LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN

Hello, dear readers! Thank God for another opportunity to go to the orphanage in Belinichy in October. At the end of SeptemberI went to Belinichy orphanage for the first time. I was very happy to meet and get to know these children. They welcomed me very warmly and we were able to become friends with them right away and I am very grateful to God for this, because I understood that if I could have a close relationship with the children, then it would be much easier to spread the Gospel tothem, and so it happened! The children listen attentively in class and even when some of them make noise, the children still remember the stories and conclusions from the stories and answer questions well at the end of the lesson.

Every Thursday, when we come to Belinichy the children greet us with love, hug us, say that they were really looking forward to seeing us when we arrive, we really appreciate it! After thatwe divide them into groups as before. The children are dividedinto 2 groups: older children and younger ones. At the beginning of our meeting we always pray with them that God blesses our meeting, after that we sing a few songs and play games with them. After the games the children sit down comfortably and we tell them a Bible lesson. The topics of the Bible lessons in the 2 groups are the same, but it is very good that there is an opportunity to divide the children, because the same Bible story or topic can be told to different ages in different ways so that it is more understandable, for example, with older children you can touch on deeper life themes based on the Bible lesson, while the younger ones understand perfectly well if there is some electronic material, for example, a presentation or colorfulpictures.

In October I was mostly with the younger children, we were able to get to know each other well and communicate. About 20 younger children come to each meeting, thank God for that! This month almost all the lessons were about the parables that Jesus told. For example, “The Parable of the Sower.” It is very important for the younger children to speak in simple words during the lesson, because the parables have a deep meaning, it is important that the younger children also understand it. The main idea of ​​this topic is that if we have a soft heart and not a hard or stony one, like other types of soil, then this helps to remain in our hearts what we hear in our Bible lessons: to believe in Jesus Christ, to try to do well, to be kind, obedient, to help others, not to swear and so on.

Another parable we looked at was “The Parable of the Unmerciful Creditor”. That day, when I was in the group with older children, the guys and I were all sitting on the carpet and listening to the lesson that Vasya was telling us, there was a very friendly and informal atmosphere at this lesson. The children heard a story about a man who owed an incredible amount of money, and his debt was forgiven, but after a while the same man owed ten times less, he did not forgive the debt. The main idea of ​​this parable is that sometimes we cannot forgive a smalloffense from another person, while he forgives us many of our bad deeds, so we must always be forgiving and lenient to others.

I am very grateful that I was able to communicate with some of the children in person, I am very sorry to hear their stories from life, when a small child comes to you and says that one of his close relatives (one of the parents) died recently, it is very painful to hear. However, I am glad that many of those children periodically go home, during the week or on weekends. And at this time they can be with their parents or grandparents and other brothers and sisters. Praise God for this peaceful time to spread the Gospel. Blessings to you!