Heiio! I want to tell you about my trips to Smilovichi in September.
About 12children were admitted
to the shelter. Moreover, half of them are from 3 to 5 years old.Therefore, during this period we had to adapt and think about how to divide lessons and games for seniors and juniors so that they would be interested. Of course, we decided to divide the lessons, but for now we are doing the games together. Of course, it’s not easy with kids, but with God’s help we can handle it. It’s much easier to work with older guys from 7 to 14 years old. If the lesson with the elders goes on as usual, we told them about who Jesus is, about what the
Bible is, and then followed the parables of Jesus.
You can’t tell the same to junior kids that easily. I think it’s hard to attract, but they also all run away and constantly offend each other, there are usually about 7 of them. But God gives wisdom and we try to sing songs with them with movements about God and Christ, play games along the way, exhorting them not to offend each other and try to obey the elders and take with us a special cloth with pictures and figures from the Bible to show and explain the essence of the lesson on it. From the little ones, everyone is different, someone like Dima and Zhenya and Darina Jr. sit quietly and are obedient and even remember, and when you come again, they sometimes remember what the main truth was last time. Some of the little ones are constantly playing pranks and not listening, for example Timofey, Sasha and Kira.
But we admonish them, and it even happened that Sasha 
and Kira were taken to the orphanage teacher because they completely violated discipline and disrupted the lesson. But the next time they behaved much better, apparently this kind of punishment affected them and it made it easier for all of us. The kids are very much climbing into our arms and hugging – this is a special blessing from the trip when you can just hug them all and tell them that Jesus loves them and we are here to tell you about Him and make friends with you.
We hug the older ones too, but not so much and often, after all, they have already grown up and are no longer children, but they are more obedient and calm for lessons, although they often get distracted at first, but thank God they have already got used to us, made friends with us and listen to us. I was very filled with how we read the parable about the lost sheep in the Bible with them. After we read every line together and I explained everything to them in order what it all means and how it relates to us, they began to ask me a variety of questions: is my grandfather also resurrected? And those who are in heaven, will they see those who are in hell?
And when will there be a resurrection from the dead? And when will Christ come? And everything like that,unfortunately, I no longer remember all the questions exactly, but I remember how on their faces it was clear that they were thinking and reasoning and it was kind of serious, and I was so happy for them that they took the words of the Bible seriously and that they apparently believed that Christ was really true and He really You’ll be back soon. And also that He loves us and weneed to come to terms with him. We prayed then both before and after lessons, in principle, as always, we pray for our visit first in the car before going to the shelter, at the beginning before the games, at the beginning before the lesson and at the end after the lesson. I am grateful to God that there is such an opportunity to visit children and tell them about Christ.
A new school year has begun as well as a new
eason of our ministry to orphans. In the last days of August we managed to meet with the new graduates of the Belynichyorphanage, that were spending their last days at the school. An adult and independent life awaits these children ahead, life that is very difficult to adapt to. That is why we decided to make a warm friendly meeting for them, where we tried to listen to each of them and just hug them. During this meeting we could remind them of God, to whom they can come at any time and in any circumstances.
We also prayed for them with a prayer of blessing. Then we started visiting younger children who are still in orphanage. At the beginning of the month for these children we made sport games. During such games characters and personalities of children are often revealed as well as their ability to work in a team, support each other and ability to accept both victories and defeats!
At such moments possible difficulties in dealing with this children are especially noticeable. At the same day for younger kids we made chalk painting activity. This is also a good opportunity to see their feelings and fears of by their drawings, see their dreams and ideas about life. Meanwhile other people from our team were with children who could not participate in sport games and chalk painting due to their mental and physical disabilities. Instead of these activities children got hugs and attention.
about the personality of Jesus Christ,
why He helps people, why He wants to take care of them and how much He loves people. Then we continued the series of Bible stories from the New Testament. Guys were especially impressed by the story of ” the Prodigal Son”. This year a teenage boy named Roma started coming to our meetings with his friend. Before both of them avoided our meetings and instead were playing football, watching cartoons and sometimes were making fun of other guys who come to our meeting regularly. Roma is a leader among older children and therefore he was often the one who would takesome of the children away from our meetings, influencing them in a bad way.
But now we see how God answers our prayers and disposes children’s hearts to hear and perceive God’s word! Thank God! During one of our meetings I saw how one of Roma’s friend began to try in every possible way to take him out of our meeting, constantly saying all sorts of teasing words over and over again: “Are you seriously going to sit here and listen to this odd lecture?”. But Roma firmly stopped him with the words: “If you want go away then do it! Buy I’m staying!” As a result, both teenagers stayed at the meeting. Moreover Roma became the winner in answering the questions that Ilya asked at the end of the Bible lesson! Meanwhile I was touched by the situation and admired how God makes possible what sometimes seems unreal to us! 
The second special moment for me was meeting with Yarik. I’ve told you about him before. He has Down’s Syndrome and he mostly communicates using certain sounds or syllables. Previously he was quite aggressive and in a fit of rage he could clearly pronounce cuss words. But now we see how much God is changing him and we noticed that he became much calmer and began to pronounce a lot of clear words, especially the names of the guys from our team. It feels like not only our team is very glad about it, but Yarikhimsel. Sometimes he even manages to say someone’s name several times in a row. It’s funny and at the same time cute! Besides he tries to be the loudest singer during our worship moments, which is also very cute to see and creates an atmosphere of gratitude to the Heavenly Father for His great love for these children!
most of their time outside and they have a choice between coming to our meetings and rushing outside and spending time there. We tried to organize our meetings so that we could communicate with children who did come and with those who ran away outside. We spent the very first trip of this month completely outside. Our team was divided into several groups, in which we communicated with the guys on topics of interest to them, found out how they spent their summer, what good things happened in their lives, and also learned their prayer needs, for which we then prayed with them.
And also, each person from our team shared their testimony from life, telling how Jesus can help us. At one of the meetings, we organized sports relay races for the guys. I like this time because we have the opportunity to learn more about the character of children, see how well or poorly they get along with each other, how they are able to accept victories and defeats, as well as how they are able to work in a team and support players who may be weaker due to their physical limitations. We were there with the guys to guide, correct and support them in critical situations.
them as who they are. We also discussed why 
Jesus went to the cross. Next, we started a series of topics on Bible stories from the New Testament. The children especially remembered the “story of the prodigal son”. It was difficult for them to understand and accept that the father forgave the prodigal son without any reproaches, let him back into his house, fed him and gave him all the best. But God does the same thing – forgives and accepts everyone who opens their heart to Him! At the end of the meeting, a girl, Polina, came up to us and said that she really wanted a Bible for herself.
At such moments, I realize that each of us, no matter if you are an adult or a child, still needs God’s word. We know that there is a Bible in the school library, but for children who ask for it personally, we always try to bring a separate book for them personally. During our ministry to orphans, we have become convinced that children who read the Bible not only know the biblical story well, but God also heals their minds and hearts, making them able to accept and accommodate the truth. A lot of these guys, after graduating from school, when they come to new cities to work or study, find a church for themselves and stay there. For me, this is joy of victory of God in the lives of the orphaned children we serve!
LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN 