LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN

November is well known as a gloomy time of the year. And at such times family comfort and warm atmosphere becomes even more valuable. So trips to the orphanage every time are a bright event for children and our team. This Month has been full of interesting activities for children.

The first week of November is a traditional autumn school holidays. So there were less children in school. Only a few girls came to a meeting with teen-agers. And because of the small number of people girls could share their inner thoughts with us. Their life stories impress with the depth of tragedy in such a small age.

Lisa’s parents died from a drug overdose. And Diana’s mom loves to drink . And when she comes to visit her daughter in a boarding school, sometimes she brings empty bottles by mistake instead of chocolates. But waiting for the mom doesn’t become more painful, on the contrary, the girl is waiting for her mom on her birthday with a great thrill. It is the best gift for her.

Another girl said that her father killed her mother. He has already served his term and returned, but the girl continues to call him. In most cases the father overtaken in drink didn’t recognize his daughter, but she doesn’t give up.

On 11th November we held a real holiday for our teenagers. Alla Smoljakova and Sergey Divokov came with us to the orphanage. They organized a game with the kids and announced activities for December. Sergey forms a team to conduct a football match. And Alla is preparing master classes on making different creative hand-made things. During the evening we celebrated Diana’s birthday. We ended the day all watching a movie “Coach Carter”, we’ve been watching it for an entire month.

On November 19 we held a well-liked by pupils culinary club. Our profi Valera taught the guys how to make a salad. Guys love this time, because not only do they communicate, learn and see many new things, but they themselves are involved in the process. While they were doing this, Alex shared the Word with them. They receive it better during activities where they are all involved! It is an unforgettable time!

They say you love those who you keep in touch with. The more I come to this boarding-school the more I become attached to the kids and teenagers here. Our meeting on 07.10 was special. We enjoy gathering in the school hall. Kids are self-collected there and when there are chairs standing in a circle, the atmosphere is more trustful. They like active games. When we play you can see sparkles of enthusiasm and excitement. While sitting in a circle we shared about our qualities and favourite dishes. After dinner there was a talk on how they should choose friends. Relationships worries everybody, and teenagers are not an exception. That’s why during Dima’s preaching they were very attentive and after that they asked lots of questions. At the end of 1,5 hour meeting kids got a surprise – a 20 kg watermelon. Even though everybody wanted to get his piece they were very friendly: they didn’t push each other and were patiently waiting for their turn to get a long-awaited piece. We were also surprised when after finishing eating they organised a clean-up – they found a bucket for the water, a mop, a rubbish bin and they put the chairs back. Saying good-bye was very warm for me. Those kids who always kept distance now were hugging with the hope for the next meeting.

Just before coming the the school we were praying together about building relationships and becoming closer to kids. And this meeting was a powerful answer and testimony of God’s grace.
Next long-awaited meeting was also full of activities. We continued talking about friendship after the games. This time we talked about being a good friend yourself. There was a big interest for it as well. In the moments like this you understand that this ministry is not in vain, and God’s working.

There was another meeting on 21 September 2016. We played a game on team-building. While passing the ball to each other we had to be very attentive, we had to remember the person who was passing the ball to us and the person we were passing the ball to. Children had to think about strategies on how to pass the balls and keep them going as the quantity of them was rising. We talked about a true example of friendship – Jesus’ example.

I would like to say that the meeting on 22nd October was a special one for kids. Together with the cook from the church “Bethlehem” Valery Strigotski we had a culinary club for older kids. This was a special time, when children watched Valery who was masterfully using a knife…with closed eyes. The administration was so inspired that they asked to come and do this club more often. Kids learnt some basics of cooking, talked to those who was helping the cook and listened to biblical stories prepared by Roman. That’s a success given by God. We believe that this attention,care and interest to kids’ lives from our side won’t leave them indifferent.

We got another team member in October, it’s Valentin. Together with Alex Zhuikov they work with kids from the 3rd form. Valik has got a lot of love for kids and a desire to do this ministry, We believe he’ll be a big blessing for the team.