In December, I had the opportunity to talk with the older children, conduct Bible 
lessons with them and, as far as possible, answer their questions and pray for their needs. As for the topics of our meetings, we continued to acquaint the children with the life of Jesus Christ, telling them about His miracles. It’s amazing how God opens children’s hearts to accepting the truths they heard throughout the month! At the end of each meeting, the children approached me with different questions, both 
on the subject of the meeting, and with additional questions. For example, Artyom asked if we, living in the modern world, can see angels. Some of the children wondered if God could do such miracles in our lives too clearly. Another guy asked for advice on how to get rid of obscene language, and also shared how sincerely he wants to do the right thing, but he doesn’t always succeed.
The guys were especially impressed by two biblical stories: “The story of healing the paralyzed” and “The story of how Jesus fed more than five thousand people.” Children are particularly concerned with personal examples and testimonies from the life of someone who teaches them a Bible lesson. This month, Elijah told his testimony about how God met the needs of his family during the most difficult times. A simple personal example was remembered by the children as the brightest!
I am also very grateful to God that the children develop a prayer life. Many of them share the fact that they constantly pray and read the Bible. Some of them talk about how it is difficult for them to pray, because they are mocked and even humiliated by other guys who live with them. According to our good tradition, every week we pray for birthdays. Now the children are no longer waiting until we ask who has birthday 
this week, but they themselves begin to come up and ask for prayer for them. Perhaps I will give two more examples that inspired me! Girl Polina, twice asked us to pray for her healing, for God to restore her vision, which is rapidly falling. I felt how important it was for her and how her heart was just beginning to open up to God. We also have Martha, who in the last week of December bade us farewell, because 
she leaves school forever and goes to live in a disabled home. She finished school this summer, and all this time she waited for the room for her. She feels a lot of fears and feelings now, many tears. But just like Polina, she tries, as far as she can and understands, to look for a way out in God. We, of course, prayed for her. We hope now that the seed sown in her heart will give fruit at the right time!
Of course, the
highlight of this month was the Nativity of Christ! In January, we plan to organize for all the guys from the Rudensky orphanage, a large Christmas production with the distribution of gifts. But before this event occurs, we first wanted to talk about the deepest sense of Christmas and the goal of the birth of the Savior to our world. That is why one of the meetings of this month we dedicated to Christmas. The children themselves, together with our team, sang songs about the birth of Jesus, participated in discussions and played various games dedicated to this topic.
Archive for December, 2018
Traditionally December has been the season of anticipation of holiday festivities 
and gifts. And it is a special time for orphans as well. It is the time when the second school term closes and long winter holidays begin ushering Christmas and New Year.
During the whole month the children are overwhelmed with expectations of the forthcoming trips abroad. Already in the mid-December a lot of them leave for Italy and UK where they spend the holidays with their foster families.
And we also wanted to be engaged in making holidays for the orphans and created a real miracle for all primary school children – a trip to Minsk and a visit to the Circus. Dima Nachina arranged with the visiting circus troop from Yakutia that the children would be allowed to
see the final rehearsal of their performance. We organized the transfer paying for the gas and on December 14, 2018, over 80 children, accompanied by their tutors, stepped into a breathtaking show-program in two acts.
Clowns, actors, characters from fairy-tales and gymnasts performed for the children for two hours. The show featured joyful music, interactivities and changing decorations. The children were especially excited about the animal tamers and acrobats who did incredible stunts.
Abeautifully decorated Christmas tree was the key of the festivities symbolizing coziness and warmth of the home 
– just the things that are missing in the children’s lives. And as in every children’s story – at the end the good overpowered the evil.
For many children it was the first trip ever to the city. And a lot of them could only dream about visiting the circus. That’s why they were simply taken away with the emotions and their eager applause attested to their excitement.
When the performance was over, the circus manager met with the children saying a lot of warm words to them and wishing them happy holidays. The children thanked him in one voice.
The trip to the circus left a positive impact on the tutors, who shyly thanked us for the event’s organization. They acknowledge the importance of making investments and contributions into the lives of the bereaved.
And the trip to church is coming up next!
“It doesn’t matter how many countries you have visited or how much money you 
have earned. The only thing that really matters is what you have left behind”. I have been thinking about this phrase these days. Children are our future, but when I look at orphanages in our country, I understand that we do not struggle for our future and do not even care about it. When we ask children what they would like to have for Christmas, they start to say “we want to go home”, and only after that they ask toys and sweets. Children as well as adults 
need love! Adults can hide their feelings but children clearly show what they lack. “Hug me”, “say that you missed me”, “we have thought about you”. All these words show me that adults are not aimed at what is important and they do not think about consequences. In the future financial support may bring some fruit. However, is it the only help that they need? When I come to the orphanage, I see hungry eyes 
of kids whose parents do not visit them. Here they are not even treated as children, but at the same time, they dream about jam, tender hugs of their parents and Christmas presents. They draw the pictures in their heads and then their dreams face sad reality. Their parents rejected them because their dependence on alcohol and drugs rose above the instinct of care and protection of their children. So children became unimportant.
