What is love?

How do you distinguish true love from mere infatuation? How is a relationship between a man and a woman influenced by their psychological differences?
Why did God create sex? 
What is the secret of having a strong marriage?
Students heard answers to these and other questions at the meetings of our LOVE IS project. 

The meetings were held as talk shows with experts who answered students' questions. For instance, a gynecology doctor spoke about the advantages of abstinence before marriage. 

A Christian psychologist, Elena Kolker, talked about problems in sexual relationships and relationships in general.

Of course, we also wanted to talk about the spiritual component of marriage. Therefore, we invited the pastor of Holy Trinity church, Sergey Bermas, and a Lutheran pastor, Andrey Gamburg.

At one of the meetings we tried to dispel the myth about "the second half" arguing that it is impossible to find a perfect match and that we just need to work on our marriage and our own character continually. A missionary couple, Bob and Andrea, who were our experts at this meeting also told students about God's design for marriage.

The story of this couple really touched one of the students, Vika. Her parents got a divorce recently and she has lost faith in the possibility of having a strong and happy marriage where love does not die.

At the LOVE IS project Vika learned more about God's love and His desire to teach us how to love.
On a trip which we organized right after the project Vika talked about her thoughts and feelings, and after the trip she visited our church for the first time.

The students asked many questions at the meetings of the LOVE IS project. It is clear that love is one of the most important and relevant topics for them. On the left is our leader, Zhenia, who got married recently. He and his wife, Stella, came to Christ through our ministry On the right is Valera, a fifth-year student. He has been dating a girl by the name of Ania for a long time and they want to get married. Zhenia and Stella met Valera and Ania through our project and began following them up. Stella set up a personal appointment with Ania and shared the Gospel with her.

Valera and Ania also went on the trip with us, and Ania has already visited our church.
During the five weeks of the LOVE IS project we and to influence them. Talking about human love makes it easy and natural to move on to God's love.
At the end of each meeting the students filled out response cards that allowed us to stay in touch with them, invite them to other events, and share Christ with some of them in a personal conversation.

One of these students is Max (in the picture). He also went on our camping trip. Max does not believe in God. He works as a trainer, giving business seminars on planning and setting the right goals in life. He thinks that these things give hope to people but at our meetings he was able to hear about the true source of hope. 

Please pray that Max will come to Christ. He is very smart for his 19 years but he believes that the right goal in life and financial independence are the most important things.

With God's help and yours we have been able to dispel many stereotypes about love that the world imposes on young people. The students have not only heard answers to their questions but have also learned that God loves them and can change their life and teach them how to love.