LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN

Hello everybody!

A new study year has started. We with the team have been preparing for this event for a long time, because the beginning of the school year is a quite exciting event for the children and for us. During the summer, all graduates have gone to other schools or got a job, so there were only guys who constantly come to us, or came just for a few meetings.
At the very first meeting we decided to hold relays. First of all – it allows kids through physical activity to perform different tasks to splash out emotions that have accumulated over the holidays. And secondly, the relay – this is a very good way quickly to get a close dialogue and to pay attention, as much as possible, of the new guys who used to come to us.
I thank God for the opportunity to serve to the children, because during our meetings we help children to solve problems that exist in the lives of children and to help them in self-developing.
It was very nice to hear that kids missed us. Many of them said that they really wanted us to come as soon as possible.
I want to say that there are visible changes in children. We see how the guys who previously searched only personal gain, began to be responsive, attentive and began to respect more the guys that surround them. Largely it has become possible because of the regular visits to the orphanage.
On the next meeting a lot of guys have come. We talked to them on the theme of friendship. We told them how to choose a real friend, and showed different examples of friends – both good and bad. Our goal is to help children to make new friends, to learn themselves to be real friends, and most importantly – to show an example of God as our friend, Who shows us an example of true friendship. Because when they come out of the boarding school, they should be able to make friends in the new companies, to find real friends, and to set personal boundaries.
Friends, I ask you to support prayerfully our ministry that the word that is sown would change their lives and their destinies have been changed for the better.

At last, another school year has come at the end. Schoolwork has ended, as well as exams, which are already behind us. With some graduates of boarding school we said goodbye, and some yet to be. In our service is also the final month, as we will now be 2 month break, as all children are distributed to the state of the camp or sent on holiday abroad.

This month, we still had time to talk to the guys from boarding school Rudensk on topics such as: “Appreciate those who are near to you” and “your future depends on what you are doing today.” The meetings had been attended by children of different ages, but most of these issues concerned the graduates, as now they are entering into adulthood, and each of them is experiencing fear and excitement for their future life. Everyone thinks about whether he/she will be able to find reliable friends, the conditions for living or about the attitude of employees on future job.

Children, who are still in school, are in a calm state, because despite the fact that they live in a boarding school, there is already a certain stability, some care for them and no matter how hard it is, there is everything necessary for life.

Also, our meetings were accompanied by sport competitions and singing by the children themselves, but most of all we tried to pay attention on communication “face to face”. I really wanted to pay attention to each child individually as much as possible, because some of the guys, we may no longer have ever seen, and some of it is difficult to go through a break with us, even for two months. There are many different things we had in this school year, and joy, and the victory, and the tears of children, and met new people. But it would be desirable that in all this, these children would see how much God loves each one of them!

In May we had many memorable meetings with kids from the Rudensk orphanage. The month begun with the wonderful holiday: Passover. All orphans and educators could hear once again about great act of bravery of Christ at The Calvary. The meaning of the holiday was communicated to the kids in a theatrical play. After the play kids had an opportunity to talk with each actor. Probably, somebody even got a new friend!

At other our meetings we talked with children about fears and explained how God advices us to fight them. We found out that the children had many fears which follow them from their early childhood. And this is not surprising because the closest people to them – their parents – abandoned them. On top of that some orphans had been victims of violence, humiliation and insults from their parents. Therefore almost every orphan has a fear to remain forever alone, to be abandoned and to be betrayed again.

Also we had an opportunity to organize for the kids a trip to a professional circus. It was a bright and joyful time because some of the children were in circus for the first time. Fanny clowns, acrobats and a multitude of various animals entertain kids with their talents, abilities and skills. We are very thankful to those who helped us organize this trip! Children were satisfied – it means we had reached the goal!

We also had a sport event. At our last meeting this month we had organize an “apple relay” that was conducted in unusual way.  The relay had as sport assignments as creative assignments. Mandatory to all the assignments was a connection to apples. And at the end all children who participated in the relay received apples as prizes. After the relay all boys together with the man from our team went to gymnastic bars. Despite children enthusiastically performing physical exercises they were able to talk with the team members on various interesting for them subjects.

School year is coming to the end. There are about 4 meetings remain with the kids in the orphanages in this school year. After that we and the kids are going to have a break for the two months until the beginning of the next school year. Therefore we want very much that our last meeting with the kids would be unforgettable for them and that the kids would not forget about God during the summer break! We would be thankful to everyone who would pray about this!

April turned out to be a bright and cheerful month of our ministry in Rudensk’s orphanage. The weather wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t sunny, but rainy and sometimes even snowy. In spite of the weather God blessed our team and all the meetings took place. Moreover, now we have an opportunity to work with little children. Now we divide into two groups: younger and older ones. With the younger group we play games and watch christian cartoons. With the older one we continue discussing different topics. This month we have discussed the following topics: “Suicide. The value of life”, “Conflicts”, “The power of words” and “Sport in our life”. It is typical for teenagers to do thoughtless things. That’s why we decided to speak about suicides to show that you always have choice and your life is valuable for God. “Conflicts” is quite a topical issue for teens. Some of them try to avoid conflicts, some of them even provoke them. We tried to explain them that everyone is guilty in a conflict and it should be resolved.
4Also we told them that all the words matter and can influence all the life.
We discussed sport at the “stag-party” and “hen party”. The girls found out the way sport influences our life and how to choose one or another kind of sport. The girls knew little about sport and they had no idea about fitness and aerobics. We are glad that the girls learned something new. With the boys we considered some champions of different sports and discussed how they managed to achieve such a success. It takes much time to become a champion. You have to work hard every day to achieve good results.

It is not a secret for anyone that the world needs changes! There is so little peace and hope and so much worrying about everything under the sun. The world needs real Authority. Our kids who live in Rudensk orphanage also need it. They look at adults and adopt their values. That’s why our task is to give them choice. They should choose between the life with God and the life without Him. We want to show them that society which is without God is overwhelmed by sins and lies. We want to show that people who don’t believe in God fail in their lives and feel disappointed and hurt and, finally, to show that there is a way out in God and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This month we continued to help orphans meet challenges which concern every teenager. Long-awaited spring eventually came to Belarus bringing with it a lot of positive emotions! It is not accident that many poets call it ‘the time of love’. Modern teenagers begin to date, fall in love and, sadly, often make mistakes believing that intimacy is the most important characteristic of love. And young orphans are especially prone to false feelings. This happens because girls lacked their fathers’ attention and boys didn’t see an example of caring and loving mothers. That’s why this month we raised the topic ‘Love and Affection’. First the teenagers felt shy a little but then they quite openly discussed this topic with us and some of them even shared their worries. We didn’t just want to keep them from making mistakes but also give them some advice how to build lasting relationships that will lead to a happy marriage.
Besides, we talked about such things as ‘Cunning and Slyness’ and ‘Hypocrisy’. We took these topics because kids, even the smallest, are able to be slier than grown-ups. We didn’t just want to show the kids that they, probably, have such sins but to underline the consequences they can lead to. We also decided to make our meetings in Rudensk orphanage more diverse by watching a cartoon, which revealed the theme devoted to different emotions that influence not only our life but also lives of people around us. We are eager to help orphans estimate their lives in the light of the Word God – the Bible.
If anyone who reads this article will want to change someone’s life, especially the life of an orphan, he or she simply needs to set a goal and try to fulfill it, because God Himself will lead them as He especially loves orphans and blesses those who care for them.