Our ministry at Smilovichi orphanage goes on, in spite of the new administration at the 
orphanage. Thanks God, He makes people’s hearts favorable to us! We are also grateful for those who support our ministry financially! This month we were able to help them 
bringing the things for washing and cleaning.
At the moment there came eight children more. The children got acquainted with new biblical stories such as ‘The parable about the lost sheep’ and ‘the prayer of a Pharisee and a tax collector in the temple’. The first story is a good example of God’s care for each person. The second one teaches that God accepts us as we are, if we admit our fault before Him and ask to forgive our sins. The children participa
ted quite actively in the biblical lessons and answered the questions. For there are mostly small children at the 
orphanage now, we learnt new song songs with motions and prepared for celebrating Christmas. At one of the meetings we could demonstrate the kids a Christian cartoon and then we discussed its sense and morals, thus cultivating in them good values. Also, according to our good tradition we had crafts where both boys and girls took a very active part in this. Moreover, we noticed that due to crafts the children become more attentive and
diligent.
We are very glad 
when some of the children want to pray. Alina prays to the Lord most often and her main wish is returning to her mother.
We finished up December in a cheerful way! We invited a puppet theatre and they told us a bright Christmas story. At the end the children got their long-expected gifts! Glory to God for this evening because it was a great pleasure for us to see their happy eyes!
Archive for December, 2015
This December we didn’t have a lot of trips to the orphanage in Belinichy. It was because the 
director of the orphanage died. Both kids and the personnel of the orphanage need time to overcome this loss and the administrative personnel asked us to
reduce on our visits. But nevertheless, we managed to teach some lessons. Senior kids had lessons dedicated to anger and greediness. We also ran some sport activities and a lot of kids came to the event. Sometimes we can see orphans compete and even being hostile to each other as they want to be the best. Our volunteers are encouraged to play with orphans in order to teach them the importance of unity and team. At the end of sport activities all participants got sweet presents. Orphans
adore them.
Junior orphans had a different plan. They
focused on studying Bible stories from New Testament. This month they learnt a story about how Christ calmed a storm and a story about the lost sheep. Orphans understood there is nothing impossible for God and even nature obeys God. Another idea we tried to underline is that each person matters for God. Orphans had a chance to watch a cartoon about the King Solomon and from this cartoons kids could learn that sense and wisdom come from God.
This December was quite rainy and dull. We were so glad to see the orphanage building all decorated and bright, with a Christmas tree. Our great d
esire is that orphans could understand not only the be
auty of Christmas decorations but also the meaning of Christmas. We sang Christmas Christian songs and played games that refer to the topic of Christmas. At the beginning of January we are going to make a Christmas performance for kids and give presents. We ask you to pray for making our plan come true and so that the whole performance was clear to orphans as they have some mental and physical disabilities.
The last month of the year is coming to the end. It is ending on a joyful note because together with children we are rejoicin
g to the coming Christmas and New Year! Each our meeting was dedicated to the different subjects but at the same time from the beginning of the mon
th together with children we sang Christmas songs, played games with a motif of Christmas and continually reminded kids about Christmas.
At the beginning of the next month we are planning to organize Christmas play at the Rudensk orphanage after which children are going to receive their long awaited gifts. But now I would like to tell about our trips that we had in December.
We started December from “stag-parties” and “hen-parties” – the most favorite form of our meetings with the children of Rudensk orphanage. At the stag-party boys from our team talked with boys-teenagers 
on the very complex but at the same time very current for teenagers subject – “Pornography”. The team has been deciding for a long time if we should have a meeting on this subject but after long prayers God has blessed us: teenagers happened to be quite open to 
discussion and the meeting was quite serious. We were able to explain to boys how strongly the pornography clogs mind and heart of a man and to what consequences it leads. But most importantly we were able to show how abominable it is in the eyes of God!
At the same time the girls on their “hen-party” decided to do cookery! At the beginning of the meeting girls from our team explain about hygiene rules that they have to uphold during cooking. After that the girls were divided into several teams and each team was making a fruit 
salad. At the time of cooking we realize that some girls do not understand what it means to “cut banana in halves” or “divide orange into lobules”. In these cases we patiently showed and explained how to do it right because we understand that at some point these girls will go into adult life and this kind of knowledge would definitely be very useful to them! After the cooking the girls prayed and thank God for the abundance on the t
able. And after prayer they could eat fruit salads that they have prepared by themselves.
The next meetings were dedicated to the subjects “Anger” and “Greed”. To unwrap the subject of “Anger”, Zhenya pointed out three main moments: 1 – who is getting angry (a fool), 2 – to what it leads (quarrel) and 3 – what to do with anger (forgive, because God f
orgives us). The subject of “Greed” explained Dima. He tried to show to kids that God calls people not to be greedy but quite the opposite – to be generous, to care for the neighbours and to be satisfied with what we have.
During another our trip we conducted sport relays. It was a good opportunity to have fun and to strengthen children’ and our health, while at the same time to show children the importance of unity inside of a team and to learn to accept not just victories but losses too.
Praise God for such a possibility to go to Vileyka’s orphanage and spend time with children
there. Praise God for every child there, for their smiles. These children need love, communication and care. We want those who are deprived of parents to know that they have Our Heavenly Father Who loves and cares for them. We want them to know that they have God to entrust their grief and problems. We want them to remember that they have God to come to with all the questions they have.
We work with junior children from the 2nd and 3d forms. Everybody has its own talent to devel
op. On our classes children find out a lot of new things about God. They usually have
many questions about how God answers the prayers. We tell them biblical stories and on these examples show that God is always true and permanent. He cares for us and helps. What children like most of all is to sing songs, play games and draw. We learn biblical verses by heart and believe that God will keep them in their hearts.
LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN 