Just a block west of the imposing Oquirrh Mountain Temple set against the backdrop of the Wasatch Mountains is a neat little cottage facing a tree-lined park in the Daybreak development of South Jordan, Utah.. On any weekday morning, a cheery young woman can be seen kissing her teenage girls goodbye as they leave for Herriman High School or college. It seems ordinary enough, this cozy setting taken right off the cover of a family magazine. But, the lady of this house wasn’t raised in a comfortable suburban American home.
She wasn’t even raised in a home.
Her earliest memories are of the Shkola Internat #3 Orphanage in Kyiv, Ukraine, where she stayed until a decision to take an English class taught by two young college-age American women changed her life.
She is a long way from her roots, but that doesn’t mean she has forgotten them. In fact, she is busier than ever doing her best to help family, friends and fellow Ukrainians cope with the tragedy that has befallen her beloved homeland.
Her name is Yuliya Anatoliivna Pernyatina Aukschun. And how she got from THERE to HERE is the story of this Latter Day Radio podcast. Her bubbly, happy personality is infectious. Maybe that’s because her personal experience of remembering where she came from and where she is today gives her context and appreciation for God’s blessings in her life.
That first life-changing event occurred in 1993 when she jumped at the chance to learn from two young sister missionaries, Sister Jackson and Sister Fairbanks; she recalls that they “were not supposed to preach about their religion,” but that did not stop Yuliya from wanting to hear more of their message; within a week or so, she had taken all the discussions and had entered into the waters of baptism.
After that, she experienced a number of life-changing events. She began attending branch activities in Kyiv, including socials, dances and the like. Then, about a year later, an American judge, who had been traveling to Ukraine on and off to help the newly emerging democracy learn about American jurisprudence, had met Yuliya and then inquired at the orphanage about the teen-age convert. He offered to adopt her and take her to the United States; she jumped at the chance, and sometime later, found herself in a suburb of Seattle, Washington, enrolled in high school, walking the halls after her ESL classes with an English-Russian pocket dictionary in her hand. Then, another member offered to pay her tuition to LDS Business College in Salt Lake City. She accepted that offer as well.
At the college, she had been befriended by her Religion professor, Linda Aukschun, who told her son, Brad, about the young Ukrainian student, and when Yuliya dropped in to see her teacher, Brad was sitting at his mother’s desk working on her computer. Then, Professor Aukschun walked in, and after Yuliya left, Linda Aukschun asked Brad, “Did you get her number?” He shook his head and his mother retrieved Yulija, and unlike the storyline from “Fiddler on the Roof,” this time the parent’s desire was realized: 22 years later, the Cinderella story is being played out in South Jordan, Utah.
Linda and Yuliya Aukschun have been close ever since, and in fact, a few years ago, they were able to attend a session at the Kviv Temple, this time with Yuliya helping with the translation.
The most recent events have also been remarkable, with Brad and Yuliya Aukschun working tirelessly to help her younger sister and a childhood friend from the orphanage escape their war-torn country. With Brad’s round-the-clock effort and with the help of Google Translate, they managed to help the two women and their children catch flights to Brussels and find refuge in Belgium. In fact, today (March 28th), Yuliya’s friend’s six-year-old daughter starts school in Belgium.
Yes, amidst all the tragedy of war with millions of refugees seeking protection, miracles still happen…and in this case, miracles that first began when a young girl decided to take English lessons offered in an orphanage in Kyiv, Ukraine, so many years ago.
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