“November 14 is the World Day of Prayer for Orphans. If you care about the futures of orphans, you can make a difference! You may not only pray for orphans during the day, but also visit them in orphanages, run charity campaigns at you local church or organization. Besides that, during your church service you may devote sermons, songs, poems etc. to this issue.”
The Smilovichi Orphanage occupies a special place in my life! There are children in it who were taken the other day from a family where they were in danger. I am grateful to God that in the most acute phase of stress, we can come and get to know the guys, 
gradually helping them to recover. We have good news this month! Artem and Arseny were taken to a family-type orphanage. These guys were taken into various families, but then returned back. We have seen how the boys suffered, but now there is certainty in their lives. We’ve been talking a lot about God and prayer lately. 
Despite their age, the guys prayed and asked God so that they could get into the family, and here’s a miracle – they were taken away! Talking to the orphanage’s teacher, she said that she got used to boys and she misses them now. But the main thing is that they got into the family and now they will find out what having a mom and dad is! This month we talked at the orphanage about the life of Joseph. It was said that Joseph was also betrayed by his brothers and had to become an orphan. The story reached boys, because of how often, as Milana said, they met with envy for their sisters when they 
were given beautiful things. Dasha told how she envied her little sister Kira when she was given beautiful toys. Through the biblical story we see an actual example for life. For example, when Potiphar’s wife wanted Joseph to do a bad thing, Joseph ran away. We said that sometimes our peers will provoke us to do something bad in order to get rich quickly, cheat, or disobey a caregiver or parent. They say that 
by such actions we will show everyone that we are independent and already adults, forgetting about the consequences. We said that God watches over every action. Joseph ran away from bad deeds. So we have to run away from bad surroundings and people who want to harm us. Even the teacher said that we have interesting, deep lessons! We just want to show through the stories that are written in the Bible what our decisions lead to. We know that time will pass, and God will put Joseph second after Pharaoh. For us, this means that, despite the fact that you are an orphan, you can achieve a high position in life. If you have a close relationship with God, then God will create goodwill around you in front of people. But you also need to remember that honesty and loyalty are valued in this world.
Natasha also came to the shelter with us. She ran a 
DIY workshop with the kids. We were making Noah’s Ark. We try very hard to develop children’s motor skills through creativity, and we see that children have problems with this. During the creative process, we remembered Noah and his family. They also talked about God’s covenant with man through the rainbow. Nazar said that now when they walk on the street and he sees a rainbow, he remembers us and Noah, as well as God. “I’m just smiling at the rainbow”! God remembers His promise. We are glad that we could make fakes and repeat the lesson! At the last meeting of this month, it was the birthday of the youngest girl Kira. She turned 4 years old. We all congratulated her and brought her gifts in order to please her. At the request of the educators, we were able to purchase brushes, toothpastes, shampoos and soap for the children. Many thanks to those who helped financially to be able to buy everything you need! We are glad that the trips to the shelter continue! Thank you very much, friends, for your prayers!
We’re glad to continue traveling to the guys to Rudensky boarding school, despite any circumstances! Thanks to God for the 
opportunity to be in this place with our dear children!
This month we continued to study some biblical stories from the Old Testament. For example, we again remembered Noah and his ark, which was a good example of obedience and loyalty to God, as well as God, as a sign of his promise, presented to people a beautiful rainbow, which we can see after the rain. Later we talked about the history that occurred with Agar’s and her son Izmail in the desert. The guys were delighted with the fact that God hears the prayers of people even in the desert! We talked a lot about the fact that the Heavenly Dad hears us anywhere and at any time, as well as with love and joy takes any person what He is. And for 
orphans, the issue of adoption is especially important, because each of them has survived the rejection and betrayal from the closest people in his life.
The next theme of this month was the history of the life of Joseph, which we wanted to reveal the most deeply. That is why we divided this topic into two meetings. With all these stories, we have already acquainted the guys earlier, but as many new children have appeared at the school, who first began to hear about God, we decided to go through the brightest and most significant biblical plots. It is very pleased that there are children who remember these stories and still independently read them in the Bibles.
One of my favorite moments during our meetings is the time of prayer. At such moments, we can see and hear in practice how God works in children’s hearts. After all, they learn to trust Him! It is joyful that more and more children go to prayer and sometimes there are so many that we do not have time to fit during our meeting! Children pray about the healing of their educators who are now sick, pray that their parents are liberated from dependencies and were able to pick them up. Senior girls pray that God healed them both physically and mentally!
Dear friends, we will be grateful if you support the prayer of these children, as well as our team! Thanks to all those who are not indifferent to the ministry to orphans!
This month we haven’t had any visits to the Belynichi ophranage, due to the fact that some of the children and teachers got Covid-19. We keep in touch with the ophranage administration to understand the situation there and of course we pray for those who are sick, and we believe that God will show His mercy to each of them!
While there were no major trips to the orphanage, we decided to use this time to meet with graduates from the Belynichi ophranage. Graduates have always had a special place in our ministry. We are happy that we can bring the ministry to its completion! But when we talk the graduates it is not completion, but a new phase. Over the course of 10, and in some of the orphanages even 15 years, we have seen how children change and grow. A generation of children have passed through our ministry in Belarus. We see that we still have children in the orphanages, which means that our ministry keeps going. Once at the orphanage we try to lead the children, teach them morals from the perspective of the Bible. We help the orphanage staff in educating the children. We also introduce the children to God. Everyone should have hope, especially orphans! We see how children’s faith is developing and how their faith grows into hope. We know that with faith in God difficulties, pain and despair are easier to bear.
This year 9 kids graduated from the Belynichi ophranage. We visited the children at the beginning of the year to see them, pray and bless them! Tears, fear, worries were in the eyes of the kids. A month and a half passed, and we came to see the graduates who had left for Mogilev to study there. Two girls who had graduated this year came to the meeting. Their names were Olya and Vika. They were very happy when they saw us! Also Alina and Katya, our graduates from previous years, came to the meeting. The meeting was held in a cafe, because while talking to the girls, we understood that they were hungry. We immediately bought all the necessary things, praised God in prayer and fed them. Then I started saying that God really wants the girls not to be ashamed of their past. It wasn’t their fault they grew up in an orphanage, God loves and accepts them for who they are! Again, I reminded them not to imitate anyone, but rather trust God, who is not to be ashamed of! There are always people who will attack their faith. I really wanted to emphasize the fact that God is for them and He wants the girls to turn to Him in their time of need! Unbelief is doubt, and so many go unanswered in their prayers. Sergey was also at our meeting. He is from Mogilev church. Many graduates know him well. We wanted, that Olga and Vika also met him and later were able to visit the local church. When they meet believers they will have more confidence and they will have someone to turn to for help and support.
We were also able to visit the graduates in Bobruisk. Lesha and Dima also graduated from the Belynichi boarding school. When 
we met, we fed the guys and talked a lot during dinner.
Lesha said that it was difficult to study, as many subjects were not taught at the ophranage. He also said that there are boys, who try to dominate the group, because of that he gets in trouble a lot. “This is not how I imagined leaving the ophranage”, said Lesha. “I thought it would be like school, where everyone took care of me, clothed me, fed me, but it’s different here. I have to cook and keep my things clean on my own. Because if I don’t do this, then people around me will make fun of me”. Lesha also talked about how sometimes there wasn’t enough food and he was very hungry. We bought food packets for Dima and Lesha in order to support them. Dima told us that he has started to work, that he managed to get an apartment. He also said that it is difficult for an orphan to flow into the 
group. “Often we are too trusting, sometimes we do not understand everything from the first time, because of that we often have problems. Often they try to manipulate us” – said Dima. Nastya and I told him there was a church in Bobruisk that we recommended they attend. Dima said he used to go to church, but then it turned out that he was not able to be there a couple of times and now he is ashamed to go again. But we told him that church is like a family – people accept and don’t judge each other, so if Dima comes back there, he will be definitely welcome! Dima and Lesha said they would go to the service this Sunday.
Friends, thank you so much for praying for orphans and the graduates! It’s hard for them to adopt to an adult life and they need our prayers more than ever! Blessings!
With the beginning of the new school year, we resumed trips to Rudensk’s boarding school. Children 
really missed for communicating with us and each of them had a desire to tell about themselves, something new and
interesting. That is why in our first arrival, we made a meeting with the guys in communication format and it was a true decision.
Lera told that all summer spent in the hospital and we supported her. Polina, constantly trained to play football and now she is a goalkeeper of the school team. Other guys 
learned to work in the greenhouse, which we bought for school in the spring. Artem, studies the Bible and asked questions on those chapters that do not understand. Communicating and carefully listening to children, we show love to them and show 
each of them that they are meaningful and valuable.
In our next arrival, we decided to repeat the topics from the Bible and started from the very beginning, with the history of the creation of the world. Many knew this truth and it’s good, and new guys heard about it for the first time and thanked 
us for learning the truth. Last week, Dima spoke about the first people created in the image and likeness of God: Adam and Eve. On the first temptation and the first disobedience to God, as well as about what consequences this sin brought to our world. The guys listened very carefully, and then asked questions and shared their experiences and disobediences before God and teachers (who replace them with their parents). We see how the Lord opens the hearts of these children, brings his light and freedom in their lives. We rejoice in the fact that every year they change and become better, because the truth is forever frees them from lies and sin.
LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN 