Lida and Valentin

The love story of Lida and Valentin began in Shanghai in a small Baptist church, where Pyotr Vasilyevich Potlov, Valentin's father, served as pastor, and Valentin himself played the piano.

Upon arriving in Shanghai, we went to the prayer house, and Lida, who was about fifteen then, immediately noticed the stately and talented pianist. Indeed, Valentin was a remarkable man – he was finishing his studies at the branch of the French medical university "Aurora," worked as an emergency physician, spoke fluently in four languages – English, French, Russian, and Chinese – and was very handsome besides. However, due to the age difference of just over seven years, Valentin paid no attention to Lida. One unfortunate incident changed the situation.

At that time, Lida worked as a cleaner in one of Shanghai's hotels, and while cleaning one of the upper floors, she slipped and fell, sustaining a serious injury. Hotel staff immediately called an ambulance and, to Lida's surprise, one of the doctors who arrived was Valentin Potlov. Upon seeing him, Lida joyfully exclaimed, "It's Valentin!" – and stopped crying despite the severe pain. Valentin examined Lida and, understanding that her ankle was broken, took her to the hospital. In the ambulance, Valentin placed his hand on Lida's knee, and Lida understood that a spark was beginning to ignite between them. However, soon life separated them – the Potlov family moved to America, while we remained in Shanghai and shortly thereafter departed for the Philippines.

During their separation, Valentin met another girl, his own age, and becoming engaged to her, went off to military service.

…As we approached the shores of San Francisco from the Philippines, Lida greatly hoped to see Valentin among those greeting us. But, unfortunately, at that moment Valentin was in the army, and the Potlov family met us without him. Valentin's younger brother – Zhenya Potlov – drove us to Sacramento, and Lida thought that her paths with Valentin had diverged.

Several months later, on a Sunday spring morning, when Valentin returned from service, the Potlov brothers decided to visit our church in Sacramento (Zhenya Potlov and his father came to our services quite often and helped greatly in developing our church). That day Lida was singing in the choir, and upon entering the hall, Valentin immediately noticed her – the girl with red hair. The grown-up Lida made a strong impression on Valentin, and then he understood that all these years he had truly loved only her. He broke his engagement with the other girl and proposed to Lida. Our family was very happy about this event, and soon Valentin and Lida had a grand wedding in San Francisco.