LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN

After short summer break, we have visited a shelter in Smilovichi again. In summer all of children were in camps, that’s why they were very happy to see us, to hug us, to play with us and just to tell us about themselves! Eight children have met us. Two of them were in shelter for first time. During whole time we were speaking, there was very happy and friendly atmosphere there. Our communication was very close.
At the first meeting we had a lesson on the creation of the world with visual aids. We were answering all children’s question gladly. It was evident that they are interested in and understand what we talked about. At the next meeting there was a story about two brothers, Cain and Abel. Children honestly said that they do not want to do like Cain, and want to love their brothers and sisters.
We noticed that they have become more kind, somebody have become more open to the expression of love. They began to trust adults more. Some children say that thanks to communicating with us, they become less fearful of feeling that they are not wanted.
At the last meeting of this month we have had an art lesson. There, together with the guys we were making beautiful boxes. The purpose of this lesson is to develop fine motor skills in children, as well as the development of memory and attention. We believe that in children it is important to invest spiritual truths. But it is also important to discover a talent of each child and help to develop it.
We are very pleased to see the results of each lesson. We are grateful to the Lord for this ministry !!!

The latest meetings with the kids of the Smilovichskiy orphanage were filled with especially warm and friendly atmosphere. The long-awaited summer has finally come and the holidays began so the kids had an especially good mood. We had an oppurtunity to speak with them on such topics as “sin” and “what should I do with sin?”. We wanted so much to let them know that it is the sin that distorts people’s lives and makes them angry and unhappy. But there is a way out because God gives the forgiveness and hope to everyone who invites Him to his heart.

Of course during every meeting the kids had an opportunity to play different games outside and indoors, to learn new songs and also to communicate with one another and one on one with our team members. One of the meetings was totally dedicated to art. As our kids are of different age, our art leader Alla prepared various tasks for their choice. As it turned out even this small opportunity to chose a handicraft themselves significantly raises their self-esteem and lets them feel their significance!

Our last meeting was dedicated to the theme “Friendship”. We wanted very much to teach the kids to appreciate friendship, to value and love their friends whom they have. By the way a lot of them mafe friends here in the orphanage. But there are things that do not depend on the kids.

In the end of July they all were sent to different places: some of them got in their biological family, some of them got in a foster family, some were sent to live in an orphanage, and some of them we will see in September when the holidays are over.

Most of all now we hope that the Buble studies which tool plaxe thoughout the year will remain in the kids’ memory

And we hope that each of them will make a right decision in his life. We do not want them to repeat the mistakes of thier parents!

The month of May was special and we thank the Lord that Sasha and Alina were adopted. We are so glad to see how more and more children are adopted into families or are accepted into foster families and there are less and less orphans  left.

At one of our meetings we told the kids how the Universe was created, about the fist people on Earth – Adam and Eve – and about the fall. Many of the orphans heard this for the first time in their life and they asked a  lot of questions. We noticed that they were drawn by the truth and they confronted the lie that used to be taught to them in school, the misconception of  that people originated from monkeys was completely beaten.

Another special day at Smilovichy was when we organized a trip to the circus in Minsk.  It was the first experience for some of the kids and they were really impressed and thankful.  The performance was so amazing, there were  plenty of diverse astonishing animals that the orphans only knew about and  had a chance to see them live for the first time. We praise the Lord for this good opportunity to organize this event for the orphans.

This week we taught about sin. We discussed what sin is and how to stop sinning. We heard some confessions. One of the kid shared that he does a lot of bad sins: he smokes, curses when he gets angry at people. He asked to help him out with struggling with these sins. We tried to explain him how to get freedom from this slavery of a sin.

We want to thank all of you who pray for the ministry to orphans. We bear witness of the real changes in the lives of orphans and their salvation as well.

This month one more sister has joined to our team for the ministry to orphans. Her name is Kristina. For the month of April she has been going to Smilovichi orphanage with us, played with children, helped with leisure activities. When we held lesson about prayer, importance of attending church and reading Bible, we were inspired to see how children remembered what we’ve taught them. Their answers were quite extended and full of thoughts. Its so good to realize, that our labor is not in vain!
Last week little Kiril was taken by his grandmother, she was allowed to be his caregiver. All children were encouraged to pray to God and ask for family, for this is the biggest dream for all of them, every one wants to have parents. Last Tuesday we invited puppet theatre and do presents for Easter. The actors demonstrated the true meaning of this Great Day. Our team was blessed to have this time with children in a friendly atmosphere.
Jesus is risen!

We have just finished our first month. At the beginning of the month it was cold and gray outside, However, Spring finally made an appearance. The weather turned from cold and gray to warm and sunny. Our children are doing very well. The appearance of spring has brought joy to the children’s hearts. This joy has made our meetings with the children even more joyous. In March we had the opportunity to work with 14 children of various ages. Due to the variety of ages we had to teach our Bible lessons in such a way to engage all of the children. We introduced the children to the Bible stories about the 10 lepers, and the rich man named Lazarus. We also had the opportunity to talk to the children about how God always fulfills His promises. March 8th was International Women’s Day. Due to this we had a special celebratory meeting in which we made cards for the children’s moms and grandmas to whom they dream of returning to! I so hope that their parent’s hearts change. I pray that as a result the children will be able to return to a healthy and happy family. I also pray that the cards the children made would find their way to loving and caring grandmothers and mothers. At the second craft lesson the children made paper toys, this allows them to show their talent and exercise their imagination. We also had the opportunity to talk to the children about friendship. This topic is very relevant for the children of the shelter. Because, they are all only there temporarily. Often they either do not have enough time to build friendships or they make great friends that they quickly have to say goodbye to.

We have been teaching the children to pray and to bring their needs before the Lord. One boy has been praying very passionately to God. Begging God to return him home. The boy has such an open and sincere heart. His faith is so sincere; he truly believes that he will be going home soon. The Lord heard the boy’s prayers. Two weeks later he returned home. This brought so much joy to both the boy and us. This was such an amazing example to the other children about how God always hears them and is with them.