LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN

Warm greetings to those who reads about us! I’d like to share the blessings and success that we got at the winter camp. Thanks God we have had a wonderful exciting and a very fruitful camp this time. God was surprising us every day beyond our expectations, showing His love and care, His miracles and His power which made not only us but also kids and their supervisors joyful. I’m thankful to God that we and the kids didn’t have any injuries during the camp time as God protected us during the camp. It’s almost impossible to describe all our great feelings about how good the camp was. The Holy Spirit worked both with the hearts of the kids and the staff who helped us a lot during the camp. They’ve never treated us as good as during this camp. We had a chance to share the Gospel both with the kids and the staff through building up relationships with them. I want to thank those who have been praying for the camp and the orphans. Your prayers were so needed and so appreciated both by the orphans and by the team and the orphans could see love not only through the gifts or candies we gave but also they could see God’s love to them. As we could notice the orphans lack such love and friendship and good treatment and attention to them even though the state and some charity organization volunteers help them and give presents as well. Our desire to make friends with them and spend this Christmas time together with them is more important than any present or thing. The orphans refused to go to the disco in order to stay with us and spend more time with us. It was a great blessing for us too.
At each evening meeting we dedicated time to discuss very important and exciting Christian topics which will be useful for the orphans’ future life and will teach them how not to make mistakes in their lives and always to remember who can help them in any situation. During the day not all the orphans listened to us attentively but in the evenings before they went to bed we could have some close private talks and discuss what they heard at Bible classes at the meetings. We reminded them that the true happiness we can find only in God. We played different games, sang and did crafts a lot at the camp. Older teenagers had a chance to continue learning how to play the guitar. We learn new songs at each new camp. This winter the most favourite song was “ Let us light the candles”, the song that created a special warm atmosphere. At craft classes kids made boxes for the presents, little Christmas tree figures, Christmas cards, Christmas garlands and toys – that all created a nice atmosphere too. Making Christmas garlands was the most challenging for the kids as it demanded a lot of efforts and patience. At the end kids were content and gave thanks for teaching them to do this and they got beautiful Christmas garlands and they could decorate their rooms.
The most exciting game for the kids was “ funny soccer” as each member of the team played his role and participated in the game. It was fun to play this game as the sport room was quite small and we had a lot of volunteers to participate. After the game everybody was happy and content not paying attention to having got tired or having lost in the game and it made all of us feel united. It was so great because the kids don’t often experience being united and friends with each other. Kids had a chance to see how valuable it is to be all one, to stand united, respect each other and win in a game thanks to being the part of the team. In one of the games we pretended to have “Civil Registry office” and the kids were to organize a wedding (to decorate the hall, to get a wedding dress for a bride, invite guests, choose some background music). It’s surprising but this game was a good experience for the kids as the majority of them had a bad example of their parents. It’s sad that the kids can see such common practices as civil marriage and not the example of a good Christian family where they submit to God and He has control over them. That was just a simple game and the kids could see an episode from a family life of a Christian and what God’s attitude is towards marriage.
At the last evening meeting we told the kids how God can transform their lives and what they need to do is to ask God to do this and let Him into their lives. It was a real pleasure and a joy to hear them saying a prayer of repentance after the preacher. My heart was fulfilled with gratitude to God and realizing how powerful He is. I can’t describe it with the words, it seems to be a miracle!
“In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:10
The last minutes at the camp were sad as we became a real family, the kids got used to us and it was so hard to say goodbye to each other. I tried to encourage the kids saying that the most precious now is to remember this days spent and shared together. And also we told them about the One who gives us life and cares about our future and makes us the happiest in the Universe!
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” Jeremiah 29:11