LOVE 4 THE CHILDREN

The last month of the year is coming to the end. It is ending on a joyful note because together with children we are rejoicing to the coming Christmas and New Year! Each our meeting was dedicated to the different subjects but at the same time from the beginning of the month together with children we sang Christmas songs, played games with a motif of Christmas and continually reminded kids about Christmas.
At the beginning of the next month we are planning to organize Christmas play at the Rudensk orphanage after which children are going to receive their long awaited gifts. But now I would like to tell about our trips that we had in December.
We started December from “stag-parties” and “hen-parties” – the most favorite form of our meetings with the children of Rudensk orphanage. At the stag-party boys from our team talked with boys-teenagers on the very complex but at the same time very current for teenagers subject – “Pornography”. The team has been deciding for a long time if we should have a meeting on this subject but after long prayers God has blessed us: teenagers happened to be quite open to discussion and the meeting was quite serious. We were able to explain to boys how strongly the pornography clogs mind and heart of a man and to what consequences it leads. But most importantly we were able to show how abominable it is in the eyes of God!
At the same time the girls on their “hen-party” decided to do cookery! At the beginning of the meeting girls from our team explain about hygiene rules that they have to uphold during cooking. After that the girls were divided into several teams and each team was making a fruit salad. At the time of cooking we realize that some girls do not understand what it means to “cut banana in halves” or “divide orange into lobules”. In these cases we patiently showed and explained how to do it right because we understand that at some point these girls will go into adult life and this kind of knowledge would definitely be very useful to them! After the cooking the girls prayed and thank God for the abundance on the table. And after prayer they could eat fruit salads that they have prepared by themselves.
The next meetings were dedicated to the subjects “Anger” and “Greed”. To unwrap the subject of “Anger”, Zhenya pointed out three main moments: 1 – who is getting angry (a fool), 2 – to what it leads (quarrel) and 3 – what to do with anger (forgive, because God forgives us). The subject of “Greed” explained Dima. He tried to show to kids that God calls people not to be greedy but quite the opposite – to be generous, to care for the neighbours and to be satisfied with what we have.
During another our trip we conducted sport relays. It was a good opportunity to have fun and to strengthen children’ and our health, while at the same time to show children the importance of unity inside of a team and to learn to accept not just victories but losses too.

Coming of new children and teenagers to the Bible lessons has become the most joyful event at Rudensk school! Earlier they used to come to get presents, to watch a performance, to play games but they didn’t take any interest in the things we teach. This month they were with us each Wednesday. We are grateful to God for that!
According to the opinion of the youth, we understood that they enjoy gathering in groups, when girls are separated from boys. That’s why we try to arrange such meetings once a month. We continued to discuss the topic ‘Cohabitation’ with the girls, which was raised last month. This topic is very acute in our country. Nastya dispelled all the wrong views of this problem providing the examples from the Bible and statistical data. The atmosphere was warm during the lesson and everyone could open the heart and share their troubling thoughts. Generally, they are afraid of being alone, afraid of loneliness. That’s the main reason for them to look for a person to live with soon after they leave the orphanage. I believe that we managed to tell them about the love of God and remind them that He is always near and they aren’t alone.
Evgeny raised an actual topic, too, he spoke about laziness. Not being obtrusive, with the help of a slide-presentation and leading questions he was able to explain the children of different age groups what laziness is and how to get rid of it. Many chilpren admitted that they are often lazy and don’t want to work because of various reasons.
This month Dima took the topic ‘Humor’. Taking the biblical example he showed the children that it is normal to have fun and joke, but there shouldn’t be those who are offended and humiliated and surely there shouldn’t be the moments that upset God.
We watched the cartoon devoted to the topics ‘faithfulness to God’ and ‘faithfulness in friendship’ at two other meetings.
During this month we tried to find time and meet with graduates of Rudensk orphanage. We invited Nastya on a weekend. Her village is nearly one hundred kilometers from Minsk. She has strong faith and attends the church in Stolbcy. We try to help her to live outside school walls, be friends to her, and continue to tell her the truth. Nastya is an encouragement for us! We are pleased to see how her life has been changing in a better way!