LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN

This month we visited Rudensk orphanage each week again. Almost all the month we and the children enjoyed bright and sunny weather and unusually nice autumn that God gave our country this month! Usually, when it is so good and warm outside the children like to spend time there. This month the children even had to decide between football or walking in the fresh air and our meetings in the classrooms. The majority of the children chose our meetings. We were very surprised and pleased that there came more boys because it was pretty difficult for them not to play football outside! A couple of new-comers began to attend our meetings too. I think it was not accidental that God brought them to our meetings because the problems we raised all October touch each person in this or that moment of life. We discussed with the children such topics as ‘Despondency’, ‘Pride’, ‘Craving for Revenge’ and during the boys’ and girls’ time we touched upon the problem of cohabitation.
This month I had a good opportunity to build closer relationship with Alesya. She is already 16. At first sight she seems to be a very simple and always smiling girl. But, as it turned out, her heart is full of wounds and worries, thus, her smile is often just a mask or a defense reaction. She shared that she had no friends at orphanage, that she had problems with study, that despite her age she read quite slowly and, therefore, she became the subject of mockery and indignity. Alesya said that sometimes she felt so desperate that she hadn’t even wanted to live. That’s why the topic ‘Despondency’ was especially important for her. To be honest, it was sometimes very hard to give some advice to Alesya in her situation so each time I listened to her I just asked God to give me wisdom how to communicate with her in a right way and help her. Then, we decided to look for nice things in our lives and we came to the conclusion that there’s always some good thing even in the worst moments. Alesya and I learnt to do that the whole month and during our last private talk Alesya could name me many advantages she found in her life. There are some of them: ;I’ve got hands, feet, eyes and ears’, ‘although I’m an orphan but I’m not homeless, I have a place to live in, food and clothes’, even if I feel lonely among people there’s always God I can pray to and feel really better’. I think this is great progress for Alesya and God has already shown His care for her, despite the troubles she faces so often. Glory to God!
Pride and craving for revenge are the things the children face each day. With the help of the Bible we tried to show how Jesus acted in this or that situation. The bright example was the story about Jesus washing the feet of His disciples. We also tried to teach the children not to crave for revenge but give it to God who sees people’s hearts.
The majority of the children dream about having good, healthy families and there are love, peace and mutual understanding in them. But, unfortunately, the modern world teaches to live together before getting married with any obligations, that’s why cohabitation is so widespread today. We did our best to show them that God values a family very much and tell them why He made a marriage. We also said that Satan tries to destroy families and do all that in his power for infants to be born outside the marriage, so their parents don’t want to take responsibility for each other and for their children. The children actively gave such examples concerning their families, where cohabitation was quite widespread. Now we can just pray so the children will not follow their parents’ mistakes and they will have normal, healthy families! May God bless all our children in this!

A new school year has begun in our country. All the children came back to the desks and opened their books. Again we started to visit orphanages every week.
This month we have visited the orphanage in Rudensk a few times. One of our first meetings was aimed to get acquinted with new children and revive the relations with the other guys that we didn’t see for long because of the holidays. The meeting was organised in a free form – the girls communicated at the benches, the boys – near the horizontal bars. Everyone was excited.
Next time we came to the orphanage, there were no free places to sit. We discussed how and when people should apologise. Everyone is so different. There are guys who never apoplogise even when they are guilty. Also there are guys who always apologise even if they are not guilty. We carried out an experiment to show that when people are guilty they should apologise, when they are not guilty they shouldn’t.
Moreover at the beginning of this school year we spoke about the advantages of obedience to teachers, to wise people and mainly to God.
At the end of the month we had a stag-party and a hen-party. We discussed an inportant topic – personal hygiene. The lessons for boys and girls differed a lot. Girls were in a warm classroom, ate different sweet-staff and talked about physical and spiritual hygiene. The boys had a real physical challenge. After they got tired they discussed how important it is to keep your body pure.
We started our ministry this way. We hope you will support us and pray for us and all the orphans in Belarus.

