Our brother, friend and colleague, Mykola Ferar, passed away on November 30, 2003, at the age of 32. As he suffered from an intracerebral hemorrhage, the Lord called him home.
He is outlived by his wife, parents, relatives and friends.
Since 1998, Mykola has worked at the Christian Mission Hope to People. He was involved in various ministries and works. In one situation, he could work as a driver and in another, to carry out responsibility for the construction work of the campground in Zalissya, Rivne region. At the same time, he served as a deacon at the Source of Life church in Zdolbuniv.
Mykola was a cheerful and kind man, and was loved by everyone around him. The main feature of Mykola’s character was his constant willingness to help people. In his personal diary, he underlined the words, “Whatever you do for others, you do it for Jesus.”
The Lord was glorified through Mykola’s life as well as his death. Mykola’s parents, his younger brother and daughter-in-law accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and expressed their willingness to be members of the Zdolbuniv church – the church family in which Mykola lived, worked, and which he loved very much.
“Blessed are the dead which die from henceforth in the Lord …” Revelation 14:13
Mykola Mikhailovich Ferar (05/20/1972 – 11/30/2003)
Mykola Ferar was born on May 20, 1972, in village of Kunin, Zdolbuniv district, into the family of Vira Pylypivna and Mykhaylo Dmytrovych Ferar.
He was the middle son and had an older brother, Yuri, and a younger, Sergei. They were brought up in a decent family and their parents put a lot of time and effort into teaching them to be good people. Depending on a situation, they were both strict and kind toward their kids. As a result, the children became good, decent, and hardworking people.
When Mykola was studying in Zdolbuniv’s school # 4, the teacher, who was responsible for their class, would call him a “overseer,” because Mykola was always in the know about how to do the work that he saw at hand. Mykola could always be singled out by his cheerful attitude and high-spirited character. Oftentimes, he would smile and laugh out loud – he loved the life and tried to enjoy it as much as he could.
In 1989, he met his first and only love. Angela was waiting for him to return from his service in the army, and when he returned, they did not need to discuss whether to get married or not. Since the parents were also in sync with their decision, on September 3, 1992, the wedding took place.
Their first years, when Angela was still a student, the newlyweds lived with Angela’s parents. The relationships of mother-in-law with her son-in-law could only be envied by someone in a good sense. Since Mykola was taught by his parents to do any kind of work, calm and balanced by his nature, he became a good son for his in-laws.
But, is there a man who doesn’t want to be a good master of his own home? In order to earn and set aside some money, Mykola worked hard, went to work in Russia and Poland, and afterwards, the family was able to buy a one-bedroom apartment in Zdolbuniv. Although he had never looked for a luxury lifestyle, sometimes, he would get upset that they had only one-bedroom apartment and couldn’t invite guests to visit with them and to stay over. But in general, they hosted a lot of guests in their house and were always hospitable.
At the end of 1995 and beginning of 1996, an interesting story happened in Mykola’s life. The only thing is that that event was preceded by different situations, flashbacks and reflections. For instance, when Mykola returned from his army service, one day he met with his friends, drug addicts, who sat on the bench right next to his house. Mykola clearly realized that if his life did not turn around, he will become just like one of them soon. Fast-forward a few years ahead, when Mykola was taking classes in the driving school at DTSAF/VCAN, together with Aleksandr Kalinsky (who now is the pastor of the Source of Life church in Zdolbuniv).
One day on the way home, Mykola said to Alexander, “Can I please borrow your Bible for three days? I’d like to read it and then I’ll return it back to you.” A few days later, they stopped by the Hope to People mission in Rivne, where Mykola was able to hear the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ. As he got in the car, a Christian song was playing in there. And the lyrics of the song was about repentance. That very day, Mykola felt that the Holy Spirit touched his heart. He said that his entire life just flashed in front of his eyes. And when he got out of the car, he felt that he was a completely different person. On January 5, 1996, he surrendered his heart to Jesus Christ for good!
