Young Siberian loves God’s Word

n Not a typical 21st-century teenager: Ulya Sutlina says that reading the Bible has changed her nature

SULOMAI, Krasnoyarsk Region — Seventeen-year-old Ulya Sutlina does not fit the typical profile of a 21st-century teenager. For starters, she lives in an isolated river village deep in the Siberian forests and, unlike many young people, she is perfectly content to help her mother around the house and at work.

Ulya says her attitude changed when she became a Christian two years ago.

“Some missionaries came to our village and among them was a teenage girl named Dasha,” the teenager remembers. “She invited me to come to the church and I became a believer that first time.”

Like many members of Siberia’s indigenous population, Ulya doesn’t have a complete Bible in her language. “I only have a New Testament,” she laments. “But I love reading it every day.”

She says that this habit has changed her nature. “I used to be rude to my mother sometimes,” Ulya admits. “Now I feel more kindness towards her. Since I graduated from school last year, I help her out. She is also a believer and works in the hospital. So I help her in the house and in the hospital too.”