Archive for November 29, 2019

In November: ”Belinichy orphanage”

Posted: November 29, 2019 by Dzmitry Nachyna in Belinichy

Once it turned cold, it became more and more difficult to get outside, but it didn’t impact our meetings with the guys. So every week, as usually, we met with them. Our lesson topics were ”Noah’s ark”, “The tower of Babel”, “Moses”. Though the guys were familiar with these topics there was no lack of interest. Through Noah’s story we emphasized that God hates sin, but sees and loves people loyal to him. Then they answered the questions and for every right answer they were allowed to “save” one pair of paper animals, which were stuck on the poster with the ark. They tried to do their best to get that animals.One more interesting moment was during the story about the tower of Babel. Everyone was allowed to speak any language one knew. English, German, Italian, even French were used. Then we found out we did not understand each other.It is when our story about the tower began. I memorized the boy Vanya’s prayer at the end of the lesson. In his prayer he wanted the school to change, so that it would be peace instead of feud and misunderstanding like in Babilon. It was really sincere and touching. Despite other children’s mockery he continued praying and then it became quiet. I hope everyone heard that short and honest prayer and changings will take place. Changings in the hearts of the guys and the educators first. The older guys discussed “Revenge”, “Fears”, “Envy”, “Greed” which are simple, but always actual and important topics.We’re praying for changings in the children’s hearts and glad we can be with them and be a little part of their lives.

In November: “Vileyka orphanage”

Posted: November 29, 2019 by Dzmitry Nachyna in Vileyka

November is not only about greyish weather and shortened days. November is also about school holidays. And because so many children were leaving for holidays, we took a decision not to interfere with their lives during that period. However, after the holidays were over, it was so exciting to finally meet again – and everyone was looking forward to that meeting! Teens love to listen and watch videos by popular bloggers who really won the minds of the generation Z. A lot of bloggers are our teens’ peers, actually. So what we did is we talked about things they care – like cars, extraordinary stunts, pranks, tricks, etc. Bloggers become teens’ role models who they look up to, dreaming to become as trendy, independent and, of course, as popular. So we think it is really important to introduce an alternative mindset to our kids (Christian mindset) where one’s significance is not something they have to earn but something that is already granted to them by Grace. Kids love to listen to stories about Christ. The last one that we shared with them is the story where Jesus tamed the tempest. We focused on the fact that Christ’s friends were scared – and twice so! The first time the disciples were frightened of the storm. Each of us gets once in the eye of the life storm: when parents leave us, when friends turn their back on us, when things don’t happen as they should at once. And the storms come along with the bad feelings – fear, inferiority complex, lack of confidence… At such moments we feel as if God is so far away, as if He’s sleeping and simply doesn’t care… The second time that the disciples were scared was when the storm was over. They finally understood how powerful the Son of God is! There was Someone who has power over the darkest storm in life. People often underestimate Christ thinking that all the stories about Him are part of the religious rhetoric. But the Good News is about having a personal encounter with Christ after which your life won’t be the same again. A new volunteer Vika joined our team! She is a hair stylist – what will allow her not just to create beautiful hair styles but have a quality time with them also. Christmas season has begun and as usual we are busy with preparing gifts for our kids and arranging a trip to a Christmas play for them. Apart from our annual agenda for the season, we have had a request from the asylum’s administration. We got to know that hiking was one of the kids’ most loved past times. And now we need to collect funds for two hiking tents. And our prayer need remains the same – unfortunately, due to different circumstances not all volunteers on our team, including drivers, are able to join the team for each trip to the asylum. And we aspire for regular weekly trips – and ask you to support this wish of our hearts in your prayers! Thank you for your kind concern and help!