In January our tutees were back to school returning from their long Christmas holidays. A 
lot of them spend their holidays in Italy, some went home while there were those who had to celebrate New Year at the asylum. In our first meeting this year we asked the kids to share about their holidays. For almost every tutee it is a true pride to claim he or she spent this special time of the year with their families – parents and siblings. And the real challenge is to stay awake as long as possible and not fall asleep during 
the New Year’s night. They were so excited to say when was the latest time they went to bed. Certainly the kids would naturally omit their family traditions to get drunk and raise scandals. For them this all goes together with the notion of celebrating something. So 
that’s why the kids would remember and tell only about the good time they spent TOGETHER – because the orphanage robbed it from them from early childhood. These simple children stories prove absolute vitality of every human being to have a Home. Not just a house with a rooftop and walls. The government provided they have it. But a Home is first and foremost about relationships, accep
tance and genuine care. And this kind of heaven the Lord descended to bring back to this earth. Our prayers go for the Vileyka 
Orphanage tenants so that through believing in Jesus Christ they would one day retrieve the feeling of acceptance and belongness to their heavenly Home. We arranged a big celebration at the asylum. In cooperation with the youth from Golgotha church we brought a puppet theatre to the kids on January 24th. The kids were in for games, a lot of interactive scenes between the 
puppets and their excited audience, getting-to-know activities and of course a surprise behind the curtain! The heroes of the puppet show reminded a lot of the kids so the latter could relate to them easily – they could see the puppets who make friends, break up, act naughty and are always excited to get to know new things – just like themselves. The heroes of the staged play were witnesses of the Christmas story, of how Lord Jesus came to this world. And the faraway Palestine became so close while the events were unfolding right before the children’s eyes. No holiday goes without gifts! So at the end of the party each child received a present. Everyone was pleased and happy! A lot of kids would approach the performers and thank them and a lot of them expressed their gratitude for the gifts. And then we had to leave – only to come back again! Until February!
Archive for January, 2020
Brothers and sisters, I am grateful to you for your prayers for orphan ministry in Belarus and 
for children! We are glad that God has moved us to a new level and all our dreams have already come true! This month God has blessed us and we have had a great opportunity to visit the orphanage school in Belynichi. At first, we saw that God fulfilled the children’s physical needs. When
came there they ran to us and told how God answered their prayers. Some of them got a new long-awaited pack of pencils other got a new pair of shoes, a flashlight or new glasses. Simple gifts brought great joy to the kids 
whose childhood was stolen. “Dima, what unusual present did you use to get?” they asked me. It was hard for me to remember something like that because my father had been brought up at orphanage, so he didn’t give us any presents and often got drunk. That’s why the best present for us was our father’s good mood and sobriety. When I told the teenagers about that I 
realized that the majority of them have the same past. God also blessed us, and we could organize a Christmas event! I thank you, brothers and sisters, for your help with getting and spreading presents, your prayers and your participation in the program itself! 
We notice that during such events children and orphanage workers are especially open to talk about God and faith. Christ is born! “But who is He?”, newcomers asked. They grew up in small villages and didn’t hear about this holiday and its birthday person. We were happy to tell them that Father God gave Jesus, the Son of God, who brought Peace, Joy and Love to the world! We could also visit them later and 
discuss more serious issues connected with the orphans’ everyday life. We talked about swearing, why they swear, what people around think about it and, which is the most important, what God thinks about it. We discussed what we could practically do to get rid of swearing. Roma said that when he lost his temper he would try to restrain himself for at least the first ten seconds. He said that he would do it step by step. Sasha said “if you want to come to the finish line you have to move toward it”. I am happy that it was a good time where everyone said that during the week they would try to cope with their addictions.Many children have a wrong example of life and we are the only ones who come and help the teenagers to see the right way. Friends, let’s pray for God to keep the planted seed and their faith would grow on the right grounds! Praise the Lord!
Hello, dear friends! This new year we had the opportunity to attend the Rudensk 
orphanage. I am grateful to God for the opportunity to see how children are enriched when we come to them. When we go to orphanage teenagers and children run out to meet us. One situation I have remembered: “we went to the orphanage and we see a little girl sitting. I thought that she arrived here not long time ago and she was delighted when she saw us. We went up and asked her name, she was embarrassed, but still answered. Looking at Veronica, the girl from our team, 
she said a little audibly: “can you hug me?” Veronica agreed and the girl hugged her very tightly, and then said: “I really miss hugs”. There are many similar stories and we see children who do not have enough hugs. Teenage girls, growing up, build an early 
relationship to fill their void, which emerged from a lack of parental attention. We were also able to hold a Christmas performance. When we were talking with the administration, they told that we were the first this year who made a Christmas performance and said about the Nativity of Jesus. Many people come for the new year, but no one spoke about the birth of Jesus. All the children came to the show, as well as the teachers. We are pleased that we can speak directly about our Savior and celebrate 
the Birth of Jesus together. Thank God! Looking at the children, I saw that seeing the performance they seemed to forget where they were and what was with them 20-30 minutes ago. Everything seemed to be 
transferred to the story of the Birth of Christ. The Christmas performance flew by and the children, as well as the teenagers, were so inspired by everything that was happening that they told us how time flew by imperceptibly! It was a good occasion to remind the children once again about our weekly meetings, as well as invite new children who have not yet come to us. We had several more meetings where we talked about mats and their impact on human life, as well as theft, which is a real problem for most orphans. I really want the graduate students, who 
will finish school in a few months, not to be in a situation where, due to the inability to use money and plan their budget, they begin to steal and for this they are sent to prison. But we want every child to be savvy and to know and understand what his theft will lead 
to. We also talked about pure speech. Children are so injured that talking obscenely is just normal for them! Often, because of this, the children have a lot of problems, when they fight with the teachers, they are more punished for their words. We talked about the power of words and the consequences of bad words. The children thought and said: “Dima, we will try to restrain ourselves and try to say less offensive words.” We also see that the children actively participate in the study of bible verses. They copy them in notebooks and then show them to us. And we make out verse by verse. Dear brothers and sisters, we thank God for you, that together with you we can serve our God, visiting places of despair! Pray for the children, that the life of orphans will change!
Hello dear friends! I would to tell you about the meetings we had this month. Every time we 
come to the children, they greet us with joy and a warm hugs. We are like elder brothers and sisters for them. This year our trip began with a meeting with a believing clown. He came to the children with the whole show, and the children received cool, unforgettable impressions as well as gifts. When the children opened their gifts, one girl got
a pink mirror, and she was very happy with it, other children while opening their gifts were telling to each other what they’ve got. They were very happy. 
For happiness, children need love, attention, care and gifts. But before giving them gifts, we told them about the greatest gift that the Lord Jesus gave us. We were talking about the history of Christmas, and it was so nice that the children know about the birth of Jesus. In subsequent 
trips, we began to go through stories about Abraham. We were talking that it is very important to trust God, 
because if He promised something, then He will fulfill it in right time. And it is important for us tu trust Him, because He is not mistaken. We looked at what Abraham had to face, what difficulties, but all the same, Abraham was faithful to God. We also went through the history of Hagar and Ishmael. Talked about the fact that if there is something you can do well, but the other can’t, then you shouldn’t laugh at this person, because everything will return to you as a boomerang. We told how Hagar got pregnant from Abraham, and how she began laugh at Sarah, for which she received some bad experience in her life. It is very joyful to understand and see how children remember stories, and retell them. It is very important to remember and apply this in your life. Dear friends, thank you very much for your prayers, and for your help! Thank God for each of you.
LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN 