LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN

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!