In January, we introduced the children from the Belynichi boarding school to the story of Anna, 
who prayed in the temple, asking 
God to give her a son, whom she would later bring to the temple, thereby fulfilling the promise she made to God. Then the children learned about the life of Samuel (Anna’s son) in the temple, under the supervision of Priest Elijah, and how Samuel’s life eventually turned out. Through this biblical example, the children learned about how faithful God Himself is, and how much He blesses people who are faithful to Him. It is amazing how such examples strengthen children’s faith and give hope that God hears their prayers and that at the right time, they will definitely receive their answer!
The brightest and most memorable event of this month 
was Christmas event which was followed by the distribution of present boxes! Due to the fact that it was more difficult to collect the required number of presents this year, the event was held a little later than usual. But this did not prevent the festive atmosphere, the opportunity to tell children about the meaning of the Birth of Jesus on earth, and at the end to receive a lot of positive emotions, admiring the moment when children receive and then open their presents! Children are happy with every smallest toy, every pencil and every candy that they find in their boxes. And we rejoice and thank God for every open heart that has been collecting these presents!
The second highlight of this month was our visit to the graduate students who are in a disabled 
home now. These guys have serious mental and physical disabilities, what makes it difficult for them to adapt to the surrounding reality, and their capabilities are seriously limited, so they are in such an institution. For many years we have not had the opportunity to visit these guys, but they have tried in every way to keep in touch with our team. Some said that they believed and prayed for years that we would come to them someday. And finally, our long-awaited meeting happened! It is impossible to describe in words the degree of joy that every person who was at this meeting experienced! The guys greeted our team with strong hugs and even applause, which was unexpected for us!
Then, we just talked to them, learning about what is happening in their lives, what they are doing and what they dream about. It’s amazing that despite the limited opportunities, these guys are very talented! Someone is engaged in creativity, creating beautiful paintings from beads and other materials, someone sings, and someone composes poems. Then there was a moment when the guys asked us to hold a meeting in the format that we usually used when we came to their school. We gladly agreed! We played a little with them and remembered their favorite songs with movements. We knew that the time we spent with those children was valuable and needed for them, and that for all the years of separation, they had a serious reassessment of values.
And also I noticed that, despite the fact that these guys are already quite mature people externally, inside they are still the same children who, as before, need the simplest hugs, acceptance, love and affection. Their eyes are still the same children’s eyes, hiding dislike, rejection and a very difficult life path. That is why we used the opportunity to remind them of God’s love for each of them, as well as to tell them about Christmas and congratulate them on this wonderful holiday! At the end of the meeting, each graduate received his Christmas present! The guys hugged and thanked each of us and said they would be waiting for us again! And by the way, we also left them with presents – the children gave each member of our team pictures that they’ve made on their own!
Our trips to Vileyka’s orphanage continue and we 
are happy to spend Friday time with the kids. It’s nice to see how they consciously look for answers in the gospel or ask us. All the children who prayed the prayer of repentance come to every meeting and share with shining eyes what God is doing in their lives, how He answers their prayers! Dima, who does not know his parents at all, has stopped feeling abandoned and useless, he has become more confident and open with people. Two girls were very ashamed to speak, because they were born with problems and did not learn how to pronounce words correctly, now they communicate without fear and feel accepted by God. This is only a small part of everything that the Heavenly Father has done and healed in their lives.
When we prepare Bible topics, we always focus on what the guys are 
facing and try to give them not only theory, but also help them overcome difficulties in practice or get freedom from sin. One of the current topics this month was the topic of gossip. When we asked: Do you like it when others gossip about you? Everyone answered with one voice that No. But to the question: Who of you can sometimes gossip about others, everyone raised their hands and it was clear that they were not pleased to be aware of themselves as gossips. Listening attentively to everything we said on the topic of gossip, they said they did not want to participate in gossip anymore and asked for forgiveness before God. It’s nice to see that the Lord opens their hearts and transforms their minds. We also held a Christmas meeting in the form of games, singing and talking, and we also distributed gifts to everyone, collected with love and care, individually for each child. One boy shouted: Jesus gave me this gift! Everything I needed is here! Thank you very much to each of you for participating in the child’s life. May the Lord bless you and your families!
get a bunch of messages from them saying that they missed us. Petya said: you guys are like family to us because you’re the only ones who regularly spend a lot of time with us. On our first trip, despite cold weather, the guys were already waiting for us outside. And 
when they saw our car they ran to meet us. It was so nice. Everyone was trying to tell us how they spent their vacation, what to them happened during that time. Petya and Polina said they thought a lot about their repentance, which had happened in December, and later they said they would like to be baptized. I was so excited that the kids told me about that themselves. Thank God that in spite of that short break, the kids were figuring out what to do next. Brothers and sisters, let’s pray that God affirm this desire and the guys will dedicate their lives to God.
is becoming more and more relevant. Gossip is a problem for orphaned children and we see how painful it is for the children when false accusations are made against them. We offered them to discuss that and 
everyone got actively involved in the dialogue. We answered the question “Why do people gossip?” That happens because they are jealous, they gossip when they want to do something out of spite, Polina said they gossip because they want to appear better than others. We are glad that the children themselves understand so many things and that they participate in the discussion. We’ve finally reached a level where you only guide the topic and they come to the conclusion on their own. Then I asked what were the consequences of gossip? The answers included slander, quarrels
among friends, loss of trust. Tell me, I asked them, what does God think of those people who gossip? And then we read the Bible and many were surprised that God’s Word speaks about this too. At the end when we prayed the children asked for God’s forgiveness and also asked God to give them the strength not to gossip anymore. Then the children asked each other for forgiveness. I was 
surprised that even teenagers did it, reaching each other and saying, “I’m sorry I said so many bad things about you”. Thank God the children reconciled on their own. Also at the next meeting we talked about swearing. I asked if swearing destroys our lives or not? The kids were puzzled. They asked me: What do you mean, Dima? I said: Everything has consequences and so do our words. Our words either create or destroy. Our bad words affect a friendship and can completely destroy a relationship. One teenager told me: I talk in foul language because I want to show everyone my independence so I can be respected. For a lot of kids he’s really an authority in school, but I explained: It might help to gain false authority here, but when you graduate you might have a problem. We recalled some graduates who also wanted to stand out by using foul language, acting defiant, and some of them ended up in rebellion against everyone else they are now in a nursing home! We talked about how swearing and being disobedient destroys trust and how the person who rebels gets into a hole of trouble that he has dug himself. Kids who have been coming to us for a long time said: Let’s ask God to help us get rid of swear words, because we can’t do it ourselves and when we are offended or see injustice, swear words come out by themselves. We prayed and asked God to give us grace not to use swear words. Dear brothers and sisters, let’s pray for change in the lives of the children. May God help them on their way to know God!
orphanage Maxim and Alesya, brother and sister, reunited with their family. It has been more than seven months since they were taken from their family for the first time in their lives and placed in a orphanage. Their mother raising her children turned out to be unable to provide for the children and they were taken to a orphanage for some period of time. At our very first meeting Maxim and Alesya were scared and they were very slow with developing a rapport with us. But after some time they felt safe, they began to smile and said they could play with you. That’s how our friendship began. God blessed the team and when we were sharing with our friends about Ales and Maxim many believers donated clothes and when the children were taken away by their mother, she was very surprised at amount of necessary things her children used to lack.
I remember our last Christmas evening with the guys, when we celebrated the Nativity of Jesus Christ. I talked about the meaning of this holiday, that God gave the world the greatest gift — His Son and on the birthday of Jesus we can ask God to answer our prayers and needs. The prayer of the guys was to return back home to their mothers. I can say for sure that for everyone it was a great testimony of how God answers prayers. Alesya amd Maxim are finally home and we praise God for the answer to a simple prayer: – God help mom to take us back home as quickly as possible. There are also other children in the orphanage and we talked with them about the importance of prayer and how God answers prayer. An example of our lesson was Anna. We told about Anna’s life. About Peninnah who often offended Anna. After that Dima asked: Do believers have problems? We say: yes, they do, but let’s see how the story ended. God gave Anna the baby she asked for so much. What does this mean for us? To ask even when no one believes, to believe God even when you don’t see answer yet. It can be difficult to believe till you get the answer, but how happy Anna was when God answered her prayer and how happy we will be when God answers ours.
LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN 