Nikita and Vika had lived through painful, even tragic moments in their lives. Their parents were alcoholics, and it often came to the point of arguments and fights between them. In one of these fights, the husband killed his wife, right before the eyes of their scared children!
After the tragedy, their mother was buried, and their father was imprisoned for eight years. The kids were placed in an orphanage …
Mykola and Halyna have been married for many years. Their own children had already grown up, made their own ways, and now it seemed that the time had come for peace and comfort. However, a quiet but persistent thought kept burdening their hearts. “Is this all?” they wondered. There was a desire to go further, to serve, to give warmth to someone else who really needed it …
Moisei was born in 1997. His childhood was short: at the age of three, he was sent to an orphanage where he spent 12 years. “I don’t remember what it was like to live in a family with parents. I had a brother and three sisters, and then another younger brother was born. But I never had a real home where we would all live together.” Moisei never knew his father— he left the family before he was born. Even his mother didn’t talk about him …
One of the most difficult topics for the orphans is forgiveness. They feel that they suffer when they are not guilty of anything and realize that they are in the orphanages because of the actions of others. In their hearts, they still love their parents and wait for them to come to take them home. But it is so difficult for some to forgive …
Christmas period is the most active for the Orphans’ ministry. In November the youth started preparing the puppet theatre show. They gathered for several hours’ rehearsals every week. We began to buy chocolate and sweets. During long frosty evenings we gathered the candies into gift bags. We are working together trying to put into bag not only candies but a piece of our love and care.
Many orphan children feel abandoned and unwanted. Especially when their parents are still alive but have decided to give up their rights to their children or selfishly live for themselves. This leaves a child with a lack of understanding, and a burden that weighs heavy on their hearts. When their hearts are weighed down, loneliness and depression can easily set in. It can even lead to a state of despair. However, that state of despair can be replaced with the love of our Heavenly Father.
Our working camps take place three times a year during school breaks. Children get themselves prepared in advance for these difficult but joyful workdays. In the camps, they are able to develop patience, focus, and the ability to manage their time and energy. The teenagers understand that a difficult life awaits them, and we want to help them prepare for it.
The ministry to orphans is the work which was entrusted to us by the Lord, and we do this ministry daily with great trembling and joy! I will never stop giving thanks to God and you, our beloved brothers, and sisters, for this great help and support which you provide for us and our children …
“We are working hard until the harvest season. God is in control!”
This story is about how the bright light of faith in children’s hearts burns in the darkness of sin and despair. Their mother grew up in an orphanage. She fell into bad company and became a drug addict. She remembers how we came to the orphanage and talked about Jesus. When we found her years later, she already had three children.
Dear brothers and sisters,
Thank you for being such a blessing to our children and to us, for your continued support of our ministry to orphans through participating in their lives. Thank you very much for providing all finances, so that we could have time and devote ourselves entirely on serving the orphans and literally endure together with them all the joys and difficulties of their hard and sometimes very bitter life!
Vlad is 10 years old. His older sister and brother were taken to a family living in the Murmansk region, which is very far away from Vlad. That family didn’t want to take Vlad, and I don’t know why. Vlad then developed a complex: he began to fall into hysterics and say that nobody wanted him and that nobody loved him.
Greetings to you, dear friends! As we continue to perform the ministry of visiting a family-type orphanage by God’s grace, we thank Him for the opportunity to reach children who have been abandoned by their parents and are in difficult circumstances.
The orphan situation in the former Soviet Union — which has always been a tragedy — has now become much more urgent, a looming humanitarian crisis. But this crisis is also an open door for Christians like you to reach the most vulnerable for Jesus. Because of the Ukraine war, millions of children are at […]
