“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!
LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN 