LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN

This year’s summer camp was held in Belynichy boarding school, where children with special needs, including children with Down syndrome, are located. There are 83 children in the school, 56 children were participating in the camp. Our camp was called:”You’re Special.” Our goal was to plant the acceptance of themselves as the Lord created them into the heart of every child, as well as to help them reconcile with God and find a relationship with their Father, getting rid of the aftermath of orphanhood and self-dislike forever. We have been coming to this boarding school for 17 years, conducting Bible lessons, helping children develop their talents and gifts, teaching them to overcome bad habits and build their life on the Word of God. Conducting a camp on the school grounds gave us the opportunity to surround each child with love, care and be an example for them of how believers live and act for 10 days. On the first day, we shared the theme of the camp and asked the children if they concidered themselves special and what it meant to them. The children unanimously answered that they are specia because of particular diseases and various deviations in physical development that they have. It was painful to hear, and we could hardly hold back tears of compassion, but it gave us confidence that we could help them change and learn the truth about themselves and about our Creator. When we held Bible lessons, we took as an example the heroes of the Bible who were also without parents, unloved, betrayed, humiliated, but they dedicated their lives to God and accepted by Him, to whom God entrusted great deeds and their names are recorded in the Bible and in history. One of the days we devoted to the importance of forgiveness. We shared our testimonies, how we forgave those who offended and even those who did not ask for forgiveness. They said that forgiving makes it easier for us and thus we become more like Jesus Christ, who never kept a grudge. One of the girls, Anya, said that she was able to forgive her parents and stopped being angry at people and even began to sleep better, stopped worrying. Tanya said that she was very angry with God for being born without an ear and having hearing problems with thesecond one as well. She asked God for forgiveness for her grudges and anger and began to read the Bible to find out what God is like and how much He loves her. At all evening meetings, we talked about how each of us was wonderfully created by God and the verse that was the most influential was Isaiah 49:15 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!”. We discussing that they are not a mistake and God will not leave each of them. We taught them to pray and talk about their experiences, pain and fears to God. Even children with Down syndrome (who could not speak) began to cross themselves during prayer, with such gestures they showed their prayer.

Also, throughout the camp, we prayed for the children. We prayed that God would free them from fears and nightmares, give them freedom from addictions, for physical and emotional healing, as well as for their future. It was nice to hear from the children themselves that many of them have started sleeping well at night, that they do not experience negative emotions and obsessive thoughts, and most importantly – they are trying to trust God! As well as Bible lessons we held sports games, which were mainly targeted the ability to work in a team, where everyone is important, and mutual assistance and the ability to support each other are needed to win. At first it was difficult for them and the guys quarreled with each other. Those who were stronger did not help the weak, but after a couple of days each team really became united. Everyone who were a bit stronger, helped the others the most, encouraged each other and, of course, won! At the end of the camp, the teachers told us that they were watching us and seeing that love and care for all children, they can say with confidence that we are believers not only by what we say, but also by what we do! We were grateful to God for having an opportunity to be a good example for people! At the last evening meeting there was a call to repentance. God filled the atmosphere in the hall with His love so much so, that even the most reserved guys hugged each other and us, and also sang loudly, praising the Heavenly Father! About 25 children that evening prayed a prayer of repentance, for which we are very grateful to God and to all those who supported us through prayer! And the end of the camp we had our traditional “Birthday Celebration Day”, where we were able to congratulate all the children at the same time, regardless of the season and date of their birth. In addition to birthday cakes, the children were able to receive great gifts that gave each child a lot of positive emotions!

There is not greater music than to hear children’s laughter at the camp ‘The Lighthouse of Hope’.

Hi everyone!!! I would like to share my impression of the amazing summer camp we were at. Our camp program was called ‘Your time’. Every day we had interesting, amusing and unusual games (such as soap competitions, water games, the zoo, life in an hour, a banana relay race, dodgeball and others) and different activities (such as crafts, the school of trials and discoveries, board games, the flying fox and catamarans). But besides that, we together with the children found the time to dream, love, act, win, forgive and reconcile with God. Good and sunny weather helped us enjoy this time as well, although there was heavy rain and wind in other parts of our country.

We were lucky to see around 85 talented, amazing and at the same time difficult and wounded children at this camp. Each of them got a bunch of emotions, freedom from the wrong mindset, made new friends and just had a good rest in this good forest place with clean air. I think I will remember not only the children who repented and a great and joyful atmosphere during the worship, when all the people in the room praise God. We all have the things we struggle with and these children are no exception. I was happy to see that many of them made a decision to go on fighting with bad things in their lives (such as their bad habits; denial to forgive their friends, parents, other people; discontent with their lives, themselves and God; inability to love; unwillingness to see their mistakes and correct them). It was such a joy to see that they could do it.

There was a guy in my group who had an adopted boy in their family. He said that they bullied their brother and wanted to get rid of him because he was a little mentally disabled, he didn’t appreciate their help, didn’t listen to them and just annoyed them. He told me that he wanted his brother to leave them as soon as possible as he couldn’t stand him. At the end of the camp after we had discussed the topics of love and forgiveness, I asked him if he was willing to give his brother another chance and he said that he wanted to give it a try.

Another girl after the emotional abuse from her aunt (to cut the long story short) said that she was ready to forgive her because she didn’t want to be like her aunt. We have so many stories like these ones. It’s awesome that God gives these children strength to do this and they go and do it.

I would also like to mention the team members who worked hard and supported each other in different moments during the camp. God used everyone 100 percent through our unity and mutual support. I am grateful that I could be the part of it.

“Dreams come true when a strong desire turns them into concrete actions… ” – a quote from the great author of books about success Napoleon Hill, which in the life of Christians has no value if it doesn”t have the most important component of success – PRAYER. Dreams and desires/action/PRAYER – this is the formula of good luck for every Christian in the beginning of every deed. We wanted, looked for opportunities, PRAYED – and our wish came true! From December 25 to 27, on the grounds of the beautiful place Green Ranch of the Minsk district, we had a wonderful opportunity to spend the Christmas holiday in the company of girls-graduates of two orphanages – Rudensk and Belynichi. There were right much of difficulties in organizing this camp – not all the girls understood how to come, someone had a problem with work, we had to go to another city personally to bring girls over to camp and make an application by place of study, and someone simply did not have money to buy a ticket.But God miraculously led, and what seemed simply impossible-became a reality – we gathered in one place with one goal – to spend this holiday weekend together. Our main goal was to show the girls all the importance and great value of the holiday of the birth of Jesus Christ. To show His love and care for them, to create a family atmosphere, to talk and listen to each of the girls, to be together and just have a delicious meal. On the first day of arrival at the recreation center, the girls settled down in their rooms, got acquainted with each other, talked and waited for the evening. We helped them to get ready, do their hair and put on beautiful dresses. In the evening we had a festive program dedicated to the Birthday of Jesus – communication, Christmas songs and the theme of the evening – the Birth of Jesus. Not all the girls knew the details of the story of Jesus’s birth , but everyone listened with great interest the fact that Jesus was born so that everyone would have salvation and that He is available to the ordinary people – really became surprising news for some of them. At the end of the evening, we once again congratulated each of the girls personally and gave them some gifts. The next day of our mini-camp was no less interesting – it was about taking care of yourself and your body, beautiful hairstyles, and as a super bonus – a horse walk and a photo shoot with horses.What could be better?The girls were happy. Their eyes were shining! Even the most shy and closed could barely hold their emotions after riding and communicating with the horses. We returned to the base freezing, but pleased and happy. Over a warm tea with sweets, there came up a lot of topics for conversation – the girls were very open and we managed to communicate with each of them personally. Same day in the evening there was an important and difficult topic for every girl who came, in which there were many difficult questions – Why did my parents leave me? How to forgive them? What is God’s plan for my life? What is life like with God? How to take the first step on the path to repentance? The result of this evening was tears of perception and joy, acceptance of yourself and your life situation, forgiveness of your parents and prayers of repentance. We rejoiced, cried and prayed together with the girls. God was with us and among us. During these incomplete 3 days, there were many different interesting conversations and moments. We felt that those girls to whom we came when they were still pupils of orphanages, really matured. They didn’t need to be soothed, they were calm. We didn’t have to puch on them for communication – they were seeking for it themselves. Talking about God was not a burden – they willingly asked questions and kept up the conversation. A very simple, but personally valuable moment for me had touched my heart. Alina, a graduate of the Belynichi boarding school brought each of the team members a chocolate bar. A simple, inexpensive chocolate bar. When she gave it to me, she said: “I want to make it pleasant for you, too, because you always take care of us…” Nothing unusual, but this chocolate bar has a special value for me – Alina thought and bought it with her small salary of a street cleaner and wanted to please us. Thank God for the fact that He acts in the hearts of girls, even through such seemingly insignificant situations. It was a special place, a special time in the lives of the girls and each of us. I believe it wasn’t just another cool camp. It was a time when we prayed a lot, communicated a lot and the meaning and the importance of Christmas was achieved. The Lord was there to protect us from accidents, He sent us the desire to go and serve the girls, gave us the right words and actions. Thank God for everything!

