LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN

I found life in God! But what orphans find when we come? May is the last month of school. Summer holidays are coming soon. But also it’s time for good-byes and special feelings, because there are those whom you made friends with you love them very much. This month we just spend time with the children. We talked one on one, for boys we organized some sports, and our trips ended with the day for those who had birthdays. The atmosphere was very good, songs, games, word from the Bible and of course presents. On that day many of them had a real birthday, with many friends and presents. For some of them it was for the first time in their lives. Nothing could make their joy go away.
On one of the days we organized a volleyball championship. It was very hard to win over guys from the orphanage, as were played as one, we had a good understanding in the team. This is a good example for them, that unity – is a very strong thing and a cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Though they lost the relationships stayed the same. There were many positive emotions from older guys and younger ones, who had their own program. Children love to have fun together! There were children from the whole small orphanage! Looking at us they see life in us and in God! What do they find? They find God! God, thank you that you use us, thanks to those who pray for this and helps with finances and encouragement!

I want to say that I am pleased with the result that we have reached by the end of this school year. Children became more open. They were open even for those whom they have seen for the first time, because now they accept everyone much closer than six months ago, and even more so a year ago. Many children are waiting for closing of the orphanage with the hope that maybe suddenly, after the closure, there will be something better.
“-Sasha, my mom will take me home – says Sergei, the court will be soon, and she will be allowed to pick me up, but it is a pity that my father is still drinking.” From the words of the boy it is clear how much he wants to have a family, relatives, people dear to him. He wants and dreams about it, but it is unknown whether it is a dream of his parents? It even seems to me that very few people dream about him at all in this world…

That was one of the goals of our team: to become native to the children and to find their relatives. So, summing up, I think that we did it! I’m saying it not to tell you that we are good, but in order to show how great is our God!
  In May, as it was before, we organized Bible classes, sporting events, trying to support their personal experiences and needs. Every conversation with children as for them, as for me brings a lot of joy, and after everything there is a big desire that this communication would not end even after boarding closes. The brightest event of this month was the farewell party, which we’ve called “Birthday celebration”. The boys could hear the parting words, and also had an opportunity to play, to remember learning songs and just to talk at the banquet table and remember the times lived together. At the end guys could get farewell gifts. We called this evening a “Happy Birthdays” to congratulate the children of the orphanage with the birthdays that they have already celebrated or will celebrate this year!
May 27 we had the last trip to Grozovskii boarding school, as the school was closed.

Greetings to you our dear readers. We thank God for another month of ministry in Grozovo boarding school. We celebrated a wonderful accassion this month – Easter. We coudn’t leave it behind so we invited an acting group from the church. The team got verry excited with this invitation and put on an Easter theme play for the children. Everyone enjoyed it very much. Many guys have neever been at the theatre, moreover, they’ve never seen a christian perfomance. At the end it children had many questions about the death and resurection of Jesus Christ. We answered their questions. we also made them think about : who they belong to? are they forgiven or not? Will they be in heaven with Christ or not? and many other questions. Nobody wanted that evening to be over. We also visited the school another time when we could spend more time with children and talk to them closer. We discussed several tpics. For example, why I go to church, fortune-telling, different pleasures that the world offers us and where they can lead us to, the reality of life and may other topics. We especially paid a lot of attention to the graduates. As the summer time is getting closer, we realise that we won’t be able to see the kids for a while and the young adults who are leaving Grozovo boarding school won’t be back as they start another page of their lives. We try to become friends to them so that if they need any help or advice they can ask for it without any fear of rejection. Also, we’d like them to remember that they can go to church with us, we want them to accept Christ in to their hearts and serve the Lord. The desire of our hearts is that all children finishing school will find a place and a feeling of belonging to church and also to God. Join us in this prayer.

Time is passing by very fast! It seems that school year has started not long ago. However, it is coming to the end. Our children got one year older. In a month, they will leave the Grozovskij orphanage. We might not see them again. But we want to believe that our meetings were not in vain and seeds, which we planted, sooner or later will bring fruit!

In April, we had many personal conversations with children. They trust us more and more with their issues. They share with us their lives. The most important topic is – what will happen with them when the orphanage will close. We had different topics, but most of all we tried to review topics, which we discussed before. We asked them different questions so that they will remember what they have heard. It was pleasant to hear that some children easily remembered what they have heard from us last year or in the beginning of the school year. In the end of the meetings, children received sweet gifts. One can see that regardless of different difficulties, which we had before, children are ready to be themselves and open up as they are. Praise the Lord!

Some of our meetings were dedicated to the art. We applied Bible lessons to it. We were spending more time outside. Children like it. One of our meetings was dedicated to the topic of Easter. Through drama, children had an opportunity to hear again about why Jesus Christ suffered on the Cross. This drama skit did not only include the sufferings, but also the joy from Christ’s resurrection.

Some of our children have many worries. Someone insults them, other don’t understand them. However, they know that they can trust us and God. Praise God that children trust us and pray up loud in front of other children, sharing their problems and worries. I am very happy to spend time with these children.

We observed following moments at the children’s home in Grozovo during the last few weeks. The happiest moment for me is when a kid is running to you and shouts: “Sasha, I’m being taken to family!” I sincerely rejoice, when a kid has a chance to start a new life. I just hope that families they are going to will be able to accept these kids for who they are and to love them. And it is sad, when kids who are left without relatives say: “But I’m glad I’ll go to another children’s home”. They say that not because of bad conditions here (it is better for some kids to live at the children’s home, then at their own home), but the say that to comfort themselves. These very minutes are the worst minutes for me! When you teach, play games, watch video, which encourages kids, you begin to understand that all these seeds we plant will grow and give fruit.
Today we try our best not just to support these kids and to be mentors for them, but as well we’re looking for families for them. We’d like to reach many Christian families to share our vision with them! For the last 2 months, we’ve made several presentations about adoption of orphan in 5 churches. We especially emphasized on Grozovo children’s home, as it will be closed in 2 months.
Children are on spring holidays now. A few of them will spend their holidays at new families, but most of them will stay at the children’s home. We hope we’ll be able to bring them some joy during our meetings.