LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN

Hello to everybody, who’s reading this letter!

We want to share with you our achievements, that we’ve had this February. In spite of the fact, that many children were ill and some orphanages were closed during the time of the treatment, from 10 to 15 children attended our meetings. We try to pray for the children’s health constantly, because they fall ill very often, especially in winter. God answers our prayers and shows His mercy not just to us, but to all the children. This month we discussed different topics. One of them was – “How to cope with the suffering from bereavement”. We spoke about the causes of losing something or someone in our life, about our reaction to it and the way we manage it. It was obvious that the children had strong feelings on this topic, because many of them have already faced such situations. There were different opinions and arguments whether it is good or bad to lose something or someone. Everyone had an opportunity to share his or her opinion. Also we told them, why we read the Bible and spoke a lot about it. We constantly share with them thoughts from this book, so many children were concerned, why the Bible is such an authority for us. The children were interested in knowing about the special purpose of the Bible and its influence on our lives. Besides, we always sing. Everyone enjoys this! Especially, when we learn something new. Songs melt the ice in their hearts, calm them and help to create friendly atmosphere. When we ask the children, why they come to our meetings, they say, they miss us, they want to know something new, they like the atmosphere, where everyone is valued and loved. It is pleasant to hear and, what is the most important, to see how they change. We are very grateful to everyone who supports us in prayers and kind words!!!

In February we made our usual trips to Grozovo Orphanage. I am in charge of the smallest groups. And together with the little children we discussed the stories of Jonah, Samuel and Esther. We also talked about the importance of good works in our everyday lives. A lot of kids got really interested in the topics and took an active part in the discussion. We also played various games and had a wonderful time together.

We have made really good friends with the children, we love them and they open their hearts to us. We try to show them that loving and trustful relationships do exist in this world. We talk with the children about how to be good friends and help other people. We do our best to make them feel loved and needed both by God and us.

We have also noticed the change in the kids’ attitudes. Now they trust us a lot more than they used to. They learn to pray for each other and our ministry. It is so inspiring when they come to us and share the stories how they seized to fight with each other and learnt to forgive others. We are happy to hear them say they miss our meetings, our hugs and prayers. It is so pleasant to see the kids enjoy themselves and know they do their best to stay grateful even in the disadvantaged environment they have to live in and deal with.

This month I had an opportunity for meeting my dear friends! It is so pleasant that they wait for us. They are always happy when we come to them. We chatted, played a lot with them, talked about God. The children became more open and told us about feelings, and they were happy very much when we prayed for them. I liked the fact that the children try to change their characters, they yield to each other, try not to speak foul language although they do not always have a success. Thanks God that they want to change!

We devoted two meetings to biblical heroes such as Job and Daniel, who are a good example of obedience, patience and faithfulness to God. Furthermore the children with teenagers organized sports relay. In these moments it is always nice to see how guys can deal with each other, accept defeat and be a team. After the relay the participants were given prizes.

However the most memorable was Christmas meeting. It was a happy time for them, not only because of the gifts. The boys had the opportunity to change the atmosphere, to hear about the birth of the King, to play and learn new songs. Some children from Grozovsky orphanage, who did not go abroad during holidays, were able to celebrate Christmas in homelike atmosphere, and the main thing was to go on a celebratory service at the church. There are two families and a few nurses in our team who periodically take orphans on weekends and vacations. This is a great opportunity to become closer to these kids, to serve them and to introduce at church where they can hear about God!

Hello, everyone whose hearts are open to the Ministry for the Abandoned Children in Belarus, who prays for the orphans and supports our team! I would like to provide you with some feedback on January events at Grozovo orphanage. It was a very festive and busy month for us, and we were all greatly inspired by the help and support we received. We would like especially mention the congregation of Minsk Baptist Church ‘Bethlehem’ who participated in our action “X-mas Gift to an Orphan”. The pastors told the church members about our action during the service and a lot of people got very excited and eager to stuff a gift box for an orphaned boy or girl. The church youth joined us during our Christmas trip to the orphanage. During the visit we handed over the gifts to the children (addressed and collected personally for each child), we also staged a Christmas performance for them, organised different games and music activities. Many friendships were created then, and now the youngsters communicate with each other via social networks. Everybody enjoyed the time spent together. It was a gain not only in positive emotions but new friends as well. During our follow-up trips to the orphanage we organised the Bible study entitled “I would have believed in God if it were not for…” First we debated the resolve “I would have become a believer but for the injustice going on in the world”. The kids asked us heaps of questions and we tried to support our resolutions with texts from the Bible. We told the kids about Christ’s undeserved suffering, about the sin and its impact on the world. During our next meeting we debated the resolve “I would have become a believer if good people did not suffer. Does God Care At All?” That time we told the kids about Job, his sufferings and great blessings, we talked about God having created us with a free will to make our own choices about who to serve and follow. After those debates a lot of kids changed their attitude to God, at last many children received answers to the questions that had been troubling them for a long time and some of them became determined to change their lives. The last meeting that we had in January was dedicated to sports. We held a competition and everybody, even the little ones, were invited to participate. It was a great fun and all the teams, even those who lost, received presents. It was so interesting to watch the older kids doing best for their teams and supporting their younger mates. You could especially see their care during the sack race – when a small child finished his or her run, the older guys lifted him or her up from the sack and helped another one in. It was a very touching scene to witness. Our team is so very grateful to God for the fulfilling ministry we all had this January. Our relationship with the kids and orphanage administration developed in a most positive way. We are immensely thankful to the churches that supported us during the Christmas actions, and would also like to express our genuine gratitude and appreciation to each person who keeps praying for us and makes it possible for us to continue our ministry for the Belarusian children left with no home and family.

We have had a very special time this December. I had to substitute one of our leaders and take up a group of toddlers. What to chose for the content of the lesson and how to organize it became my greatest challenges. I was dismayed to see that I absolutely forgot the language of the small children. That’s why I think I couldn’t make children listen to me at first. Nevertheless, I had learnt on my mistakes and by the end of the month I became more efficient in my lessons. Some of the kids got really interested (the ones I expected less to do so) and even learnt by heart the ten commandments that we had been studying.
I also recollect with pleasure how surprised the older kids were to see when they dropped by that I never lost my temper with the little ones when they misbehaved themselves. They all got so used to be shouted at, that patience and long-suffering felt so unnatural for them.
There is a long road ahead of us that we have to take to learn how to help these kids get rid of their fears, become free from the pain of the victims they had become after their families broke up and healed from the scars of constant humiliation, disbelief, lost faith in free will and free choice each of them possesses. We believe that this personal development is possible to take place in their lives even in the environment they have been placed to live in. If we didn’t truly believe in change we would never make any effort to influence the present lives of the orphans thus altering their future.