Belarus — Growth and Faithfulness
November 25, 2009
Olga Gonchrenko reports –
The month of October was very special for us all our family (Olga, Yasha, Thomas and Stephanie) traveled in the United States, visited churches, shared about the ministry and made new contacts.
It was also a great time to see many of you in person and to say how much we appreciate all that you do for the ministry and for the country.
We want to thank all of you who made it possible for us to make this trip financially, hosted us, fed us, and drove us around.
We had a great time and I believe that the trip was a success and fruitful.
Minsk Family Home
A few days after coming back we had two day women’s conference. I was jet-legged, but still made it to the conference with the girls from the Family home. It was a great time with about 800 women participating, great testimonies and message. All the girls really enjoyed that. Just to be in a church with so many women together was very exciting.
Now all the girls from the Family home attend church, most of them gave their lives to Jesus before coming to the Family home, but one girl Katya came to our church for the first time this past October.
She gave her life to Jesus and it’s so great to see how she is growing spiritually now. She attends ABC classes (basic truth about God) as well as she participates in different activities (prayer time, Bible lessons) at the Family home. Besides, the girls go to the orphanages to spend time with the children.
Another exciting event was that our Family Home was visited by a few girls from Equip office (John Maxwell ministry). They came as a part of a team that did seminars in the church on Leadership (I was helping to translate for the church) and one evening we invited them to Family home.
The atmosphere was so warm and open, that all our girls opened up and shared their life stories; how they lost their parents and came to orphanages, about their siblings and about the changes that God is making in their lives now. I was so blessed to be there at that time.
We prayed for them and encouraged them to go on with their studies as it’s hard for them and we constantly help them with studies and encourage them.
Orphanage ministry
Due to the health situation, schools were closed and the same was with the orphanages. So when I made a phone call about coming to Stankovo their reply was: We didn’t let anyone come for three weeks, but we will let you come”. I felt so special; it meant a lot to me, that they value what we do there. So we went. 
We brought tea, cookies and spent time with three different groups for a fellowship, asking their prayer needs and praying for them. They only have 10 girls now, but 55 boys.
One girl Tanya was crying at the end of our visit. She was touch by God. It was very special.
And another thing that really touched me was a few Bibles lying on their desks. The counselor Elena told that they read them in their free time.
One boy wanted to show us his personal Bible that was in his room. He brought it and the shared his favorite story about Lazarus. It was moving. Time went so quickly and it gets dark very early, so I couldn’t go to take pictures of the pigs. But there two pigs there now that we have provided.
Plans for future
Now we are making plans for Christmas time. We have three orphanages, 5 small family orphanages (10 kids each), two shelters (temporary orphanages), and baby orphanage in the hospital, Minsk Family home and a few other families that we want to make this Christmas very special.
So all together we plan to see and give gifts to about 350 kids this Christmas. Please join us in prayer for the Christmas evens and as we see Minsk Family home to be such a success, we are praying for a home for boys now too.
Once again, I’d love to thank you all for what you are doing for the Lord. He is writing Memorable Book of all your deeds. Thank you for putting your lives into eternal treasures that is our children.
With love in Christ, and appreciation for what you do,
Olga
Related posts:
- Belarus — Families, Cooking and Conferences
- Minsk Family Home — in depth
- Cooking, Conferences, Cultural Events — the Minsk Family Home
- Cooking, Museums and Cows
- Holy Days in Belarus — New Year’s
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