Hello, dear friends!
We are glad to tell you how a month of trips to the Smilovichsky orphanage passed! This month there were a lot of interesting 
meetings with the children. Now there are few of them, so each meeting we had a great opportunity to talk with them on different topics, and discuss examples on these topics that we can find in the pages of the Bible.
At the first meeting we were talking about how important it is to be a reliable person. In order to consider the benefits of reliability, we looked at the life of Joseph. 
While the children haven’t grown yet, we wanted to show them that the decisions they make can affect on their whole life.
In continuation of this thought, a week later, we were talking on the topic of devotion. The heroes for this theme were Naomi, Ruth, and Orpah. At this meeting, we discussed how we should 
communicate with our friends and family. After all, so often we want to get something, not considering our relations with loved ones, and we can offend them.
Since there were few children at our meetings, we were able not only to communicate a little closer, but also to play games in which we could compete on who would stand more on one leg, who would be able to keep the ball from pin-pong in the air longer , and 
other entertaining tasks.
We also had the opportunity to engage in creative work with the children. Doing something by yourself is always interesting. When we are engaged in creativity with the children, they can see how we communicate with each other and with them. And through our actions, words and decisions, children can see other relationships – the relationship between us and God. 
In addition, at these meetings we usually talk about what the children are worried about and answer their questions. Such communication is unusual, because the children can get new answers to their concerns.
At the last meeting we talked about our talents, opportunities, and how they can be applied to society. Using the example of building the Tabernacle, the children saw that even regular work can be useful. Continuing this topic, we learned that some of them would like to become builders or sellers, but there were also those who said that they have not yet decided who they wanted to become. Thanks to this, they were able to think about their future.
This month has come to an end, and we are very pleased that we can share our results with you. Thanks to all who follow our ministry and support it!
Archive for March, 2019
So another month of our ministry at the Rudensk boarding school came to an end. Sometimes it seems that nothing new
has happened in this month. And it’s not so easy to put together all your thoughts and tell our readers something very bright or new, when in fact, our meetings with the children are going
according to the usual plan and when we already know all the children who come to us. But no matter how familiar and monotonous everything seemed to be from the outside, we know for sure how many new emotions and meetings with God are experienced by both the children themselves and by our team!
This month, the younger 
children got acquainted with such qualities as “devotion” and “reliability”, and also said that God does not have a powerless word. The older children, in turn, talked a lot about trusting God and about faith, which is capable of changing human destinies. We looked at a lot of
Bible stories that are described in the New Testament. It was felt that God touched children’s hearts. Many children prayed that God would forgive their sins and help them to forgive their parents who had left them for various reasons. Many
children also prayed for God to heal them. And we, in turn, believe that God will continue to act in the lives of these children!
This month, there were less older children than usual. This was due to the fact that many children went to sports competitions abroad. We are very pleased that the administration of the Rudensky boarding school enables its students to develop their talents. Children participate in many creative, musical, art and sports competitions and competitions both in our country and abroad. Despite the fact that there were few children at our meetings, we tried to use this situation for personal contact with the children and for prayer. Thank God for all the children and the opportunity to serve in this place!
This month we had lessons both with younger and older children. The topics were “Hard work”, “Respect”, 
‘Trust’, ‘Public spirit’. The topic “Trust” was the most remarkable for me and the guys. This subject is so near to their 
hearts, because trust is a big question in their lives: their relations with parents (if they exist) from the one hand, their friends in the orphanage from the other one.This guys have difficult lives and broken hearts. They were betrayed a lot, first of all by their parents, the people who should have been the closest ant the most trusted became indifferent and so distant.
The guys also have difficulties in friendship. 
They don’t know what it means to be a friend and how to choose friends. 
That’s why we payed a special attention to this topic. We tried to show by examples from the Bible and our own lives why trust is so important in our life, especially trust in God.
At the end of the meeting some children prayed about their fears and problems, asked God for help. We were happy to watch them praying, to see their concentrated faces. We have no idea what happens with them after graduation from the orphanage, but we believe and hope all that God says through us will find a positive response in their hearts!
We are starting our February report with a prayer need. As spring approaches, we can see how 
sensitive children are to the season, both kids and teenagers are so distracted. Moreover, there is now free Wi-Fi in school, so many children stay where the signal is good and play games on their phones instead of going to our meetings. Those who stay in class with us can’t focus on the material we are going through.
Here is Vlada Mozharova, one of the volunteers sharing her impressions.
«At the last lesson, we tried to start working with the books that we handed out to 2 girls who 
came to the class. The first topic was about respect, the story about David and Saul was presented and eventually, it connected to the New Testament. When I was preparing for the class it seemed easy and understandable, but when we started talking we realised that children simply didn’t understand what we were talking about at all. It was really hard to simplify words so that they could understand the main idea.» As you can see, this is why we are concerned and need prayers, so we ask you to support us.
We especially would like to share with you about one event organised by the National School of Beauty that took place in Minsk on 2 March 2019. That was the truest fashion celebration. During the whole year, Belarusian designers had been preparing clothes for kids and teenagers. Children from different places with physical disabilities and those whose parents lost their parenting rights participated as models on the catwalk. We should mention that our friends were worried and extremely responsible throughout all rehearsals.
Without a doubt, being on the stage brings its changes to people’s behaviour. We knew some kids very well, and they showed us different sides of themselves. They were so serious, focused and so fashionable, you’d never say that they were naughty students. They were united by one thing: being modern, fashionable and full of purpose.
Our team came to support them during that exciting event. Children were so grateful, they smiled and were just so happy to see that someone came to support them. At the end of the event, we talked, took pictures together and said goodbyes.
This month, the number of children in the Smilovichi orphanage has increased 
due to planned inspections of families and their living conditions. The new children accepted us with joy and open heart, and also actively participate in studying Bible lessons, even though for them this is completely new knowledge. None of them had ever been to the Church or read the Bible.
We talked about import
ant qualities of a person, such as: kindness, hard work and honesty, as the basis of communication with children. Talking about kindness, each of us cited as an example our own good deeds, as well as cases in which we consciously displayed an evil attitude 
towards people, which was a great lesson in life. In addition to our stories, we selected the stories of people described in the Bible, for example, the story of the Good Samaritan, which describes how kindness manifests itself very clearly. After all, if a person calls himself good, then this is surely manifested in his actions, otherwise it’s just words that have no power. We also described the qualities of God Himself, and the children understood 
that He is kind, He is honest and of course hardworking. Vika said she would like to be like the Good and Loving God. Our team is very fond of not only teaching children, but also listening to them, answering questions, showing respect for their personal opinions.
In addition to Bible lessons, we also had creative activities that children of different ages like very much. In addition to a good and pleasant time of communication with each other and our team, the children also reveal their talents. And we rejoice, getting to know the children closer and seeing how they rejoice in hand-made crafts!
LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN 