LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN

June began with finishing the story about Daniel and getting acquainted with the story of Jonah who spent three days inside a huge fish. Thus, the children finished the review of Old Testament books. We hope, they will keep the word they heard throughout the school year in their hearts and God will continue working in the lives of these children!
The most vivid and memorable event of this summer became the camp that brought a lot of victories, blessings and positive emotions!
I would like to thank everyone who prayed for the summer camp in Belarus. We had the camp for 86 orphans in the Belynichi orphanage from 20 to 29 June. The program of the camp aimed at helping the children develop the necessary qualities of their character that they need in everyday life. Our camp was called “One Step Closer”. During this time, we tried to teach the children and show by our personal example how to get closer to peace, joy, faithfulness, forgiveness and love. We talked with the children about freedom and how to live right in this freedom (the freedom from sin, fear and addiction). The good news about the Greatest example of bright and happy life sounded throughout all the lessons of morality. We spoke about God and His Word, showed sketches that revealed the theme of the day. Most children at our camp had mental disabilities; some of them were born with Down syndrome.
In God’s Word Jesus said that He came to the lost sheep. This extract opened to me in a special way in practice. During the Bible lessons, we saw that the children listened to us and prayed with great craving and faith grew in their hearts despite the hardships in their lives. Many children came to us and asked to teach them to pray. The children asked God mainly about their health and a new family. One boy Roma by name told us that he slept badly and suffered from constant tiredness. Not long ago Roma returned from the hospital where they tried to help him using medicine and he became better only for a short time. He asked us: “Can Jesus help me and give a good sleep? You told us in the Bible lesson that he healed blind Bartimaeus!” We prayed together and asked God to give Roma peace and a calm sleep. Next morning he ran to us and shouted: “I slept! I slept! Thanks God!”
When I shared Roma’s story I also remembered Katya who was left at hospital where she got her name and surname. She is the girl with a wounded heart, she dreams of finding her parents and telling them that she forgives them… The stories of the children with unchildish past shocked the team and did not leave us indifferent. We saw pain even in the children’s eyes, not to mention their behavior dictated by the pain and rejection. Some of them failed to commit suicide for several times. Despair and bitterness are the companions of the left children that is why it was so important to bring them the message of love and acceptance of our Heavenly Father. I am glad that every day we taught the children to get over themselves and their bad habits and be able to change together for the better. Vadim is the boy with Down syndrome who cannot say anything but just “ba-ba” or “bi-bi”, loved listening to the Bible stories so much that he came and listened to us every evening during last days and prayed together with us before going to bed (although he did it in his own way).
We are especially grateful to God because we dreamt that these children would have influential adults who would help them in their lives! When the headmaster came to the camp, he thanked the volunteers for their work because the children do not always have the opportunity to go to camps. He paid attention to our professionalism and noticed that the children changed for the better. We also had a great blessing in repentance of 25 children! The Word of God must be preached everywhere! We are grateful to you for the opportunity to serve the children in the places where nobody teaches them that God is love and those who accept Him, accept salvation from Him!