This month we spoke about the miracles of Jesus Christ and looked with the children at the people who got their miracle. Then we tried to relate these stories to our days. People bring many presents to the orphanage during Christmas and New Year holidays and the children take it for granted. Many people who were cured did not thank God either. They plunged into their worries and problems and forgot what God did in their lives. Gratefulness encourages doing good things and believing in positive changes.
Besides the lessons, we talk to the kids and they share their dreams and wishes with us. That is why we brought child Bibles for the kids to read and grow in their faith. Literally this Thursday we came there and the children told us what stories they had read. I was smiling when they did not just tell me what they read about but they also prayed. I believe that the time we had with the children will leave a good footprint on their lives. When we have warmth, we can share it with others. God changes us each time we come there and the children are changed because they are loved, prayed for and just allowed to be kids.
Thank you friends that you were with us this year praying for us and supporting us! We believe that our common work will be fruitful!
We want to tell you the news about children from the orphanage in Smilovichi, 
which we visit every Tuesday. A happy event was the relocation of Andrey (he was 4 years old) and Alice (she was 3 years old) into a new family. According to educators, this family is very good and perfect for them. Thank God that children from the orphanage get into families, and not to boarding school!
Together with the remaining children, we 
talked about deception and how important honesty is in our lives. Each of them shared with their stories. They mainly concerned their parents, as well as the deception they have experienced. Lera and Vlada told how dad left for groceries and returned drunk in just three days and did not even apologize for his deception. After some time, this situation repeated itself and the neighbors have understood that the father 
abandoned the children turned to the civil service and the sisters were taken to the orphanage, but they have not yet seen their father. Discussing this topic, the children said they did not trust people, especially close and significant in their lives, but they would ask God for strength to forgive and begin to trust, and also to act honestly, regardless of the circumstances.
After the topic of deception, we talked about anger and what is the most 
important what causes such destructive behavior. Using the example of Cain and Abel we explained how one of the brothers, who, because of envy, became angry with the other brother and did not stop in his anger, committed a murder. Together with the children, we discussed various situations in life that lead to anger, and also showed how, turning to God, we can ask for forgiveness for this feeling and calm down. 
Some guys have become accustomed to solving conflicts through fights and screams, so for them this is a new way of behavior (appeal to God) that will change their lives for the better.
Last week, instead of a Bible lesson, we held a creative lesson, where we helped each child learn to create beautiful and necessary things with their own hands. After all, many of them do not even know how to hold brushes in their hands or paint with them, because their parents did not do it with them and did not invest in the development of their talents.
On 7th November a great occasion took place in Vileyka boarding school. Culinary club organised a meeting for kids 
and administration with Sergei Saponenko. Sergei Saponenko was born in Gomel with a bad case of cerebral palsy. This illness took away his ability to move and speak. Now he lives in the USA, he’s got a wife and a daughter. Even though there are so many obstacles, he leads an active social life, 
writes poems, and many of them are made into songs. Sergei Saponenko is like Belarusian Nick Vujicic, he’s a motivational speaker who helps people to find faith.
Faith based on Christian values is the main generator and rescue from loneliness and futility for the author. That’s what Sergei was talking about in Vileyka boarding school. His support group also shared about his life and every day’s bravery. At the end of the meeting everyone got a present and books.
Alexander’s testimony about ministry in the boarding school, a volunteer who is about to go serve in the army.
We had a great time visiting the school this season, 
we were happy to see that kids were looking forward to our coming. They are in such a need of love and care, and they always met us with unhidden joy.
We also had some difficulties with administration, when they suddenly decided to do obligatory after-school activities during the time when we come. It once again proves that ” our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, 
against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Eph 6:12) . So our team started praying and fasting for this matter, because our Lord” hears the prayer of the righteous ” (Proverbs 15:29) Only God alone could make it happen and we managed to talk administration into letting some of the kids come to our meetings instead of those after-school 
activities and we could keep on our ministry for the glory of the Lord! Praising His name we will serve even more fiercely, organising different activities for children. For younger kids we used “The greatest gift” books. They are colorful and easy to understand for kids, and practical tasks lead children’s hearts to Christ. With older kids we talked about topics that worried them most. During the lesson we always reminded them about the importance of God’s Word and Christ’s sacrifice in their lives. They think about it, ask questions and we are always happy and ready to answer them, to show God’s love, to explain about Jesus’ sacrifice and that if it was done for the whole world, it means He died personally for each of them.
Praise God for His help! May His hand be upon the kids and our team. We believe the Lord will still be making a way for us in this ministry.
LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN 