“When you celebrate Christmas or New Year it is good to sit in a warm chair and watch TV with a plate of sandwiches”, - said one brother.
Deep snow, freezing weather, blocked roads and a bus with frozen diesel -- nothing was going to stop the 25 of us committed to giving a special Christmas camp to the orphans at Shpola for the 6th year in a row. We had good news to share so that children would take steps forward and come to know Jesus, our Savior who has been born.
Each morning started with children learning and reciting poems to earn a piece of candy. The volunteers were so many for this, that we had to assign three leaders to listen to the children in small groups. Then it was time for games. One had the impression of a herd of untamed horses -- all needing a strong hand to train them.
On the second day when we asked them to pray, there was a boy named Pasha, whose mother has died. How passionately he prayed. He thanked God for keeping his father alive and asked God to keep at least one parent alive to all the children in the world. When we studied the word of God, the children were surprised to learn that there were 10 people healed of leprosy and only 1 came back to thank Jesus. They were amazed too with the generosity of Zacchaeus. When talking about the prodigal son, they concluded, we should trust the Lord, but not ourselves.
I'm learning about Jesus
Andrey Kravtsov asked if he might become a Christian and prayed to repent of his sin. There is a lady in the Cherkassy church who prays for him. (Each of the orphans has a prayer partner.) She had asked me to visit her before the camp and told me: “I feel Andrey is a special boy”. He is now, special to God!
The orphanage has changed in many ways during the last 6 years of our work. Many repairs have been made to the dorms and children now have their own toys, books, gifts and keep everything in their own rooms. Now there is happiness.
On the last day of Christmas camp, Vic Jackopson brought Christmas cards, written by American and English people, toys, sweaters and woolen hats. Everyone was so excited and had a very merry Christmas. Greetings to all who pray for our ministry.
