Greetings, brothers and sisters. The last month of the year – what was it like for the Belynichi boarding 
school? I can say that it was eventful and fruitful, filled with hope and joy. This year we were able to meet new guys who came to the boarding school. The team took care of the new kids, helping them to integrate into the school. We were also able to hold the summer camp called “Secret Inside”. There are children at school who cannot travel and attend summer camps due to health diagnoses.
We are glad that we were able to hold a camp, as well as participate in the life of the school, to be close to those who need love and support. Special children need special love. We hold meetings with both younger children and older ones. Meetings are held weekly on Thursdays. We sing, play, pray and also discuss current topics. This month we talked about waiting for the birth of Jesus Christ. The guys and I said that by coming into the world, Jesus Christ brought hope to people. We understand what time we live in, but children also need hope. But what do children need hope for? The hope is that despite the difficulties in studying, God can help. For example, a boy prays to improve his studies, and God has arranged for the teacher to spend a little more time with him.
When we arrived another time, he met us and said: “God helped me, I improved my grades”. Only God gives us hope when we ask Him. The following Thursday, we arrived and talked about how the Birth of Jesus Christ brought peace with God to people. Now we have a heavenly Father and He is our intercessor. Peace is what people and children need. Many examples were told by the guys at the meeting how they reconcile and why it is so difficult to forgive. It turned out to be very relevant. But most importantly, Jesus reconciled us to our Heavenly Father. We don’t live in enmity anymore. On the third Thursday, when we arrived at the boarding school, we talked about the birth of Jesus Christ. We were talking about the
Angel who announced the good news to Mary. We talked about how the angels in heaven shouted to the shepherds about the birth of the Savior. The guys who came this year didn’t know the Christmas story well. Their eyes were burning and curiosity pushed them to ask questions and rejoice enthusiastically. The Nativity of Jesus Christ brought people joy, hope, peace, and most importantly salvation through Jesus Christ. God did not want to put up with the fact that man was going to perdition, so God redeemed us from our sins by sending His Son. On December 26, we had our last trip this year. We decided to hold a Christmas performance.
Diana came with us, she helps us periodically. Diana dressed up in a costume of Joy. And on this day we remembered the birth of Jesus Christ, we talked about the importance of God’s coming into the world. We congratulated each other, sang, played, and at the end of the performance there were gifts. Thank God for all the caring people who helped to buy everything necessary for gifts to children. When we opened the gift bags with the kids, the guys were very worried, because they didn’t know what would be there! But when the first gift was opened, a wave of joyous shouting echoed down the corridor! Look what I have! I never even dreamed of such a thing!
I love to draw so much, thank you for giving me paints and brushes, said Seryozhka! Kirill – look at the lego set! Oh thank you very much, it was my dream! Sasha says I like it so much that my gift included a set of hair clips and elastic bands. When all the packages were opened, some children cried with happiness, other guys jumped for joy. Despite the fact that there are a lot of new kids at school now, we are happy to serve them and talk about the most important gift – about Jesus Christ. We are glad that the children pray and thank God for all the good that they have at boarding school. I am glad to witness God’s care and the changes that are happening to the guys. I want to thank everyone who prays, who serves. Thank God for you. I desire to see more changes and goodness from God this new year! Blessings to you and your families!
gratitude to God in a special way for being able to serve,
because it is a real blessing to see the desire with which the children sing songs with us and listen to the lessons. Returning back to Minsk after meeting with the guys, the team and I usually discuss the past trip and everyone noticed the deep understanding with which these little children glorify God in songs and movements. Thank God! This month we continued to tell the guys Bible stories such as “Noah and the Ark”, “The Tower of Babel”. It was interesting for the children to hear how the Lord commanded Noah to build an ark and gather his family there, so they were saved 
every biblical story and apply it in our lives, and in this 
theme it was obedience, which is relevant for the guys now. The story about the Tower of Babel teaches us not to be prideful, because God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble! Also, on the Christmas eve, Dima told about the birth of Jesus into this world, about this precious gift from our Lord and why God sent Him to earth. I want to remind you that the guys who are in Smilovichi have never heard of God before. Therefore, in our lessons this month we try to make an actual application in our time. We especially highlighted the theme of the Savior’s Nativity. When we told how 
everything happened, we could see the reaction of the
children. They were so excited that sometimes I had to stop to clarify one or another point even more. Angels, donkeys, a manger, a barn, all this caused their delight and questions. Well, since there was no place, I would have given up my room to Jesus, Alice said. Miroslav asked, how strong are the angels? Can angels protect us too? Now the stars will remind me of the star that led the wise men to Jesus, Yana said. For every child, the story of the birth of Christ has found its application. When we arrived on December 26, we prepared a special program for the guys. We played a couple of games, then sang Christmas carols and those songs that the guys like. Dima held a contest 
about different facts of the Christmas story. And this helped the children to remember even more about the birth of Christ. In the last slide there was a question, what would you like to give Jesus on His birthday? And it was so nice to hear: – I would give my love, Alice said, and I would give my heart, Darina said, Yana said that she would give all her sweets, and Miroslav would give his love to God. Then we went to another room, where Katya prepared a cake and treats. We sat down at the table, Katya lit candles and the guys blew out the candles together. Then we started saying congratulations to Jesus. And then Alice said, let’s sing a birthday song to Jesus. Then the guys ate the cake despite the fact that we didn’t have forks and spoons. But it was so nice to see happy children.