Greetings everyone! We have conducted a camp for the orphans from June 10 to June 20, 2019 in Belinichy orphanage. Glory to God! We would like to share joyous stories and estimonies from this camp.The official statistics of Belarus tells us that only 2% to 5% of children that graduate from the government orphanages get educated, have a family and become good citizens. When we work with these children in the orphanages we are able to change this statistics. When we work in the orphanages we teach children Biblical truths, we teach them how to take care of themselves and others, we help them to develop their abilities and gifts, we teach them how to properly build relationships. Together with God we are changing the statistics: in the orphanages that we work, later on 20-30% of orphans become good citizens. Glory to God!

When we planned the camp, we decided to split all children into two groups – younger and older, so we would have age appropriate activities for each group in which children would be able to participate and which would be most interesting for the children. But the theme of camp was the same for both groups – “The Purpose driven Life”. As the result of many years of our work in the orphanages we have discovered that orphans in the orphanages very often have very damaged will, very damaged will to live and very damaged desire to achieve anything. We believe that this is the results of many traumatic experiences in their lives and the lack of love and care.

At the camp we have conducted interesting and exciting games that help children to be united into one family. In those games everyone was able to see his strong and weak sides and not be afraid to be judged by others but to accept himself the way he is. In addition we had access to the swimming pool and were able to train children to swim. A teenager named Roma (he is 17 years old) could not hold down his emotions by every evening before sleep he thanked God that Lord Himself had teached him how to swim through one of our volunteers – Gregory. The reason is it was Roma’s dream to learn how to swim. During the camp many children have learned how to swim and had lots of joyous emotions while playing in the swimming pool.

Also we had different craft lessons at our camp. Children were able to create crafts with their hands and choose a type of craft that was most interesting for them. Later on some choose to make some crafts as a hobby.

The main goal of the camp was the spiritual one – to tell children about God and help them to know Him personally as The Father and to learn how to build a relationship with Him. Therefore every day we had Biblical lessons (for the younger children in the morning and for the older children in the evening). In addition to the Biblical lessons we had theatrical plays to demonstrate what we are trying to say to help children better understand what we are saying to them.  After one of the lessons the boy named Vanya came to me and said that for the first time in his life he is feeling what it is to be loved because this love was expressed toward him by us not just in words but also in deeds, he said: “When you forgive you do not remember anymore. I was being disobedient but you were hugging me and telling me the good words”.

As the camp was going on the older kids started to gathering together in groups for prayer and we saw in them huge hunger for God and His word. At the evening lessons the children started to come with Bibles and notebooks so they would be able to write down what was important to them from what we said.

Another story from the camp: one of the older boys named Gena had developed a rash and nothing was helping to heal him. Then he asked for a prayer and together we prayed for his healing. Early next morning he was already witnessing about his miraculous healing! This healing have become a real prove of God’s miraculous power to everyone in the camp!

Another powerful story of the camp was active participating in Biblical lessons by the government teachers of the orp

hanage! Before this camp the government teachers were opposing The Gospel of Jesus Christ. But at this camp God so touched their hearts that they started to participate in the Bible lessons! They started to testify that they understood what we were saying and that their thinking, their understanding of the world is starting to change! They started to open their hearts to God! They started to sing songs of praise with us and repeat with us the words of prayers! In this camp we saw that the harvest is ready and you with us, everyone of us is a working on this field. More than 40 children consciously made a decision to follow Jesus Christ and prayed with a prayer of repentance!

Our thanksgiving to The Lord for His Presence in every day, His Reality and salvation of these kids! And also our thanksgiving to everyone who took part in this camp to make it happen so The God’s Kingdom was able to increase with these new precious souls!!!