, and my parents provided her with as much tender care and emotional support as they could during that difficult time.

Jehovah Continued to Make the Way Out

What I had learned during my first prison sentence prepared me for my second. One thing that helped me to endure was preaching to others. For example, while traveling to the prison, prisoners were jammed into vehicles and trains. Sometimes 15 to 20 men would be forced into a space usually occupied by five or six people. I used this opportunity to speak to fellow inmates about the Bible’s message. I explained why I was neutral in war and politics and how this had led to my arrest and imprisonment. I also told them why I felt it is reasonable to believe that God exists.

The prison where I served my sentence was in Marijampolė.a As far as I know, I was the only Witness among 2,000 hardened criminals. Although I was severely beaten only once, it was common for inmates to be threatened, beaten, and even killed. Despite the harsh conditions, I tried to encourage the downhearted and express compassion—a quality that those inmates rarely experienced in prison.

KGB agents also exerted psychological pressure on us in prison. Somehow, they knew what my family members were talking about in the privacy of our home, and they would tell me about their conversations. But the agents would distort what my family said to make it appear that they were quarreling and disunited. Although I never believed the agents, it was not until after I left prison that I could compare the KGB’s statements with what my family had really said.—Matthew 10:16.

On one occasion, a sister asked her neighbor, a guard she knew well, to slip me a small Russian Bible. At night I would copy a few verses from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount on a small piece of paper so that the next day, while working in the prison factory, I could read the verses repeatedly when no one was watching. That’s how I memorized Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Russian, even though Russian is not my first language. Eventually the guards found and confiscated the Bible. But by then I already had Jesus’ words in my mind and heart.

I also received priceless support from Lidija, who wrote me an encouraging letter almost every day. However, I was only allowed to reply to her twice a month. Regardless, she told me that the letters I sent to her reassured her of three important things: I was alive, I was loyal to Jehovah, and I was still in love with her.

Jehovah Made the Way Out Through Prayer

On one occasion, one work group of prisoners demanded that the authorities provide slightly better working conditions. In the meantime, they refused to work. Of course, those prisoners received harsh punishment for their rebellion. Then the authorities personally informed me and others that we were assigned to a new work group that replaced the rebels.

If I refused this new assignment, I would be severely punished. But if I accepted it, the prisoners would view me as a traitor and exact vengeance, which often meant being beaten or stabbed to death. I felt tremendous pressure, as though I were in a vise, and I did not know what to do. (2 Chronicles 20:12) So I constantly supplicated Jehovah for his help.

Suddenly, a prisoner in my original work group gathered us together to go and visit the work manager. This prisoner was not a friend of mine; we merely worked together. Nevertheless, he demanded that I stay in my original group. This led to a furious argument with the manager. Finally, the manager—who never budged on anything—chased us out of his office and allowed me to stay in my original group, to my enormous relief. (2 Peter 2:9) In all my prison years, I never saw a prisoner support another inmate with such zeal. From this experience, I learned that Jehovah can use anyone to help us in answer to our prayers.

Jehovah Made the Way Out for Lidija

Let me explain what Lidija faced while I was away. She needed to find a job. But because I was in prison, most employers would not hire her for fear of having to deal with the KGB. Finally, she got a job working 12 hours a day caring for 30 children. It was exhausting! But Jehovah gave her the strength to go to work each day. In addition, brothers and sisters drove hundreds of kilometers from all over Lithuania to comfort her, associate with her, and bring her Russian language publications. She never felt alone.

Serving Jehovah as a Family

After I was released from prison, I helped to organize the underground translation of our publications into Lithuanian. A few years later, the Soviet Union collapsed and our activity was legally registered in Lithuania. Eventually an official Lithuanian translation office was established. Although we lived over one and a half hours away, I was happy to drive to the office to help with translation, which I did every week for five years.

In August 1997, Lidija and I were invited to serve at the branch office of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Lithuania, known as Bethel. We were overwhelmed by the invitation. We had two daughters, a nine-year-old named Oksana and a five-year-old named Svajūnė. We were given three days to move to an apartment near Bethel and to enroll Oksana in a new school.

How did we balance our responsibilities? Early each morning, I traveled to Bethel, where Lidija joined me after the girls had gone to school. Then Lidija came back home before the girls so that they would return to a pleasant home atmosphere.

Our whole family looked forward to Friday nights. We cooked, cleaned, enjoyed family worship, and had fun together. We organized trips to the mountains, the sea, or other Bethels in Europe so that our girls would see Jehovah’s creation and experience our international brotherhood. Lidija and I are so proud of our daughters, who both began to regular pioneer at 15. Today, Oksana and her husband, Jean-Benoit, work at the Lithuanian remote translation office, while Svajūnė and her husband, Nicolas, serve at France Bethel.

As a couple, Lidija and I have become “one flesh,” mainly because Jehovah’s service has always been the most important thing in our lives. (Ephesians 5:31; Ecclesiastes 4:12) Although we were “hard-pressed” and persecuted for many years, we were never abandoned, nor were we “cramped beyond movement.” (2 Corinthians 4:8, 9) We have repeatedly seen Jehovah make the way out, and we are convinced that he always will.