LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN

Hello, everyone whose hearts are open to the Ministry for the Abandoned Children in Belarus, who prays for the orphans and supports our team! I would like to provide you with some feedback on January events at Grozovo orphanage. It was a very festive and busy month for us, and we were all greatly inspired by the help and support we received. We would like especially mention the congregation of Minsk Baptist Church ‘Bethlehem’ who participated in our action “X-mas Gift to an Orphan”. The pastors told the church members about our action during the service and a lot of people got very excited and eager to stuff a gift box for an orphaned boy or girl. The church youth joined us during our Christmas trip to the orphanage. During the visit we handed over the gifts to the children (addressed and collected personally for each child), we also staged a Christmas performance for them, organised different games and music activities. Many friendships were created then, and now the youngsters communicate with each other via social networks. Everybody enjoyed the time spent together. It was a gain not only in positive emotions but new friends as well. During our follow-up trips to the orphanage we organised the Bible study entitled “I would have believed in God if it were not for…” First we debated the resolve “I would have become a believer but for the injustice going on in the world”. The kids asked us heaps of questions and we tried to support our resolutions with texts from the Bible. We told the kids about Christ’s undeserved suffering, about the sin and its impact on the world. During our next meeting we debated the resolve “I would have become a believer if good people did not suffer. Does God Care At All?” That time we told the kids about Job, his sufferings and great blessings, we talked about God having created us with a free will to make our own choices about who to serve and follow. After those debates a lot of kids changed their attitude to God, at last many children received answers to the questions that had been troubling them for a long time and some of them became determined to change their lives. The last meeting that we had in January was dedicated to sports. We held a competition and everybody, even the little ones, were invited to participate. It was a great fun and all the teams, even those who lost, received presents. It was so interesting to watch the older kids doing best for their teams and supporting their younger mates. You could especially see their care during the sack race – when a small child finished his or her run, the older guys lifted him or her up from the sack and helped another one in. It was a very touching scene to witness. Our team is so very grateful to God for the fulfilling ministry we all had this January. Our relationship with the kids and orphanage administration developed in a most positive way. We are immensely thankful to the churches that supported us during the Christmas actions, and would also like to express our genuine gratitude and appreciation to each person who keeps praying for us and makes it possible for us to continue our ministry for the Belarusian children left with no home and family.