Archive for May, 2017

In May: “Rudensk orphanage”

Posted: May 31, 2017 by Dobr9k in Rudensk
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May is always a joyful and a little bit sad month at the same time. It is joyful because it gets warmer,

nature comes to life and everyone looks forward to summer. But it is sad because senior students graduate from the orphan school and leave it forever. On the one hand we are happy that they say goodbye to their school but on the other hand we have to say goodbye to them. We maintain relations with many orphans after their graduation but there are the children that we won’t see anymore. We can just hope and believe that they will find a church in the places they go to study and work and will continue to build up relationships with God.

This month we introduced God’s qualities to the older ones. They learnt what the following truths mean: ‘God is Light’, ‘God is the Bread of Life’, ‘God id the Way’. Why did we take such topics? We want the children to know how unique and great our God is and how much He can do in the heart of a person who let Him enter his or her heart. Besides, we arranged boys’ and girls’ time. We spoke about the importance of keeping pure with the girls again. And we spoke about tattoos and their origin and read what the Bible said about them. One of meetings was arranged in the form of the relay race. The children in Rudensk orphan school are keen on sport, so such an activity is a good opportunity for spending time not only with the children who come to our meetings but also with those who don’t come to us.

Smaller children usually have their own program. Besides a bible lesson they watch Christian cartoons, draw, do crafts and play. This month we met new biblical characters and their life stories: ‘Joseph’, ‘Samson’, ‘Ruth’ and ‘Samuel and Elijah’. It’s great that these children perceive bible lessons very well and react emotionally when they see injustice, danger, betrayal and when they see God’s miracles that took place in our characters’ lives. We believe that in spite of their mental and physical disabilities these children will hear the truth and one day they let God in their hearts!

We have four more meetings with the children in this study year. After that the graduates will leave their orphan school forever and the rest of the children will go to state camps till the end of summer. We ask our readers to pray for the children not to forget the truths they have heard during the school year.

In May: “Smilovichi orphanage”

Posted: May 31, 2017 by Dobr9k in Smilovichi
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The happiest moment of this month was the adoption of Arseniy who was in the orphanage for a long time, waiting for the decision from services of guardianship. We are thankful to the Lord for open hearts of the families for adopting these children! These children are very kind, talented and open for the God’s word. When we came and told them amazing stories about Jonah and Esfir, all of the children have expressed their opinion, and they have remembered different life situations, which have led to some bad or good consequences.
Each of us communicate with them personally; at such moments children are especially open to share with their fears, needs or strong offenses. We take the responsibility to pray for them, to build the confidential relationship, and the most important thing to LOVE them. Because it is their main need!!!
One more pleasant moment for children is the creativity lesson where they develop in something new, as Alla tries not to repeat in the activities. In such moments all team helps children not to be disappointed if they do something wrong for the first time and to achieve their goals step by step, with patience. This month we made animals and birds from fluffy delays. Children were satisfied!
Thanks God for changes in lives of these beautiful children and an opportunity for us to be participants of this service!

In April: “Vileyka orphanage”

Posted: May 5, 2017 by Dobr9k in Vileyka
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Our April trips to school were full of Easter mood and spring renewal, even in relations with children.
Risen and alive Christ is the only condition you need to serve the Lord and help Him grow His kingdom on the earth.
This year was a special year in orphan ‘s ministry in many ways. After Pasha’s tragic death, the team had an important goal – to win kids’ respect and trust. So great to know that many kids are becoming closer to the team, they always look forward to them coming, they send texts, ring during the week and ask questions after our themed talks. One Friday evening we were asked by the administration of the school to take part in sports together with kids. We all were devided into two teams and had to do different activities with sport equipment. Our participation encouraged kids to be more active, to support each other and to be actually interested in what’s happening. And we were once again reassured of the importance of the power of encouraging words for kids. It’s so important to believe in children and to always remind them about it. Those who were bored were running even faster when they heard their names and the support of the team. God is never tired of supporting us.
I also would like to share my impressions about our meeting with teenagers on the 14th April. The time when we celebrated Belarusian version of Jewish Easter. There was different food on the table that every Jew would have on his table for Easter, and kids were showed and explained why it was so spiritualy important to have every dish that was there. Thanks to exciting comparisons and our
personal experience on trying those dishes before we won children’s attention and were able to share about the true freedom from sin and horrible consequences of our separation from God.
Now most kids understood the greeting ‘Chris is risen!’ and all the treats we had made our evening atmosphere more festive.
On the 21st April kid’s old friend Dima came to visit and share the eternal truth of Christ’s resurrection. They listened to him with pleasure. Dima always tells stories so that children would understand them, he prepares pictures or smth else that would make the story exciting.
Children came up with important conclusions. By the way many of them are graduating from school this year and are about to take a serious decision on where to go and study next.
And our team is preparing for celebration with them.
We are glad that despite the weather and not so nice spring, children are looking forward to us coming and they understand what Bible teaches us and that Christian views are worth their attention.

