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At the High Hopes student conference a few years ago, some American and British participants proposed to pray for the students being sponsored by Hope Now. They prayed that God would fulfill His will through us here on earth.
I was one of those students. I am sure that God is using others in a special way but this is how he is using me. I think it’s amazing!
Some of us have been concerned about the way teens in our schools and orphanages are smoking, drinking alcohol and doing many bad things. It seemed that no one was prepared to do anything about it, so students from seven churches decided to act.
This autumn half term we started what we called Christian Break in School Number 6 and in Shpola Orphanage. The teachers and local authority opposed us and did all in their power to stop children coming to the event. This opposition made us feel like soldiers in a war but we held our ground and explained our position on smoking, drinking and sex.
With 43 leaders and 120 children and young people, we held our “Teen Games” for five days.
Though there was much fun, with many games and singing, service was also a key element. As an experiment, the kids went onto the streets of Cherkassy and offered to exchange sweets
for cigarettes. More than 200 cigarettes were collected and ceremonially destroyed.
Local government inspectors came to see what was going on and at the end of the five days proposed that we should do the same in all 36 schools in the city. Such a victory encourages us to do more. Already we have plans for Christmas in Cherkassy and the Village of Shoobiny Stavy where 60 teens have already enrolled.
Thank you Hope Now for funding this event and for your prayers. May God bless you.
Anastasia Vovk.
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