LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN

Greetings, dear Friends! We are thankful to everyone who reads us!  Thank you for your interest in the Orphans ministry!  This month is special, as a new school year began for the Orphans ministry.  This month we visited children from the Rudensky children’s house.  Summer flew by quickly, and we see how children have changed over the summer – they grew up, tanned.    When we visited this orphanage for the first time in this academic year, we learned that the orphanage had undergone major changes since its administration had completely changed. Let’s pray that the heart of the administration will be open to the Orphans ministry that we have been doing for the past 15 years.

We hear the joy and enthusiastic cries of children all the time: “You have come to us!  Hurray!”  Such a reaction could not make us indifferent, and we gladly rushed to meet the guys.  Talks and emotions accompanied us throughout the trip.  Everybody has its own news, joy and even pain. The constancy of our ministry shows the children that they can rely on us, they can trust us.  Therefore, the kids told what happened in the summer, how the children were sent to summer camps, and how hard it was for them to constantly hear the taunts of other children who grew up in families with mom and dad.  “Nobody protects us, it’s hard for us, and we feel lonely in the evenings,” the kids told us. During one of our visits, a 14-year-old boy said that sometimes it was difficult for him to believe in God since he had been asking God for more than 10 years to send him family. He sees other teenagers, he also wants to have mom and dad.  We started the conversation, and I said:  “Listen, God cares for you anyway.  You have a family – we come to you and other guys every week.   We spend a lot of time, as a family, with you.  Yes, maybe this is not the ideal family that you can imagine when you close your eyes.  But still we – those who spend time with you – love and accept you, we pray for you. All these happen in families, this is the time of acceptance, this is the care and prayers.  You are precious to us, and we love you simply for who you are. After that, this boy looked up at us and said that he had never thought this way, that God could answer his prayers this way. “I was looking at the imaginary world and imagined that God would answer the way I wanted. But now I understand that God, sending you to the orphanage, is already showing his care for me”. Each child drowns out his or her pain with imagined ideas about faith and God. Satan is trying to convince orphans that nobody needs them, that God does not hear their prayers, therefore, when you are alone, you find it difficult to believe in God the Father.  The story ended when we hugged and said:  “Remember that God cares for you even when you think that nothing happens.” Also, this month we held sports activities, trying to have new friends through sports.  In addition to having a good time, we had a great opportunity to invite all the new guys to our weekly meetings, which we hold on Wednesdays.  The first topic of the meetings was “Laziness”.  We talked about how to overcome laziness, relying on a biblical passage: “What you sow, you will reap.”  Our next topic:  “Gossip”. Because this is a part of life that kids live in the orphanage.  Children do not understand that by gossiping they destroy themselves and others.  Our task is not only to talk on the topics but also to draw conclusions, give practical advice that can change the lives of these guys. The good news for this month is that we have a new group of children that we have been allowed to work with.  Let’s pray that God will help all the guys who come to us to think about their lives and about God. We pray that they will receive their comforting and their miracle!  Thank you very much for your prayers, they mean so much to us!

Greetings to you brothers and sisters.  This academic year has finished.  Throughout the year, we witnessed how God has been changing children and how he has been answering their prayers.  More than 45 trips we made to the Rudensky orphanage.  Thank you for this year you were with us praying for life to change, and for children to have goals in life, and faith wich increases every day.  During this time we introduced the children to the New Testament, we talked about all the wonders of Jesus Christ.  We have seen how the faith appeared in children from meeting God.  We live in a world in which the orphans are isolated from society, and many children live in insult, unforgiveness, and the greatest fear is that everything in life can happen again.

Communicating with children, we see that they no longer believe that something good can happen in life.  The injuries that they received as a child stalk children through life.  This year, more than 15 people graduate from the orphanage.  The children who constantly came to us shared that it’s scary that they don’t know how the rest of their lives will be.  Fear in the eyes and a trembling voice shows the unreadiness of children to move to a new level!  We prayed for the children and talked about the fact that there are many churches where they can continue to learn about God, as well as this place where people will help them.  And we will come to visit with the team.  In June, when we came to the children, most of the new children aged from 8 to 10 came up to us and everyone wanted to be in the center of attention.  We see that children of this age are very lonely and they are looking for such friends who will not make fun of their peculiarities, but will accept people as they are.  We see that these children have the biggest dreams of getting new slippers.  Each of the children is special and interesting in its own way.  Looking at the children, we see how talented everyone is how they take care of stray dogs and cats by giving them their bread, which they decided to leave to the little animals.  We were approached by children from primary school and asked that we would visit them more often, because they miss us and like when we tell them about Jesus and also they love to play with us.  It is difficult now for the children who just arrived at the orphanage to adapt to everything: for the diet, daily schedule and the most important this is to adapt to the same orphans.  So, we see two or even three categories of children, the first who only came with the fear and pain the second category are children who have long been interested in learning new things and making friends and learn about God, and the third category of children are graduates for whom we need to pray  and ask God for protection.  We should pray that after leaving the school they could find church and that their lives will be good.