In April: “Rudensk orphanage”

Posted: May 1, 2017 by Dobr9k in Rudensk
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Hello dear friends!
It’s such a pleasure to describe those events and changes that are happening in the ministry to orphans in our country. This month we had even a bigger desire to talk about the victory of Jesus Christ. Because the whole world first froze in anticipation, and then in celebration of the Resurrection of Christ. So coming to the Rudensk orphanage we also wanted to share the basics of the christian faith. We talked a lot both in the class but also in our private conversations about the true reason why people celebrate and what Easter means personally for each one of us. People forgetting about God and His Son give too much meaning to the colored eggs as a symbol of the Resurrection of Christ and easter cakes as a transition from the old testament to the new one. It turns out that people in our country know more about eggs and easter cakes than the Easter itself!
The new kids and those who came to us from the junior classes are also lost in the answers for this question: “So what does Easter actually mean?” And because of this during this celebration month we spent two meetings talking about this topic. A lot of teenagers join our meetings and it’s such a pleasure to see changes in the lives of these kids. The word that is shared gets deep into the hearts and it starts to change the kids. Kids get confidence that God cares for them and they also start to make goals and look for ways of how to reach them. Even in the beginning of this year kids that graduate this year couldn’t answer such questions as “Where do you want to study” or “What are you dreaming about”. But today these kids don’t just answer the questions about their dreams, studies but they are also hoping to be in places where there will be a church for them. We can feel that these kids want some changes in their lives. And if they let God into their hearts these changes will happen for sure!
Moreover this month we had “boys’ night” and “girls’ night” – meetings when boys and girls meet separately. This kind of atmosphere helps to raise touchy topics. Girls were talking about horoscopes, how they came to be, about the influence that they can have on a person’s life and what danger they carry. With boys we were talking about how much lies there are in this world. How to learn to discern it and how to react to something that’s truly good and something that is evil.
Recently we met with a graduate of this orphanage. Her name is Vika and we can see that she is struggling. Despite her young age she is pregnant. The father of the child left her and abandoned his future daughter. She is quite desperate at the moment, and there is new pain in her heart and a new betrayal. In early childhood Vika was left by her parents and most of her life she spent in the orphanage. And now her beloved left her. We are praying for a safe pregnancy and birth of her child. And also our prayer is that her future daughter won’t be taken into an orphanage right out of the hospital.
When Coming for a visit to the orphanage we want to see changes in the lives of the kids. Our dream is that they will find faith and hope which they really need after graduating from the orphanage.
Dear friends, thank you that you pray for us!

In April: “Smilovichi orphanage”

Posted: May 1, 2017 by Dobr9k in Smilovichi
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We continue visiting kids in Smilovichi orphanage. They become dearer and closer to us. Kids constantly changing they, but new ones get used to us quickly. They are all opened and friendly to us. We are happy that we can communicate with them, even though it’s not always easy. But God knows everything. I’m so happy that they hug us and always say that they were waiting for us.
There is a boy called Misha who’s been living there for a month. We have recently met him, but nevertheless we became friends very quickly.
I noticed that he is very shy even though he’s a grown-up. On the first day when we met he didn’t play any games with us, didn’t sing, didn’t take part in anything, he was just listening to what we’ve been taking about.
I was surprised that when I said that our team is all Christians and that we are going to talk about God at our meetings, Misha was happy to hear that.
Next time we saw him he was playing games, singing, communicated with us and other kids. Now he’s one of the most active people there. He is always eager to answer the questions at the end of our talks. Moreover, he always asks more questions when talk to him face-to-face. We can see that he is very curious.
He is always one of the first ones who comes to our biblical lessons. Praise God that He opens children’s hearts! Only He can lead our hearts and change them!
I also noticed that children are really impressed when we share our personal experiences with them. But the major point this week was the story of Daniel and his friends. And the most significant celebration of the month was Easter. We had a great opportunity to share about what Jesus has done on the cross. And after that kids got nice presents.