Ben Gnatyuk changed his life for his religion, and his religion changed his life
Sofiya Lavochina
Staff Writer

17-year-old Ben Gnatyuk is in his first year at Pierce College as a biology major working to finish his pre-requisites and hopes to eventually enter the medical field.

Living with his Ukrainian mother in Tacoma, Gnatyuk became a troubled child after his parents divorced at age 12. Gnatyuk and his mother then moved from Spanaway to Tacoma.

He described his adolescence as a down hill journey, when he would spend time around bad influences.

But something changed May 24, 2010 when Gnatyuk’s best friend, Igor Kotelevskay, died in a car accident.

“I was coming off the school bus when I got a phone call about Igor. I didn’t believe [Gnatyuk’s friend] when he told me,” Gnatyuk said.

“It was one of those moments that you want to think it’s a joke but you know it’s not.”

A death of a loved one is a life altering thing and when Kotelevskay passed Gnatyuk decided to change his life and repent after spending some time with the Kotelevskay family.

“I hung out with his family for a little and I noticed they were all full of joy even though Igor [had] died,” Gnatyuk recalls.

“I didn’t think anything would come of [repenting]; I didn’t take it seriously. But after I repented the Kotelevskays’ started taking me to church every day and I got to know how amazing God is and everything He has done for me,” Gnatyuk said.

The feeling Gnatyuk felt when he delivered his soul to the Lord was a feeling he described as making him want to live a life of meaning otherwise he felt he would be unworthy of the Lord’s love and forgiveness.

However, Gnatyuk started treading backwards and started doing some of the stuff he did before.

“I tried to get back up and I tried to get close to God but I was never willing to give anything up so I never went anywhere,” Gnatyuk said.

After Gnatyuk fell from God he was in a café with some friends joking around and saying things they just shouldn’t have been saying when a youth pastor approached them.

The pastor came up and said that he knew what it was like to be them. It was him before he found God. Gnatyuk just didn’t want to hear it; he played on his phone as he tried to ignore the pastor but it didn’t work.

As the group was walking out of the café that night Gnatyuk thanked the pastor for talking to them which resulted in a one-on-one conversation between Gnatyuk and the pastor. Gnatyuk repented that night and he lived his life for Jesus since.

“I’ve seen some major growth in myself from January,” Gnatyuk said.

“Don’t get me wrong I’m human and I have my ups and downs but when you fall you just have to get back up.”

Gnatyuk leads a “cell group” in his church’s bible school and he is going to a missionary trip to Mexico in August.

To top it off, on July 1st Gnatyuk is getting baptized with other members of his church, Slavic Christian Center in Tacoma.

His schoolwork has even benefited from his belief.

“I’m actually doing good in school and I actually care for it. I have a desire to do it [a desire] I didn’t have before because I didn’t really care about anything,” Gnatyuk admitted.

“Everything is clicking in my life when I trust him fully,” Gnatyuk concluded.