Years are flying fast, children grow up and it’s nice that together with you we can take part in the formation of personalities acquainting children with faith in God and also betraying life skills.

In May there were many trips to the Rudensk orphanage. The art lessons were held for the younger children. Also we have covered some very important topics. At the end of the April there was a wonderful holiday – Easter, that is why we invited a puppet show and gave gifts to the children, we also decided to dedicate the very first week of May to this holiday. Both younger and older children received Bible lessons, in which the children became more familiar with the feat of Jesus Christ at Calvary. At subsequent meetings with the older children, the following topics were covered: “Jesus loves children,” “The life and ministry

of the disciples of Jesus after His resurrection.” The younger children talked about “fears”, as well as “loyalty in friendship.” May

pleased us with warm, sunny weather, so

many children wanted to run away to the street. But despite this, they still remained faithful and did not miss our meetings! Soon graduates will pass the last school exams. Some of them feel very worried about what waits them outside of the school. Some children will go to study in different cities, some of them will immediately go to work, and someone will have to go to a disabled home. Seeing the experiences of graduates, we made a common prayer for them at the last meeting in May. We hope that the seed that has been sown in the hearts of these children will give their fruits and they will open their hearts to Heavenly Father!

In April, fortunately I have visited the younger and older children.  We were playing games together, which are mainly aimed at developing attention and rallying their group.  Younger children are very happy every time meeting with us.  This month we talked a lot with them about how important it is to be faithful to your business, friends, God.  We gave the example of Joseph and how his loyalty to God changed his life for the better.

  Every meeting with younger children we begin and end with a prayer.  Sometimes some children during the prayer start to make noise and run around the room.  This suggests that many more efforts and prayers are needed for their salvation and for their lives to change.  I am glad that sometimes our tutor is with us and I hope that the Bible lessons also have a positive effect on tutor.

There were also meetings with the older children, where I conducted games.  Most of all, I remember how Katya told them a story about “Ten Lepers” and shared a story from her personal life, told how difficult it is to live in society when you are not accepted.  And we talked about how important it is to be grateful.  These stories are well remembered by the children.  I was pleased that during the prayer they held their hands with me for the first time, and several children were praying.  During the prayer, they sincerely call God the Father, share their experiences, difficulties, thanks.  And it makes me happy that there is a change for the better, but there are still a lot of problems for the children that need to be solved with God’s help.

The month ended with a bright and joyful event – Easter!  We invited a team with a puppet show to reach even more children and tell them about the true meaning of this holiday.  At the end of the performance, all the children received their gifts, which were a small reminder of the fact that God also offers His salvation as a gift!

So another month of our ministry at the Rudensk boarding school came to an end. Sometimes it seems that nothing new has happened in this month. And it’s not so easy to put together all your thoughts and tell our readers something very bright or new, when in fact, our meetings with the children are going according to the usual plan and when we already know all the children who come to us. But no matter how familiar and monotonous everything seemed to be from the outside, we know for sure how many new emotions and meetings with God are experienced by both the children themselves and by our team!
This month, the younger children got acquainted with such qualities as “devotion” and “reliability”, and also said that God does not have a powerless word. The older children, in turn, talked a lot about trusting God and about faith, which is capable of changing human destinies. We looked at a lot of Bible stories that are described in the New Testament. It was felt that God touched children’s hearts. Many children prayed that God would forgive their sins and help them to forgive their parents who had left them for various reasons. Many children also prayed for God to heal them. And we, in turn, believe that God will continue to act in the lives of these children!
This month, there were less older children than usual. This was due to the fact that many children went to sports competitions abroad. We are very pleased that the administration of the Rudensky boarding school enables its students to develop their talents. Children participate in many creative, musical, art and sports competitions and competitions both in our country and abroad. Despite the fact that there were few children at our meetings, we tried to use this situation for personal contact with the children and for prayer. Thank God for all the children and the opportunity to serve in this place!