On April 19, of the same year, after being baptized, Mykola became a member of the Evangelical Church Source of Life in Zdolbuniv, where he served as a deacon. There was no doubt that it was his position and his gift. Since he knew all the people’s needs, he would often help them and visit with them. In the moments when difficult situations and conflicts occurred, he wasn’t in a hurry to resolve issues just on emotional level, but prayed a lot to seek His guidance and at the end he saw how God was blessing him in resolving those issues. On his last Sunday, Mykola came to the church a little earlier for the morning service and approached everyone who were present and handed out bookmarks with words of consolation and encouragement – it was his last expression of attention and care for the brothers and sisters whom he loved and served. In 1998, Mykola began working at the mission Hope to People. As a worker, he would do anything whatever was needed to be done. When they needed someone to drive a car, he would take on a role of a driver, or when it was needed to do other things, he would get busy with paperwork, coordination of various administrative issues, repairing of washing machines, installing of the doors, changing broken windows and repairing faucets, pasting wallpaper and fixing furniture.
In the final period of Mykola’s life, he was mainly responsible for the campsite in Zalissya. He was always eager to make everything work properly there, so he put a lot of effort and time into doing it. He could stay there all the day till it gets dark, and didn’t care much about the days off. All his thoughts and dreams had to do with that place. On the last day, when he couldn’t show up at work because of a terrible headache and he couldn’t get out of bed, Mykola asked Angela to give a call to the workers so they would go without him to complete the work at the stadium in Zalissya.
Well, people say that children and dogs have an ability to sense the good people. So, Mykola loved the children, and was loved by them very much. He would constantly spend time with his nephews and all the children knew him in the church, as well as at the Mizotch orphanage.
When Tsvitana, the daughter of Ferars’ close friends, was a little girl, she loved sitting on his laps and sometimes, she would say to Mykola, “You are my second Daddy.”
Speaking of dogs, there are so many stories to tell, but there’s a special one about Sam, who broke his paw and was taken by Mykola first to the vet, and then to the regular hospital where Mykola persuaded a surgeon to operate the dog. And how much care he gave to the sick Nika as he took her to his home!
Mykola’s life motto was expressed by the words that were marked in his diary:
“Always look for opportunities to serve others, and never try to find any excuses,” and “Whatever you do for others, you do it for Jesus.”
Mykola was always eager to study to become more effective in his ministry. At some point, he got into the Economics Department of one Universities in Rivne. He also dreamed of improving his spiritual education.
After coming to know God, Mykola’s greatest desire was to bring his entire family to Christ. He experienced a tremendous joy as his older brother, Yuri, and his wife, Natasha, repented. And how happy he was when his entire family – parents, younger brother and his wife attended the church service on one of the holidays. Then, he said, “What a blessing it is to have your whole family in the church.”
At first, Mykola’s father, Mykhailo, was pretty hostile to his son’s beliefs, but when Mykola ended up in the intensive care unit, one day he came to visit him, then put his hand on his shoulder and repented. His father realized that Mykola was dying, and he firmly decided to take his son’s place joining the “army” of those who serve God. Mykola passed away in November, and in July, all Ferars family members were baptized: father and mom, Mykola’s brother, Serhiy, and his wife, Olena.
Mykola’s relative’s baptism
Mykol’s Mom, Vera, repented, as she knelt by her son’s bed. She begged God for mercy. But she did not know yet that her husband repented, too, and her husband did not know that she did. His Mom recalls as she prayed back then, “I want to be with God.” And she adds, “After our son’s funeral we all came to God’s Church.”
Brother Alexander Ponomarev began to visit them and together they studied Bible course 2.7. “The grain that Mykola planted had sprouted,” says his mother. Another daughter-in-law, Natasha, also repented. By the way, she got baptized when she was pregnant.
There’s a saying, “There are no irreplaceable people,” but this is not really true. Nobody can replace our Mykola.
But we shouldn’t be upset and frustrated, because we are looking to our reunion in Heaven, so I’d like to end this testimony with Mokola’s favorite song’s lyrics:
I found joy in Christ,
He is my life and peace,
When I came to Him,
He has been my Father ever since.
I have been His son ever since
And I’m glad he accepted me
And took to those holy countries
So that I would glorify Him there!
Mykola’s friend composed a little poem when Mykola went to be with the Lord:
To Mykola: A good and faithful friend
Requiem
You were joyful just yesterday
Just yesterday but it’s so long ago
And here November came along so soon
And everything already was resolved
My friend you rest in peace now
You are with God right now and you delight in Him
And maple trees dripping with the tears
I’m not really comforted to know that
You’re gone for good so unexpected and so fast…
And grief was poured into friends’ hearts
And only wind cries all alone
And in this black and heavy grief
Just like sunray shines in the eyes
The only joy is that we’ll reunite with you in Heaven soon
Nadezhda Dolya, Valentina Bondarchuk