The evening went on and there were more gifts ahead. We thank everyone who helped to purchase these gifts for children. We sat down and the guys took turns opening their presents. Joy and anticipation were on the faces of the guys. Oh, I dreamed about it! Oh, I’m so glad! – the guys shouted. We understand that God has answered the desire of their heart. Lord, thank You for responding to the desire of the children’s hearts. We are grateful to God that despite the fact that the children recently came from home from where they were taken, they were able to find, even in a boarding school, a small family represented by the ministry team who cares for and covers the needs of children, and also talks about the most important gift – about Jesus Christ!
world. Looking at this year, you and I have witnessed a transformation in the lives of children orphans. I thank God that this year there were repentances, that the guys decided to give their lives to Jesus Christ. I would also like to note the water baptism 
of the guys. All this has become possible thanks to your prayers and grace from God. I thank everyone who prayed, worried and rejoiced with us, seeing how the lives of the children were changing. Many graduates from the Rudensk boarding school attend church, and I’m glad that they well enter adulthood. Thank God! This month we came to the Rudensk boarding school and could enjoy communicating with the guys. We see that especially the new guys treat us not just as guests, but as part of their lives, as friends. We can note that even more children became interested in faith and it is seen in the fact that children actively read the Bible, and their grades have improved. The educators say – thank you very much, because your example and your motivation are passed on to the children and they get a sense and incentive to develop and 
improve grades. Despite all the diagnoses that children have, overall academic performance has improved. I’m writing this to show how the atmosphere can change when guys practice what they believe in. Every trip in December was associated with the expectation of the coming of Jesus Christ. We talked about what the
birth of Jesus gave to people. In general very few people think about the importance of Christmas, but when we discussed two topics that Jesus brought peace as well as hope, the guys said that only these two lessons influenced their attitude to the Christmas holidays. It was amazing to hear how the new kids felt about Christmas. We live in a Christian country, but the children who came to the boarding school from the hinterland either do not know anything at all, or misunderstand this holiday. And therefore it was important to reveal the importance of 
the Messiah’s coming to earth. When we arrived for the third time, we talked about Christmas itself as described in the Gospels. First we talked about sin, about how people made the wrong decision, and in order to redeem the world from sins, God decided to send his Son into the world. Many children were surprised that Jesus
Christ had no place in the house, but only in the barn. And here we stopped and said that even now there is no place for God in the hearts of many people. The reaction of the children was: – That’s right, many even in our group doubt. Then we continued about shepherds and angels, and said that the shepherds came first. One child said: – Maybe this was supposed to happen so that ordinary people could also worship Jesus? I said, maybe you are right. God gives 
everyone a chance to come, both poor and rich. I am so glad that the guys are speaking out and they are not afraid to say something wrong. Then we came to the sages. And we said that God thought of everyone, both rich and poor. The wise men brought gifts to Jesus, and they also bowed down before the Baby. All people in this world need peace and hope in God. Despite the difficult time, only God can send peace. Dear brothers and sisters, we thank you for your support! Your prayers and your encouragement help us in serving orphaned children. May God bless you and your families! We are glad that another year has passed under the guidance of God. Let’s pray that next year God will transform and change children so that they can get answers to all their questions. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Blessings.
I want to tell you about our meetings with the children from the Belinichy orphanage in November. This month turned out to be quite eventful and interesting. At the meetings with older guys we discussed very serious and disturbing topics such as “pride”, “revenge”, “gossip” and we also talked about suicide with an emphasis on the value of life in the eyes of God.
meeting starts, and then they leave, they think that this event is not for them because they consider themselves very mature and cool to play games and sing. Sometimes they try to peek into our classes and attract our attention because no matter what they say, they are still children, just older and they need attention, love and hugs like the others. This month these guys began to linger more and more at our meetings and even began to try to participate in our discussions. No wonder!
Each of them personally has faced pain, betrayal, rejection, and everyone knows how difficult it is sometimes to forgive someone, to stop living with the desire to take revenge on their offenders or how difficult it is sometimes to overcome your pride and show humility there, where it is needed. Some kids have faced an unwillingness to live when they encountered betrayal from their loved ones or bullying from their peers so it was important for absolutely everyone to hear how much God values the life of each of them and how many good things are ahead for them if they make the right choice, communicating with the right people and learning to cope with their negative emotions.
The topic of gossip is one of the most common problems among teenage children in all boarding schools! After all, gossip is sometimes used as a way to draw attention to one’s own person, while humiliating others by spreading negative and often false information about other people. During this topic, guys immediately begin to reproach each other for some moments, especially girls, because they perceive gossip about themselves as painfully as possible. Our task is not just to tell them that gossip is bad but to teach children not to say bad things about others, to value each other and also to think about how God looks at each of them. After all, God is the Father of orphans and the Bible says how much He loves orphans and pays special attention to them and also that He will personally intercede for them!
This month the younger children met Joseph. We divided the story of his life into several meetings, so we could tell the guys as simply as possible how important it is to forgive offenders, as well as how God lifts up those who walk with him and remain faithful to Him even in the most difficult life situations. Joseph was just a great example of all these moments. We have already talked about the fact that in this orphanage there are quite a large number of children who have mental and physical disabilities and also can not speak. You have to communicate with such children in completely different ways, for example, with gestures, sounds or images. In addition to pictures and other visual aids, we very actively used theatrical performances in which non-speaking children were involved. Yarik, for example, usually communicates with us using individual sounds, screams and gestures.
He is very impulsive and often hot-tempered but in our lessons about Joseph he had the main role. He tried so hard to convey how kind, humble and obedient Joseph was that even teachers came running to see how he did it and were very surprised that Yarik could be so calm and responsible. We were amazed by how God and His word can influence children at the simplest child level and delight them with the changes even in the adults who surround them! And for us, this is confirmation that our work is not in vain! We are grateful to everyone who reads us, as well as everyone who supports us prayerfully and financially!
LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN 