Portion for Orphans Newsletter

October 16, 2005

Our Purpose: "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." - James 1:27

Our Strength: "But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does." - Js. 1:25

What are we doing? Here is my October 12th Journal Entry:

Wonderful day!

• Russian Class
• To Internat #9 with our Russian Teacher who seems very interested in what we’re doing, especially after reading James 1:27.
• Our conversation on the bus as we drove to the orphanage was about Russian history and the Czars who ruled for 300 years prior to communism. Trotsky, and the Bolshevik Revolution, came in and murdered the entire Czar family, thus the Communist Revolution began and lasted for 70 years. She said it was a good ideology but that the people weren’t ready and that it didn’t work out. It was to bring equality to everyone, which was great for the peasants, but bad for the mid and upper classes because they had everything taken away. Many priests were murdered during that time and many churches were destroyed. This communist, totalitarian, atheistic way of thinking has lead to a dark, depressed, alcoholic country. These are some of the main causes of the unbelievable number of orphans here. There are 58 orphanages in the Yaroslavl region. There are almost 200 children at Internat #9 where we have been visiting.
• When we arrived at the orphanage, our Russian teacher led music activities for some of the youngest children. She was great with them, and I think she really enjoyed her time there. Many people here are afraid to visit the orphanages, they also think it is horrible and that it is the saddest face of their country. We are happy to be sharing our vision here and we hope to increase awareness and compassion within the Russians themselves.
• Many ask what we eat? Today we ate bread and fruit for lunch, sometimes we eat at the orphanage, usually potatoes and soup (that is pink sometimes) and some sort of fish or meat. The food is good. In the evenings our host mother, Serafima, feeds us a very nice meal.
• For the afternoon, we taught English to some of the staff and then did an activity with some of the children. Each day I try to take some sort of activity that will allow the kids to be creative and express themselves. Sometimes we make things out of pipe cleaners and beads, today they drew and decorated their names to hang above their beds. Most of them have no personal belongings and nothing that makes them feel unique or special. We are doing little things with lots of love, and hoping that the love of Christ will shine on us and cause many more to ask what motivates us. It is the love of Christ, it is His word. ? And just this morning as we were able to speak with many of the teachers, their first question was, “What do you believe about God?” and “How do you pray to Him?” We were given the opportunity to share.
• Overall I am so encouraged by this orphanage and the staff and the smiles of the children. Though nothing can replace the love of a mother and father, they are doing a great job. It is a huge step up from many orphanages that I visited in Kenya.
• Thanks to all of you who have set aside a portion for these children. So far we have donated some items for the preschool classroom.