LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN

Dear brothers and sisters! With gratitude to God, we share the fruits of the Christian summer camp “One Step Closer”, which took place on the territory of Rudenskaya boarding school for orphans with mental and physical disabilities. We have been praying and preparing for a long time, dreaming of bringing light and hope to every child at this school. There were 23 volunteers in our team — people who love God and these guys, people who work and have dedicated their summer vacations to serving at this camp. The camp program was designed to take into account all the children’s needs and to make it easy for them to understand simple but very important truths.

Our camp themes were “One Step Closer”: to joy, to love, to hope, to faith, to victory, to freedom, to forgiveness, and to God. In most families, parents help their children develop their feelings and skills, but who will help an orphan? These children live in groups of 15, and a single teacher cannot teach them how to behave or respond to situations. Every day we discussed one topic.: “One step closer to…” For example, on Freedom Day, the guys shared what they want to get rid of — bad habits, anger, obscene language. One teenager asked: “Please pray for me, I’m tired of living in this sin, I really want to be free!” After him, all the other teenagers from his class began to ask for prayer support and opened their addictions to God.

Also, when we were discussing the topic of forgiveness, many said that they live in non-forgiveness to their parents for not being able to overcome their weaknesses and addictions to alcohol, drugs and a criminal lifestyle. When we opened the topic of forgiveness Sasha, he is 16 years old, said: – For the first time I prayed for forgiveness of my parents and it was so relieving. During the camp, we developed a very good relationship with the children and the teachers. Every day, we worked with the children in the garden, and during our work, they shared about their lives, what had happened, and why they were there. During one of our conversations, Lera (who is 18 years old) said, “When I graduate from school, I want to join your ministry and travel to schools like this one, giving children hope through Jesus.”

In addition to the Bible meetings, we also held art and craft classes, where we helped the children gain confidence in themselves and their abilities. Many of the children had low self-esteem, and by creating beautiful handicrafts, they were able to experience the joy of learning a new skill while also showing empathy towards others who had more difficulty completing their work. Sports games and unity games helped children to release their energy and emotions. After the games, they were more calm, attentive, and friendly. Each game was designed to teach the strong to help the weak and to stop humiliating others by encouraging and inspiring them to win.

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I am grateful to God that on the last day, when we were discussing the topic “One Step Closer to God,” more than 60 teenagers decided to pray a prayer of repentance and ask God to help them restore their lives and regain joy, love, hope, faith, more victories, freedom, and forgiveness. Additionally, some teenagers shared that they had prayed a prayer of repentance in the previous year. For example, Ksenia (age 17), who had repented in the previous year, reported that she had become more joyful and kind. She began to read the Bible and live according to God’s commandments. Her teacher said that Ksenia has become a different person, more calm, less aggressive, and more capable academically.

We are so glad that with God, children have hope and faith, and their lives are filled with deep meaning. The camp has come and gone, and many teenagers have expressed a desire to learn more about God through the correspondence Bible school program. Pastor Igor has started working with them. We have tried to build a good children’s evangelism service, so that every child is reached with the gospel and love. After the camp, we continue to work with the graduates, meeting one-on-one, communicating and being mentors for them, who help them make the right decisions in life. Together with the team, we come to their cities and villages, where we introduce them to brothers and sisters from the local Churches. Dear friends, thank you very much for your prayers and support! Let us pray together that the good seed we have sown will bear good fruit in their lives. With gratitude, the Belarusian Orphanage Ministry Team.