LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN

In October, I went with the team to the orphan house in Belynichi.

This year I have been to the camp in this boarding school for the first time, and it left a deep mark on me. We managed to make more friends with children during the week of living together, so for me our meetings became more personal. I see with what joy the guys are waiting for us and come out to meet us in the lobby. I feel their sincerity. I want to give them back even more. There are a lot of new kids this year. On the one hand, I am surprised that they begin to trust us so quickly, constantly come, participate in activities, that they are open hearted in conversations. But on the other hand, I notice that this is the result of the atmosphere that has already been created here during the time of communication with children who had been here before the arrival of the newcomers. Our meetings as usual consist of games, songs, bible themes, communication and hugs).Since there are a lot of new ones, we decided to take topics from the very beginning. This month, for example, we talked about Abraham, the Tower of Babel. It is clear that the guys, whom we have been communicating with for more than a year, remember these stories. We try to involve newcomers into more communication, specifically ask them some questions. We show that it is very important to listen carefully, that it is important for us to convey the essence of the stories to them. That these are God’s messages for them. I try to get to know new kids more. I pay attention to those whom I already know well. I regret that our time together passes so quickly. Also at the beginning of the month, we distributed children’s Bibles to the kids and suggested them specific homework – to find and read some stories by themselves. We divide them into 2 categories – senior and junior. Each has its own theme. However it is not obligational. On the following visit, we ask those who had prepared and read the assigned story. There are always such kids! Most of them are always prepared. We ask them questions separately to make sure that they have completed the task. We answer their questions. Also this month we managed to take some children from the boarding school to visit us for the weekend. The idea came to a person from our team. Luckily, we managed to arrange everything and spent the whole weekend with 5 kids. These were the children whom we had known for many years. We remember them as 6-7 years of age. And now they are already 12-15. When planning this time, the main task for us was to put the children into a family atmosphere, to talk seriously about their lives, to please them. During this time spent together, we visited a zoo, walked around the city, jumped on trampolines, ate in interesting places, cooked dinner together, played board games, sang songs with the guitar, went to church on Sunday, were at a Sunday lesson, sang songs on the road, talked heart to heart before going to bed. Of course, it was a fun time for the guys, but for me it was the time of revelation about God’s love and care! It is impossible to look indifferently at the kids’ sincere admiration and joy for such simple, to others, things. I spent a lot of time with Katya, who has diagnoses on physical and mental health. It was a whole adventure for her – we saw her favorite animal, the lynx, she was able to jump on the trampoline, initially with my help, and then by herself, admiring how she overcame her fear of heights.

Katya has short fingers by birth. She helped me to cook dinner. I thanked her for help and said that she did great! We had a conversation before going to bed. She shared with me that she wants her own family, that she is offended by the people making fun of her because of her appearance, and her fear that a home for disabled is waiting for her. She asked if I could be her mother. She recalls and fantasizes about her own mother a lot. I understand that she is very lonely, although the other kids who were with us tried to take care of her. But rather as a younger sister, not as a friend. That’s why I hugged Katya a lot and said a lot of kind things to her. She said it was the best day of her life! I think it was. We have heard many words of gratitude and love from the children. I also talked to them about the Halloween holiday, about fortune-telling. What the Bible says about it, what harm they do to their spiritual life and what consequences they can face.