Hello! I will tell you a little about the shelter in Smilovichy.
This month we have had only two trips to the shelter. But each of them was 
interesting on its own way. This time almost all children were newcomers. Also, you know, I looked at these children with such grief and pain. And I have high worries about their destinies, because they have been crippled in the childhood. They are deprived of normal childhood, love, warmth of mother’s embraces. Nine year old boys smoke, swear bad words and are very aggressive.Their aggression is caused by their internal pain, feeling of despair and loneliness.
During one of the trips I asked them: “Where does God live? ” I received ver
y a very interesting answer. Practically all children said that God lived in the wood. And when I wondered why they think so? One boy told: “Because there 
is moss in the wood!” Certainly, later I told them about where actually God lives. Many of children were surprised because a lot of them heard about God for the first time. I told them that God was much closer than they thought and moreover, he wanted to live in their hearts and to be their friend!
I am grateful to God for the opportunity to be in this shelter and to tell the truth to the children! And we also could play soccer with the children. They love when adults play games with them. The children like songs with actions. We spent good time there!
Archive for June, 2013
We visit Belinichi boarding school to tell children about the Bible
, about God, and naturally expect them to change as the time passes. However, I wish to say that the opposite process surely take place: it is me who change.
It’s joyful to see children’s happy faces when they meet us or accompany us. It enriches you – when you hug them or play with them. They cannot pay you back – the only thing they can give is their smile, openness and 
joy.
You learn to love them the way they are. During a lesson I notice that different children react to what they hear in a different way. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if they understand anything or not. But there is something I know for sure: when they’ll grow up, they won’t fo
rget about God, Who cares about them, Whom they can always pray to. And I know, they won’t forget also about Christian friends they still have in this world.
During the last two lessons we told them the story of Daniil and the three friends. I found that the children behaved much better than in the beginning of this year. Sometimes I was astonished by the silence that filled the air at the lesson – because usually the children are being a bit noisy and inattentive. I was happy to notice, that they answer our questions w
ell – which means they do understand everything.
I find it hard to express in words what I fill, visiting the boarding school. When you take a pause, stay at home instead of going there – your feelings die down. 
That’s why I’m looking forward to join these journeys, to enrich each other. These children lack many things in life, which we usually take for granted. Things like love, family. They have no idea, what it’s like to have a family! Frankly speaking, nobody needs these children… That’s why I don’t want to leave them on their own, that’s why I want to compensate this lack of love, lack of brothers, sisters, father and mother. I find it so important to tell them about God, so that they came to know: they are not alone, never alone! I pray that God would show them the Salvation and embrace them with His love.
After spending another meeting with kids I felt thrilled. It wasn’t a thrill 
because of public speaking. The thrill was about understanding that I’m giving those kids, what they need the most – the gospel, the Truth that can set them free. Of course I’m not the best speaker or a teacher, but I believe, that the seeds of Truth that planted in their hearts, one day will bring fruits. It’s not insignificant, that after the meeting we had an open talk with kids. We asked them a lot of questions about their motives, trying to get deep down to their hearts. Some kids didn’t answer anything; others talked openly, what made us happy. It’s important because it make them think and analyze their own actions and choices that they make. It showed a progress, because thru searching their own hearts, may be to their unpleasant parts, they opened up to themselves and us, taking their masks off.
It’s a joy that they stop perceive our meetings just as a
nother activity to fill in their free time or to get extra attention and etc. Growing in relationship with kids throughout the school year we now start to see their trust, respect and authority towards us. Now our words and everything that we try to put in them, plant in them, is not just an empty sound or another moral teaching for them.
By looking at those insi
gnificant achievements – it’s cheerful and pleasant to understand that seed of Truth and Love are now starts to grow!
Besides this meeting, of course, there were other meetings. One of our trips we dedicated just for personal talks with kids. They really love this time, because each of them individually needs love and attention. I also want to recognize our meetings with boys and girls. We had those meetings in different rooms. Boys and girls are separately. Girls’ topic was “Woman by God’s intention” which led us to talk about God’s view of a woman as in relation to God Himself and in relation to man. Guys also had not insignificant topic 
to talk about: “Future that builds up today!” They talked about, that in order to achieve something in the future they have to put in a lot of efforts today, because God always wants to see our faith and our actions.
Our last meeting we dedicated to soccer. Kids, of Grozovo orphanage, like soccer the most out of all types of sports. Some of their girls are also pretty good at playing soccer. Even thou we lost the game, as always, we left the orphanage with good impression, because we wanted to make good time for kids not ourselves. I think we did it!
This month has been really exciting for the orphanage in Rudensk. We had a 
theatre performance dedicated to Easter and they told us the story of this holiday. We also watched a film called “Believe in Him” that told us a life story of a street racer who became a Christian. We had 
a “girl time” and a “boy time”. That was a great chance to have a discussion with girls and then with boys separately and talk over some important topics. At the girls meeting we discussed the horoscope and astrology and also what God and the Bible tell about them and what is God’s attitude to this. At the boys meeting we discussed the topic related to being lazy and how it’s important to study hard to be successful in life. 
At the last meeting we had sport games.
Once we asked the kids what makes them joyful. We got a range of an
swers but the one that impressed us most was that a kid told us that he got joyful every time we came to visit them in the orphanage. We’re still thinking about his words and they really encourage us. It’s great to spend time with them, pray together, study the Bible and just have fun. We appreciate this time when we can share in a private talk, support in a hard moment or encourage.
I’d like to tell about Nastia Koshel, a girl of 10th grade. She always participates a lot in discussions and answers the questions, takes part in sport gam
es, likes playing football 
and doing crafts. She’s very shy though when somebody pays her a compliment or when we encourage her. Her face always tells us how the day was: was it great or she has some worries. She’s like a rose that hasn’t been in blossom yet. She’s got sharp sides like a rose but if you take care of this rose it will grow and be in blossom.
Thank you all who support our ministry. God appreciates your care for the orphans.
LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN 