LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN

This month the children waited for us, as usual, with impatience and joy. They were very happy to see us; they shared their worries with us and didn’t want us to leave. Everyone was eager to communicate with us as much as possible.
There have become more children in the orphanage; a few of them appeared there not long ago. There are more boys at our meetings now.
As it was earlier, we discussed a lot of different biblical topics, played and talked. One day was especially remarkable. We divided into a few small groups and just talked with them, learned their life stories and prayed at the end. That day some of the children prayed for the first time. The children were so open that told us how they got at the orphanage. They were happy glad that they had, at least, someone with whom they could share their worries, thoughts and dreams. We knew more about the things they like and dislike and what they would like to have most of all. It was a wonderful day! Besides, we spoke about sin with the children. They wrote different sins they commit but want to be free from them on paper hearts. The essence of the topic was to show the children that all people sin, but only God can free them from sin. It was nice to see that the children filled these hearts sincerely. Beside the illustration with the hearts, our team made a theatrical performance where the characters showed that it is simple and easy to sin but it is hard to cope with the sins without God. Thanks to God for this time and for the opportunities for the children to hear about God more and more! We also watched a kind Christian cartoon about the gift that told the children about the gift that Jesus gave to all the people.
The make-up of the children changes quite often in this orphanage. Someone comes back home, someone is taken to a foster family. But it doesn’t matter because they soon begin to be open and trust us little by little. At the present time the children, who are there, like singing. So, during this month we learned three new songs. The guitar appeals to them much because there are mostly boys there. The boys from our team try to teach them a little how to play the guitar. And we are glad to support them in this with our prayers. And, of course, even if you just embrace them you feel their warmth and response towards us.

Greetings to our dear friends, who keep praying for us! We praise and thank God for all of you and your support! We wanted to announce that this month, one of the girls, Nastya, left for the sanatorium to have some rest and two more guys joined in, their names are Egor and Ilya, the brothers who happened to be in the orphanage because their mother committed a suicide. It is really hard to know their story and it gets even harder when it comes to giving them support and joy, but we are genuinely trying to do that, and the most important thing is that we keep saying how great God that we believe in is. This month we talked about the God as the one who heals our illnesses, both physical and spiritual ones, whenever it is just hard, scary, painful, lonely and sad. We also talked about the sin as our main enemy which we need to fight with all our powers. The only way to make it is to run to our God-the conqueror of the sin and ask for His help every day. He is our support and strength; only with Him we can be happy. It is joyful to see that kids are happy to know about God and they get to know about Him more and more every time, they tell this to us themselves! Please pray that His mercy will keep them away from the evil one! May piece be with you, dear friends!

This December appeared to be a very interesting and exciting month. At the very beginning of this month we focused on studying the characteristics of God. Both kids and the team were amazed at how great our God is. When a member of the team is getting prepared for the Bible lesson he is definitely meditating on what he’s going to teach about and what he’s going to tell the kids. This is when God also keeps on working in our hearts.
There were only girls at the orphanage this month. There were 6 of them there but at the end of the month one of the girls left the orphanage. Her name is Veronika and she’s 15. This was not her first time at the orphanage. She got there even after being adopted. We don’t know a lot about her life but it’s sad she got to the orphanage after being adopted to a family and then she had to return to the orphanage as her adopting family refused to have her adopted any more. As she left the orphanage we want to keep on praying for her so that God would richly bless her life and she’d remember everything she has been taught about God so far.
We also watched a cartoon with the kids, talked about God, the Creator of all who made all of us special. We are unique in the way how God created us. We also talked about friendship. Especially two of the girls were touched by this and when I asked them if they had some true friends they can trust they said no. We wanted to show God’s attitude to friendship (Proverbs 18:24).
We were very glad to congratulate the orphans on Christmas at the end of this month. We made a puppet show for them. That was a good opportunity for them to hear the story of Jesus Christ birth, for some girls that was the first time they heard it. At the end of the show they got presents. We were so amazed to see them so excited and happy. Be the name of the Lord glorified for his Son’s birth!

Greetings to our readers, prayer groups and support members of the service team in the Orphanage! This month we have the following news for you:
1. Liubka is sick, our lovely girl, we have been praying for her health so far!
2. Our sweet Karina was adopted. She is now the member of the family that lives in Minsk. We hope to keep in touch with her more often since now!
3. There were 3 new girls in the place this month. Since they had to adjust a little bit, we were asked not to come several times. We do not understand well enough how our presence could disturb their adjustment process; however, we trust the plans that God has and hope to visit Smilovichi more often in comparison to this month.
4. The most important aspect is that we have been getting to know the character of our God, loving Father. Looking at the example of Abraham and Sara we saw Him as a live God who sees our hardships and stays in control, nothing will happen to us without His permission!
5. We have understood that the Lord is unchanging and everlasting, and that means that He unchangingly loves us, takes care of us, even if we fail somehow. He is just like a kind Father who raises us, shaping us as better people.
We are extremely thankful to our readers, to those who support us both financially and in prayer. Let His unchanging love and care dwell in your home.

I’m very grateful to God for this new school year! Because we started going to Smilovichi orphanage again. Children there come and go, but nevertheless we manage to show them that they can trust us and they do, they tell us what’s going on in their lives, about their studies and their worries.
We met new kids this year and became good friends with them. There aren’t many of them at the moment, so we have closer communication with them. This month, as well as the previous ones, we have been talking about God, and we continue to talk about His character. To make our meetings livelier, we added some more songs and games. It’s such a wonderful feeling when we are with these kids. It seems like time is flying so fast when we are together, so we are trying to do as many things as we can, to share as more love and give attention as we can.
Last week two new children arrived to the orphanage. It’s a boy and a girl. It’s so sad that their parents didn’t want their children anymore. We are trying to become friends with them too, and I think we are making progress in it.
It’s so amazing and heart-warming that children are always looking forward to seeing us. So I I’d like to say: if you want to do something good, orphanages and boarding-schools are the places you should go. These are places where no one expects you to have cool clothes, to be famous and rich. Orphans need your care, love and attention. And you can give it to them. The most important things are how you treat other people and weather you love God the way you say you do.
Many thanks to God for this chance to serve in the orphanage playing with the kids, talking with them about God and for new desks that we manage to get for them. We are thankful to those who contributed into it. It was such a joy to see happy faces of the kids as well as the teachers. Praise the Lord for everything!