One more month of our ministry in Rudensk orphanage came to an end. The schoolchildren finished their academic year, passed their exams, some graduates had already moved to other towns. We will also have a two-month rest, because the children are taken to state camps in July and August.
Our June meetings were warm and friendly, on the one hand, and sad, on the other hand, because we had to say goodbye to the graduates. But we hope that we’ll stay in touch with them and they will be able to find support in local churches.
This month we had time to discuss such topics as ‘Envy’ and ‘Life boundaries’. Besides, we had finally boys’ time and girls’ time where we could congratulate the graduates on leaving school. After that, we spent time with the girls doing crafts. During that time we spoke with them about their dreams and their expectations of their lives after school. And boys discussed achievements.
The children who attended our meetings were mostly graduates, so now it is important to pray for new children who are coming in September. We want them to open their hearts to God. We are grateful to all the people who supported us! May God bless you!

The spring is almost over. The school year is also coming to an end and kids will go to different summer camps soon. Some of the orphans will not only face summer vacations but also will leave the orphanage as this is their last year here. Now senior orphans are getting prepared for final school exams that they will have in June. Then they are going to state children camps and after that in August they will be sent to different towns to study at colleges and some of them will be sent directly to work places. This is the way how orphans start their adult life. In order to somehow prepare orphans for a new life out of the orphanage we as a team are more focused especially on senior orphans to help them out. In May we had meetings dedicated to such topics as: “How to choose a loyal friend”, “Faithfulness”, “Compassion for people”. At girls meeting and boys meeting we had a discussion called “ Not like everyone else” which appeared to be very interesting for both groups. As in everyday life orphans have a challenge to face rejection and hostile attitude from their peers or adults because of their disabilities and disorders this discussion was very needed. We are trying to show the orphans that being not like everyone else is not the reason to get depressed but it is a jump start for self-development. Every topic we discuss is taken from the Bible and is related to the Bible principles, it helps orphans to understand they are highly appreciated and loved by God. We try to show them that no matter what they can achieve great results thanks to support of God. To show such a good example we invited a team of young people who go in or bike racing or bike trials for many years. The team told the orphans how much effort they must make to gain success and achieve good results as they had to fall so many times in order to rise and win then. After all this they became able to show their skills in real sport competitions. Both the staff of the orphanage and the kids were impressed by this meeting. Thanks God for this opportunity! It was a good example to show to senior orphans so that they would see the alternative to bad friendships, alcohol or drug addiction.
Junior orphans also had a good time. They had a chance to take part in sport events and games, to have Bible studying and a puppet show. The puppet show was dedicated to Easter. Thanks to the show kids were able to be reminded of our Savior. The team who was involved in the show and the puppet characters became dear friends with the orphans as this is not the 1 time they have presented the show.
Our team is grateful to God for those who is involved in the orphans ministry.

This month we continued to minister to the orphans of the Rudensk orphanage
In April together with children we have celebrated the wonderful Holiday of Easter. And we have celebrated it in a very unusual way. Because the roots of the Easter go to the history of the Jewish nation, we have invited a Jew so he would show and explain the origins of Easter and what does it mean for the whole mankind.
At another meeting we spoke on the subject of betrayal. Nobody loves when he is betrayed therefore the subject was very current. At this lesson we helped children to look at themselves and to try to remember how often they have betrayed other people.
Yet at the other meeting we talked on the subject of success. Every person is worried about what is going to happen to him in the future. Are they going to be winners or losers in this life? Are they going to succeed in this life or are they going to have nothing. We have discussed who is “an agile person” from the book of Proverbs and how many times you have to lose to become a winner.
Helpful lessons are not the only activity that we do, we also play games with children and it is a fun way to help them develop physically. Carrying water in a spoon to a glass, cutting balloons with closed eyes and building giant letters from their own team – these are just a few examples of fun games we play with kids. Through these games they learn to trust each other, to be united in a team, sometimes they learn to loose but at the same time to never lose hope.
At the last meeting we told children that they have to serve each other. On the example of the story of the Good Samaritan we have discussed what compassion is.
We also had an opportunity to give children a little bit of clothing. We thank those who provided the clothing!
We are glad that we have an opportunity to minister in Rudensk orphanage!