Essay #1: Revised Draft

Moving to the United States of America! Sound exciting? Probably not to you but for my family it sounded like heaven back in the summer of 1998. This story will show why my family made the move from our home in Ukraine to live in America. I would also like to explain how this humongous step affected me personally.

Why would anyone move from their comfortable home in the country they have always lived in, to a whole different country? Good question. There are three main reasons that this happened to my family. Religious freedom was probably a bigger reason of the three. Our religion is the most important thing to my family other than the family itself. As you might know, there are plenty of different types of Christians in this world. Our specific Christian belief is Pentecostal. The distinguishing part of being a Pentecostal is the belief in the Trio. This Trio consists of God himself, his son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Back in Ukraine, there was a time when the Soviet Union ruled. Communism did not allow any religion to function with freedom and even though their reign ended in 1991, the times in Ukraine were not the best, religion wise. My grandpa actually served a lot of prison time because he would not deny his religion. We knew that in America, we would be able to practice our religion without being persecuted. It had a lot to do with our motivation to go to America. Next reason is the fact that nearly half of our relatives had already left to America and the rest were planning on it. The families that were already living in the U.S. encouraged the families in the Ukraine to do the same. This helped my parents finalize the decision. Last reason is a list of smaller reasons. For example, there are many more opportunities for a career or a good job in America. Also, most of the streets in Ukraine were made of mud and dirt, the grocery store was basically an outdoor market that we called the bazaar and the education in America seemed more promising. There are more reasons, but I think you get the point. Living in the United States of America is much better than the Ukraine.

After reading the previous paragraph, you might think that moving must have been an easy decision and that we probably won't be homesick. Truth is, this move affected me greatly. For example, getting over the friends that were back at home was not easy. I was seven years old, so at the time, I didn’t fully understand why we were leaving. According to my parents, I was not the happiest person during the time. Also, I just wrapped up my first year in school and moving would mean that I would have to adjust to a different way of education. The move was great but it was kind of hard to fully change our way of life and believe it or not, there was plenty of change.

I can’t imagine what my life would be like right now if my parents decided to stay in Ukraine. I hope I fully explained how this one event completely changed my life.