Temple Moment: Rewarded faith
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Tanya Lishenko and her husband, Alexander, whom she affectionately called "Sasha," joined the Church in January 1998 with their children, Artur, 12, and Susanna, 4, becoming members of the Chernivtsy Branch, Ukraine District.
The Lishenkos made plans to be a forever family, but tragically Brother Lishenko died in an accident just a few months after their baptism. With a renewed desire to be sealed as a family in the temple, Sister Lishenko attended a temple preparation class early in 1999 and made plans to go with her children to the Freiberg Germany Temple on the next temple excursion.
Obtaining a visa, passport, time away from work, the price of the tickets are formidable projects in Eastern Europe, but they became almost insurmountable in her case. Her visa application was accidentally shelved and her temple recommend was accidently included in a letter sent out of the country. Sister Lishenko also postponed a job offer until after the temple trip. After these obstacles were overcome, Sister Lishenko and her children, one by one, came down with the flu and missed the trip.
They planned for the next trip, which meant that Sister Lishenko had to postpone her new job even longer. However, she kept busy doing family history and branch work. As that trip neared, the German embassy called and said her pictures for her visa had been lost. Replacement pictures were sent, but the visa office closed for a three-day weekend. Sister Lishenko fasted and prayed for success. Next, the embassy wanted a death certificate for her husband. These problems were resolved and so, with faith, the family boarded an overnight train to Kiev to join the temple excursion. They arrived at the temple on a Tuesday and began doing temple work. When they were sealed, they felt Brother Lishenko had approved. They returned home at 5 a.m. Sunday, and attended their 9 a.m. meetings, eager to share the blessings of temple work with their branch members.
— Ron Young, North Canyon 5th Ward, Bountiful Utah North Canyon Stake
