LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN

In September we restarted our lessons with younger children after a short summer break. A lot of changes happened in their lives. They grew up and were very glad to see us. Our regular 3 groups were partly disbanded, and new children have joined us this year. The children met us joyfully screaming as usually. They missed us as well as us. It’s so nice when someone looks forward to you and you are welcome. We had a talk, found out how they had spent their summer, prayed, sang some favorite songs. The new guys quickly became part of the team and were active during the whole lesson. We decided to devote our first lesson to the topic “God exists” and told the children indisputable facts about the existence of God. At the end of the lesson we asked some questions to revise. In September we had simple, well-known, but important and actual topics: “Prayer”, “The Bible – the word of God”, “Faith”. The children especially enjoyed the lesson about the Bible. It was full of nice pictures and good examples which showed them that there are a lot of books with their messages and aims, but there’s only one Book which contains everything you need to know about true life. The guys listened to us very attentively and next time easily answered all our questions. With the older children we discussed the same topics. The teenagers like discussions very much. Some new guys joined our older group too. They are very open and talkative. I remembered the boy Gena. He’s 12, very smiling and pleasant. From the very beginning it seemed we have known each other for long. He told us about his childhood and parents, about the place he had lived before. He said he liked our meeting very much and would continue visiting us. He didn’t miss a single meeting, which is very nice!
All the meetings we had in September are clear and easy to understand in all the ages. We believe that everything we explain to them will give results some day!

The month of May was special personally for me. Preparing the classes for children, you cannot but live through the things that you want to deliver to them; first of all, God was working in my heart. I was myself living through the stories about Daniel and his friends. And this is a special time of preparation and happiness that you can share something that God reveals with the children. Every kid who visits our meetings perceives our themes and those truths that we deliver to them in his or her own way. One of the things that I realized for sure is that we don’t know a kid’s heart, and it is only God who is making His work, and we can only be instruments in God’s hands. There are children, who at first sight are attentive and open, but after a while you can see how far they can be from God, and at the same time the most disturbing brawler turns out to be open to spiritual changes in life. That’s why when I see brawlers, who are merely trying to catch attention by their behavior, I rejoice that I can give at least a little of my love, attention and care to them.
This month with the elder children we were talking about Daniel and all his life. About Daniel being taken to slavery, about his loyalty and trust to God. The special Daniel’s gift is to read dreams. And to trust firmly to God despite the difficult trials in his life. The children like such stories, through them you can reach out and speak to their hearts. It is well known that a person shows sympathy and readiness to help after a more close acquaintance with someone who needs help. We help our nearest because we know them well and love them, and usually don’t take closely to our hearts a message about hundreds of life being taken by a storm somewhere over the ocean. The issue with orphans is the same. Although we know that a lot of children in Belarus still live in orphanages, it doesn’t give us a possibility to feel deeply a state of a specific child. We do not see these children, and our motivation to help them is very low.
It makes a big difference when we see a photo, story and video about some particular child. We discover more about him and get a wish to help. Someone will have this wish materialized into specific actions – adoption or creation of a foster family. At our turn we want to help delivering the Gospel to them and givie a little love and care during our meetings.

This month has been especially bright as we had a wonderful opportunity to tell children about Easter – the celebration day of Jesus Christ’s resurrection.
In the beginning of the month we held separate classes dedicated to the Easter with the senior and junior children. We were telling them about the great deed of the Son of God, and about the price He paid to bring salvation to the world. Most of the children already heard from us about the core of Easter last year. But now there are some new kids in the Belynichi orphanage for whom this information was unknown: most of them associated Easter with colored eggs and various bakery. We hope that from now on they will remember about Jesus Christ, who suffered at Calvary for each of us!
During next meeting we held another Easter program with participation of a jolly clown, who was not only amusing the kids, but also was telling them about Christ’s Resurrection. At the end everyone got his long-anticipated gift.
Besides the festive events, the elder kids continued their acquaintance with new heroes of the Bible, such as Naaman and wise queen Esther. The example of each of these characters shows how strongly the faith in God influences the people’s fates. We hope that our dear children also visit our meetings not in vain, and that the word that they hear would penetrate deep in their hearts!
To the younger kids we told about the kind shepherd who went to find his lost sheep. With the help of this character we managed to show the little children that they also have the Shepherd and Father, Who never leaves them, even if their blood father or mother left them.
In these latter days the children meet us very cheerfully and warm – like long-expected and beloved guests. All the barriers in communication have disappeared. The changes are seen also in the teachers who became more open and friendly (it was not like that at all in the beginning).
During the latest meeting the kids were amazed by the Easter gifts – they were running to each of us, telling their gratitude with all the sincerity of their hearts. Someone happened to receive a car, someone received some finery – everyone got something of his own, unique, unexpected, as a real miracle. An that is what we all happen to need in life badly – a simple miracle of love, acceptance and friendship, realization of a simple truth: this world needs you.

This month I told a block of stories about the miracles wich Jesus had made to the boys of the lower grades. The children really liked those stories. They were especially enthusiastic about the story of how a little boy, about their age (which I had specified for them), gave Jesus 5 loaves and 2 small fishes so that Jesus could feed the people who came to listen to Him. The children could not believe that everyone had enough food and a few baskets even remained! As a rule, there are 20-25 younger children at our meetings. But, at one of the meetings there were only 4 children. Some of the children were sleeping already, some were doing their homework, and some were interested in some other activities. At first, I was a little embarrassed, but then I saw an advantage that it is possible to discuss more in details the next biblical story with each child, checking how much each of them could learn the information from the stories. When the lesson with such a small number of children came to an end, I realized that this meeting was not accidental!
Also, this month, we talked with the children about how Jesus healed a woman who was suffering for 12 years, about how He raised the daughter of Jairus and how Jesus helped the blind Bartimaeus who was sitting near the temple.
It is great that the children did not forget the biblical stories that we told last month! Again, they could not understand how it could be that Jesus could pacify the storm and especially walk on the water! They talked about how they run around in puddles, but still their feet are completely submerged in water and it is impossible – not to drown, especially in the sea! I am very happy when I see how such small children are trying to analyze the Bible lessons and apply them in their daily life! I told them how important it is to have a hope and trust God every minute of our life. The fact that there are no desperate situations for God. That at any time, we can ask Him for help. When we stood up to pray, I was surprised because of one girl – Katya. It seemed to me that when I told the story, she looked quite the other way and was immersed in her thoughts. She asked me to pray and in her prayer she repeated my whole lesson in the smallest details (which is very difficult for these children) and prayed that there would never be a terrible storm in our life, and if it does, that God will save us. She also prayed for us to believe in God and always look at Him, not taking our eyes off (as Peter looked away, he began to sink). I really was touched by this children’s prayer! Once again I was convinced that God has his plans, his terms and his methods of achieving hearts, and we just need to be conscientious!
At the same time, the older children completed lessons about the life of David and his son Solomon. The children had the opportunity to talk about friendship, about envy and betrayal, as well as about the wisdom that God can give to a person. One of the highlights of this month was the holiday – The women’s day, on 8 March. This day we could congratulate the girls of the orphanage in Belynichy and pray for all the girls, ask God’s blessings for their future life! The girls were pleased with this attention and remained very grateful. At the end of the meeting, all the children got sweet presents. Thanks God for this wonderful time!