Archive for November 30, 2015

In November: “Rudensk orphanage”

Posted: November 30, 2015 by Dobr9k in Rudensk

11514853Coming of new children and teenagers to the Bible lessons has become the most joyful event at Rudensk school! Earlier they used to come to get presents, to watch a performance, to play games but they didn’t take any interest in the things we teach. This month they were with us each Wednesday. We are graIMG_3900teful to God for that!
According to the opinion of the youIMG_3971th, we understood that they enjoy gathering in groups, when girls are separated from boys. That’s why we try to arrange such meetings once a month. We continued to discuss the topic ‘Cohabitation’ with the girls, which was raised last month. This topic is very acute in our country. Nastya dispelled all the wrong views of this problem providing the examples from the Bible and statistical data. The atmosphere was warm during the lesson and everyone could open the heart and share their troubling thoughts. Generally, they are afraid of being alone, afraid of loneliness. That’s the main reason for them to look for a person to live with soon after they leave the orphanage. I believe that we managed to tell them about the love of GIMG_3995od and remind them that He is always near and they aren’t alone.IMG_3968
Evgeny raised an actual topic, too, he spoke about laziness. Not being obtrusive, with the help of a slide-presentation and leading questions he was able to explain the children of different age groups what laziness is and how to get rid of it. Many chilpren admitted that they are often lazy and don’t want to work because of various reasons.
This month Dima took the topic ‘Humor’. Taking the biblical example he showed the children that it is normal to have fun and joke, but there shouldn’t be those who are offended and humiliated and surely there shouldn’t be the mIMG_3892oments that upset God.
IMG_3910We watched the cartoon devoted to the topics ‘faithfulness to God’ and ‘faithfulness in friendship’ at two other meetings.
During this month we tried to find time and meet with graduates of Rudensk orphanage. We invited Nastya on a weekend. Her village is nearly one hundred kilometers from Minsk. She has strong faith and attends the church in Stolbcy. We try to help her to live outside school walls, be friends to her, and continue to tell her the truth. Nastya is an encouragement for us! We are pleased to see how her life has been changing in a better way!

In November: “Smilovichi orphanage”

Posted: November 30, 2015 by Dobr9k in Smilovichi

11514853All praise to God for each new day and for this new month we had! This month as usually we were able to visit the orphans in Smilovichy. The orphans are constantly changing there. But each time we come to visit them, we meet new orphans there who got there recently and they are open and they trust us from the very first day they met us. They tell us the story of how they got into the orphanage, how they sIMG_3958tudy there, tell about their new friends they made in the orphanage and they also complain about those who treat them bad. image-052662e5191fd11b68144bab3ecec698f438df4a7f5ec439fe3d180cc50f1f65-VAnyway, they try to be friendly to each other even though it can be difficult sometimes.
Every time we come to the orphanage our hearts are full of joy as we see these kids, their love to us and as we see how they wait to see us. This month we continued introducing orphans with some new Bible stories of the New Testament. Kids are already familiar with such Bible stories as “Jesus healing a woman who had suffered from her disease for 12 years”, “Jesus raising a dead Jairus’s daughter”,
“Jesus having fed 5000 people“, “the Good Samaritan”.
At the end of each lesson we asked questions and we were glad to see how enthusiastic the orphans were to answer them correimage-22ef2343b763623b42f42795a857b8492c79126810effcc48a644f5d904578cc-Vctly, to do tasks, to play together with us. One of our lessons was dedicated to crafts. IMG_3961We called it “Each orphan has a talent”. And indeed, every kid is talented and a lesson in crafts gives a good chance to reveal these talents and develop them. Kids could decorate glasses for pencils and use them later for their school needs. Sasha, Alina, Diana were with us for the last time. Their parents were able to finish the repair works in the house, to pay debts for utilities and the social work supervisors allowed kids back home. So, Sasha and Alina were returned back to their family and Diana to her family. It was a good example and a reminder of God’s faithfulness to answer the prayers of orphans. At the end of our lessons kids said prayers together with us. IMG_3953The most common prayers were about asking for good health and coming back to their families. We praise IMG_3964God that He knows our needs and the three orphans have been brought back home. Let’s hope the seed that was sewed in their hearts will bear fruit one day.
Now there are 2 more orphans left in the orphanage – Artyom and Nikita. Nikita is very young, he doesn’t go to school yet. He needs some prayer support and it’s difficult for him to get used to the orphanage as he often gets ill. Artyom is very open, cheerful and obedient. He keeps on praying and asking God to come back home as soon as possible. He’s looking forward to court decision on his case to know if he could be returned back to the family.