I have never experienced love like this. 124 people For graduate student Snezana Lepki, a journey around the world pursuing her education became her journey to Christ. Lepki was born and raised in Bosnia, a country in Southeast Europe.When she was 23 years old, she left the country due to war, fleeing to her grandparents' house in Poland. It was there that Lepki heard about a three-week Christian camp. The idea of attending a Christian camp sounded ludicrous to Lepki, who grew up an atheist. However, when she heard Americans were teaching English there, she became interested. At the camp, Lepki witnessed people sharing the love of God for the first time and her Iife was changed forever. "I have never encountered love like this," Lepki said. Poland proved to be the first of many countries Lepki would travel to in the process of teaching English and learning about Christianity. Because of the lack of opportunities and declining economy 1n Poland, Lepki decided to move to Edmonton, Canada. In order to get to Canada, she was forced to spend five months in a refugee camp in Austria before obtaining her visa. "Through that experience, God worked in my life to open my eyes to his goodness and love," Lepki said. "He sent angels to carry me out." In Edmonton, Lepki found a Church of Christ and immediately became involved. She was baptized and claimed, through reading the Bible, she "discovered a jewel." Lepki then attended the University of Alberta in Edmonton and obtained a Bachelor of Science and Physical Therapy degree in 1999. With her degree, she quickly found a job at a nursing home, where she tried to physically and spiritually serve and encourage the patients. Soon after, she felt called to do mission work in Lithuania, where she taught ladies' Bible classes and helped kids at a Christian camp similar to the one she had attended. When Lepki returned to Edmonton from Lithuania, she met Harding's former lectureship director, Dr. Howard Norton. It had been Lepki's personal desire since her baptism to gain more knowledge about the Bible, and she expressed this goal to Norton. He strongly encouraged her to come to Harding, and after another year of traveling, Lepki did just that. After studying at Harding's School of Biblical Teaching for only a year, Lepki decided she wanted to go to China and teach English. In China, she taught 570 students at a nursing university for one year, conducting home Bible studies and ladies' classes once again .While t here, Lepki came down with bronchitis six or seven times, making it very difficult to continue teaching. "I walked with the Lord during this time," Lepki said. "It was a faith-growing experience." Through her experience in China, Lepki realized she still had so far to go before she could be satisfied with her faith. She returned to Harding the following year and graduated with a Bachelor of Ministry in the summer of 2010. She then entered the Master's of Science and Education program, simultaneously teaching English as a second language to Chinese students. Lepki planned to graduate in December 2010, and her future plans were still up in the air, even though she had thrown around ideas of traveling to Cambodia and working in a Bible English School there. "God only knows," Lepki said. "I am praying to the Lord to guide me." No matter where she journeyed in the future, Lepki was sure of one thing: God would be with her every step of the way. Gina Cielo
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