I want to share with you how our trips to the orphanage on Tuesdays are taking place. The new children,
who were brought earlier this month, were very open to us and to the word of God, so we decided to talk about sin, devoting a lot of time to it. In order to make this topic easier to understand, many moments were presented in a playful form and even the educators wanted to join us, 
expressing their approval. After all, all the children we come to had lived in families where sin is the norm of life for their parents, grandparents. Almost from birth, they see cruelty, the immense use of alcohol, drugs and other sinful behavior from the most authoritative people – moms and dads. One of the girls, Snezhana, said that her mother does nothing for her upbringing, often goes away at night and leads an immoral lifestyle than traumatizes her baby’s heart. Remaining alone, not to be afraid, 
Snezhana prayed, and then fell asleep with faith that her mother would return home and nothing bad would happen to her. One of these days, Snezhana’s mother was brought to the hospital because of an overdose, and she was taken to the orphanage. “Why? Why God, if You are such Almighty, you can not make my mother not to sin and become a good mom? Snejana asked. ” 
There was so much pain and disappointment in her voice and eyes. We answered her questions and supported her, surrounding her with care and attention. Praise God for the opportunity to influence these children and give them the love they need so much!
During our next meeting, we talked with the children about what to do if you have already sinned and your conscience torments you. In my opinion, it’s not enough just to tell a person about sin and show all its disadvantages. It is important to give these children a way out and help them to deal with sin. The purpose of this meeting is to teach children how to ask forgiveness if they are in some way wrong with people or God, and also learn how to forgive others.
Last week, we arranged a lesson for creativity for the children. Sveta taught girls how to do hair clips, and Zhenya with Nazar painted engravings. Everyone were pleased with the time spent and the result of their work. For Vasilisa this time was especially joyful, because she dreamed of a beautiful hairpin and even managed to make two during our meeting.
We are very grateful to all who are praying for these beautiful children and our team! Thank God!
Archive for April 1, 2018
This month I told a block of stories about the miracles wich Jesus had made to the boys of the lower grades. The children really liked those stories. 
They were especially enthusiastic about the story of how a little boy, about their age (which I had specified for them), gave Jesus 5 loaves and 2 small fishes so that Jesus could feed the people who came to listen to Him. 
The children could not believe that everyone had enough food and a few baskets even remained! As a rule, there are 20-25 younger children at our meetings. But, at one of the meetings there were only 4 children. Some of the children were sleeping already, some were doing their homework, and some were interested in some other activities. At first, I was a little embarrassed, but then I saw an advantage that it is possible to discuss more in details the next biblical story with each child, checking how much each of them could learn the information from the stories. When the lesson with such a small number of children came to an end, 
I realized that this meeting was not accidental!
Also, this month, we talked with the children about how Jesus healed a woman who was suffering for 12 years, about how He raised the daughter of Jairus and how Jesus helped the blind Bartimaeus who was sitting near the temple.
It is great that the children did not forget the biblical stories that we told last month! 
Again, they could not understand how it could be that Jesus could pacify the storm and especially walk on the water! They talked about how they run around in puddles, but still their feet are completely submerged in water and it is impossible – not to drown, especially in the sea! I am very happy when I see how such small children are trying to analyze the Bible lessons and apply them in their daily life! I told them how important it is to have a hope and trust God every minute of our life. 
The fact that there are no desperate situations for God. That at any time, we can ask Him for help. When we stood up to pray, I was surprised because of one girl – Katya. It seemed to me that when I told the story, she looked quite the other way and was immersed in her thoughts. She asked me to pray and in her prayer she repeated my whole lesson in the smallest details
(which is very difficult for these children) and prayed that there would never be a terrible storm in our life, and if it does, that God will save us. She also prayed for us to believe in God and always look at Him, not taking our eyes off (as Peter looked away, he began to sink). I really was touched by this children’s prayer! Once again I was convinced that God has his plans, his terms and his methods of achieving hearts, and we just need to be conscientious!
At the same time, the older children completed lessons about the life of David and his son Solomon. The children had the opportunity to talk about friendship, about envy and betrayal, as well as about the wisdom that God can give to a person. One of the highlights of this month was the holiday – The women’s day, on 8 March. This day we could congratulate the girls of the orphanage in Belynichy and pray for all the girls, ask God’s blessings for their future life! The girls were pleased with this attention and remained very grateful. At the end of the meeting, all the children got sweet presents. Thanks God for this wonderful time!
LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN 