LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN

Greetings, brothers and sisters!  We thank God for the renewal of the school year. While the children had their winter break, which took place at the Rudenks’ orphranage, we missed them very much. We didn’t see the kids for two weeks and managed to 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.

The first topic of this year was gossips. We have seen over the past few years that this topic 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!