LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN

For many years, my team and I have been looking for opportunities to hold a summer camp for orphans from the Rudensky school, where we have been coming on Wednesdays since 2008, but each time we were refused. We did not give up, held camps for other children from other schools, believed that God could open this door, prayed constantly and a miracle happened! We were given permission to conduct a 10-day camp on the school grounds for 146 children. Praise God for the opportunity to share his love and truth through Bible lessons, joy through games and creativity, new skills through communication and learning!

Our camp was called “The Secret Within,” and every day we revealed a new facet of the beauty of our inner man according to God’s plan, and not the depravity and destruction of this world. We chose this topic not by chance; when we arrived on Wednesdays and talked with the children, we noticed that they completely devalued themselves and believed in lies that resulted from mistreatment and rejection by parents and close relatives. In recent years, we have seen that children need adult mentors who will help them gain the necessary experience that will help them in life. We chose the most relevant topics in which we saw that children have big problems, especially after graduating from school.

We divided the children into two large groups: children from 6 to 12 years old and from 13 to 17 years old. All the children were very open to actively discussing topics and participating in our meetings. I would like to note that thanks to these meetings, the children began to cope with low self-esteem, criticism, guilt, envy and unforgiveness.

Examples of lesson topics: a heart that is wise, a heart that is obedient, a heart that is grateful, a heart that is forgiving, a heart that is faithful, a heart that is loving. During the lesson about obedience, there were a lot of questions from the children, and from their reaction it was clear that they really wanted and tried to be obedient, but the internal pain from the traumas they had experienced was preventing them.

Vladik (he is 10 years old) said that his parents often offended and punished him just like that, for no reason, and then abandoned him forever, sending him to a boarding school. His question to God was: is it his fault that he was abandoned? For what actions does God punish people? And how to become obedient?

We said that he was not to blame for his parents’ lifestyle. And that parent’s hearts and lifestyle were destroyed by sin. We talked about the qualities of God, His mercy and justice, and that His love never fails. After the lesson, Vlad wanted to pray and ask for forgiveness from God. And he also decided to forgive his parents.

During the camp, we saw changes in the children’s behavior towards each other and their teachers. They began to react more calmly, support those who were weaker, ask for forgiveness if they were wrong or called names, in general the atmosphere in the camp became more friendly. On the day of gratitude, we gave an example of the healing of 10 lepers and the children from the third grade said that they would pray for the healing of Ksyusha, because she does not speak, but only nods her head and has difficulty pronouncing even her name. Together with them, we asked Jesus to heal her and take away her fear. Next day, when we were making crafts with our own hands and the adults were helping, Christina from the team decided to help Ksyusha and began asking questions about the craft and what she wanted to do and in what color. Suddenly Ksyusha spoke up and began to list all the colors and was even surprised herself, from what he said. Children from her class began to jump, scream with joy and thank God for the miracle. We are all very grateful to God for Ksyusha’s healing!!!

There were also many interesting games and clubs in our camp, where children learned to work together to win as a class and have a good time. At first, they humiliated those who were weaker or could not cope with the task, but we, on the contrary, encouraged and helped, taught them to be friendly and value each participant. After each game, we made conclusions and explained that we all have different abilities, talents, and that we even think differently, but only by supporting and respecting each other can we achieve our goals and be winners. The children said that we taught them to play very interesting games and gave them many bright moments in life and, of course, they were happy with the gifts they received for their participation!

During creativity classes, Natasha prepared crafts in such a way that everyone could try themselves in drawing, modeling, weaving, and creating their own toys. This develops creative thinking and hand motor skills in children and teaches perseverance and accuracy. All the children enthusiastically went to work and rejoiced at what they did with their own hands.

The school administration included one hour of daily work in the garden in the camp schedule. We also decided to take part in this work and be an example for the children. Our help in such boring hard work became a great testimony for educators and each child. Working together, we were able to communicate with children on various topics and show that work is an important part of our lives and after graduating from school they can choose the profession of a vegetable grower or farmer.

The most important part of each day was the evening meetings in the assembly hall, where we sang songs with a biblical meaning. And at such moments the children’s faces glowed with love and they calmed down in the atmosphere of God’s presence. One evening, after Vlad’s topic about how we are all very dear to God and He will never leave us, teenager Kirill said: I think God has left us and forgotten us, because all the circumstances are against us. And it was so nice at the end of the camp to hear his words of gratitude to God, who sent such volunteers to serve all the children in their school.

On the last day, we invited all the older children to make peace with God and about 80% of the children consciously prayed and asked God to change their lives! We were very happy to serve every child and believe that the seed sown will grow and bear fruit!!! Thank you all for your prayers and participation! May the Lord bless you and strengthen you!

P.S. I also think it’s important to write about Vladislava, who was a volunteer on the team, and back in 2018 she was an orphan in the Smilovsky orphanage, where we go on Tuesdays. And there, at one of the meetings, she opened her heart to the Lord and dedicated her life to Him. In 2019, she was adopted by a believing family. Now she is already a student, and in her free time she helps children with a similar story and pain!