Revisiting domestic adoption in Russia and Eastern Europe
March 3, 2010
By Liz Hulley –
To be honest, I haven’t devoted a lot of time lately to researching the adoption/foster care scene in Russia. There was a time when I regularly sought information and was up on the latest laws and statistics.
We ran into a lot of seemingly dead-ends while trying to push for adoption in St. Petersburg. There were a lot of obstacles, such as the endless paperwork and the impossibility of providing a bigger home for each potential family. The law says that there must be a certain amount of living space per person, but offers no solution for obtaining such housing if the family’s income is too low. That’s one example. This is not to mention all of the emotional, psychological, and social implications.
As part of our research, we had traveled to Vladimir to learn more about a ministry there that had been fairly successful in “redistributing” children in families and group homes. But I was shocked as we got in the van the first day for the tour, and our guide, herself a Christian and former orphanage worker, told us, “I’m not in favor of adoption.” Read more
Cooking, Museums and Cows
March 2, 2010
News from Olga Goncharenko –
First of all, I’d like to start with the cooking class the orphanage. Teenagers from our church are very interested in helping out. Not only they became friends with orphans, but they are a great help in cooking classes and playing sports with the kids.
During those cooking classes, orphans learn basic skills of cooking a plain meal, as well as how to set the table and even how to make a dessert. They love it when they can do it themselves and we love to teach them how to do it as well as bring all the necessary ingredients.
Second, we had a great time with a group of orphans at the Belarusian Nature museum (it was my first time there as well). The children learnt about the animals that live in our country.
After the museum we all went to McDonald’s for lunch. Minsk Family Home girls have joined us, helping with orphans. It was the second time for Katya, who is 18 years old to be there.
After McDonald’s the girls as well as the orphans went to a Christian Youth conference dedicated to Love. The day was full of good impressions.
Another thing that we wanted to share was a visit to a foster family with 8 kids. SOR is getting a cow for that family. Nina, who is a mom, a single woman in her 60, is a new believer and loves the children dearly. For our visit, she has invited 3 other foster families from the area. She was an inspiration to them to start taking kids out of the orphanages.
It was surprising to see two kids from Stankovo, whom we met before, to be in one of those families. Last year SOR provided pigs for all those foster families, this year it’s a cow and we would like to get them chickens as well.
We shared a meal together and heard a lot of sad stories about each child: the girls of 3 years old were not walking yet, and the boy of 10 was not talking; some kids had scab. But the joy is that now they are all doing well, talking and walking, healthy and feel safe in a healthy Christian atmosphere.
Here are our prayer and financial needs:
1. Please pray for summer programs and camps. We want to take 40-50 kids to camps this summer. The cost for 1 child to go is 215$.
2. We would like to get chickens for 5 families this spring. One chicken is about 3$.
Thank you for all your help and support that allows us to continue the good work in Belarus. May God bless you abundantly and fulfill the desires of your hearts,
– Olga and SOR
From Russia to Montenegro
February 26, 2010
About 10 days ago, my wife and I began a road trip from St. Petersburg, Russia to visit Stoneworks ministry sites in eastern and central Europe. Stoneworks continues to expand, and it’s an honor to be able to visit so many wonderful people that God has put together as living stones.
Our first stop was in Minsk, Belarus where we visited with our ministry Spring of Revival. We stayed with Yasha and Olga Goncharenko and had a great time visiting several ministry sites.
Olga and her staff continue to do great work under difficult circumstances. They are very worthy of our help and support.
The highlight of our visit was at the Minsk Family Home. The young ladies who live there are doing very well, and Alesya (the counselor, in front on the right) is doing a great job.
We had a good meal together, shared stories and were blessed to have a good time of fellowship and mutual encouragement.
We also visited a foster family we support. The home, for eleven children, is in a small village 30 minutes from Minsk.
We had a great meal there (this is a theme of our travels), and saw some of the pigs we bought for them. We’re now helping purchase a cow, and we’ve also purchased chickens and provided other aid for foster families.
From Minsk, we drove through eastern Poland to Budapest, Hungary after a long day.
The trip through that part of the world is quite interesting and the land is very beautiful, especially as we made our way through the Carpathian mountains of eastern Slovakia. Read more
Minsk Family Home — in depth
January 28, 2010
Here is an in-depth report on the Minsk Family Home as it is functioning today. We are very thankful to be able to help these young ladies.
————-
There are five girls involved, in addition to Alesya the counselor.
Katya S. – Studies in vocational school for the shoe-making trade. She is a new believer and attends the ABC (basic) Bible training at church. After some rough times with personal issues at the beginning, she is now fitting in well. She and Alona are good friends.
Alona G. – Was studying insurance, but has dropped out and is looking for a job. She will apply to school again in the summer. Alona’s birth mother has cancer, and Alona often visits her as well as her brother and sister on weekends. As you might guess, this takes her away from church and Family Home activities, leaving her as the least “plugged in” of the girls – although she is good friends with Katya. Imagine the stress Alona must be under. Please pray for Alona, and that the other girls will know how to minister to her.
Alla S. – Studies chemistry at the Belorussian State University. She has finished a Bible training course at New Life Christian Church (NLC) and has become a member there.
Tanya S. – Is taking evening courses to be a sales clerk. She plans to take qualifying tests during the summer so she can apply for the teaching program at Belarussian State Pedagogical University. She attends pastor Tamara’s church in the village.
Masha I. – Studies marketing at a college in Sennista village, near Minsk. She is at the MFH on weekends. She loves the Lord and has completed part of the Bible training course at NLC.
So you can see there are four girls full time. One leaves, but another joins, on weekends.
Aleysa is doing very well. Olga says the girls respect her as a leader and listen to her counsel. Alesya keeps Olga informed about how things are going, and Olga gives input as needed. Read more
Visit to Kosovo
January 26, 2010
From Christina Melton, our missionary in Montenegro –
Last week, Violeta and I visited a friend of Violeta’s in Priština, Kosovo, as I had to cross the Montenegrin border to renew my visa. We spent 2 days with Fitore (Vio’s friend, with Vio in the picture), who is native to Kosovo and works for Campus Crusade at the university campus there.
Kosovo is 90% Muslim, and I think everyone is somewhat familiar with it’s history in the last 15-20 years. The country has perhaps around 500 protestant believers, more than twice the number in Montenegro (though our population is much smaller).
We visited a pastor there who is interested in the situation in Montenegro, and he spent some time speaking with Violeta. It was a privilege for me to listen in, and I hope that this will be a connection that we maintain.
One interesting sight in Priština was the Bill Clinton Boulevard, which contained an American flag and a statue of the former president. There were many statues of Kosovo’s heroes in various places in the city, but it was strange to see an American president statue in such a prominent place.
The statue got me thinking about the kind of impact we make in people’s lives. Our theme verse at Stoneworks International speaks of living stones being built in to a spiritual house. I believe that we are also being built as a monument.
Acts 10:1-4 “At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, ‘Cornelius!’
Cornelius stared at him in fear. ‘What is it, Lord?’ he asked.
The angel answered, ‘Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.’ “
The work being done here in Montenegro is surely going to stand as a monument. We are not perfect here, but our prayer is that we would be a marker, that when people see us, they remember Him.
Montenegro — Tragedy and Hope
January 26, 2010
From Pastor Vladimir Cizmanski –
During this Christmas season Montenegro also received two trucks of Samaritan’s Purse packages which were given out to four groups of distributors (in Bar, Nikšić and Podgorica).
A
s usual in December leading up to New Year we have been trying to distribute the packages through schools while they are still open (primary schools are on holiday for the whole of January). This time we went into smaller schools which so far had not received packages.
We were helped in this process by a team of four people who came from Texas for a week, as well as Robert Vargo from Pennsylvania who has been coming regularly for several years. Along with them we also visited several centres for children with special needs.
The second part of the distribution happened in the premises of our church. Although there were fewer children than last year, about 800, we had good feedback from parents who indicated on a questionnaire an interest in the weekly children’s clubs that we offer. We pray that that interest would not just be short-lived.
In the last few years, after each package distribution, there have been more and more children coming to the weekly clubs, and we hope that there will similar fruit this winter too. This enables our list of contacts to grow and we pray that parents would become more seriously interested in the Gospel.
Some have already invited us to visit them in their homes, which indicates to us that the Holy Spirit is already at work in their hearts. Read more
God’s Love in Shelters, Orphanages and Hospitals
January 21, 2010
Here’s the most recent from Olga Goncharenko in Belarus –
Christmas season is very important for our ministry as it’s a great time to touch so many lives of children that we know, tell them that we love them and Jesus loves them as well as to meet new children that need our help.
Stankovo
Christmas started for us December, 14th when we went to have a Christmas fair at Stankovo. 65 children waited on us, as we came in with many toys, sweets, school supplies, and other things we prepared for them.
That day the concert room looked like a store with different department, where children can buy things using their orphanage motivation coupons. They come in by groups.
There 5 groups and only two groups have girls (all together there are 10). Each group has made Christmas cards and we too brought them cards from the students of Holden Christian academy.
The fair is a fun event; it’s always a question if we brought enough things or if we sell out before some kids have a chance to get things.
It surprises me that soap and shampoo are the first things to go, as well as food and drinks. (Click HERE to see more pictures from the fair.)
Slytsk
Next step was Slutsk orphanage with 105 children (again less girls, only 40 and more boys, 65).
It was a hard trip, as far as driving. The weather was about 0 F and our diesel fuel froze all the time. We had to stop, the trip one way took almost 4 hours verses 1,5 in the normal weather. But it was worth it.
We invited a Christian musician, who really did a great job in putting a concert, he played 4 saxophones of different sizes, shared his testimony of how he became a believer, told a story of silent night, let children play his saxophones and the concerted finished with all of us singing together a great Christian song. Everyone was impressed.
Our team has packed 105 gifts for all the kids as well as we brought cakes for every group of orphans.
Besides that we gave a special time for 22 Slytsk orphans, by paying for them to go to circus during their winter break. They loved it. Read more
Belarus — Christmas Fair
January 16, 2010
As always, Spring of Revival held a Christmas Fair at Stankovo. The orphans there earn credits (special coupons) for participation in SOR programs and then are able to use these credits to purchase items at the fair. In some of the pictures you can see kids holding their white credits, the size of paper currency.
SOR brought a lot of sweets, drinks, cookies, chips as well as toys, school supplies, soap and shampoo etc. The orphans enjoyed the fair as they got to spend their own “money”:
Montenegro — Deepening Relationships
January 15, 2010
Christina Melton lives in Podgorica, Montenegro and is serving the church there in youth and worship ministry. Here is her most recent report:
January in Montenegro is a bit of a slow holiday month, especially for students. This means that I have had the opportunity to spend extra time with the two college girls in the church, Violeta and Helena, who are both excellent musicians/worship leaders and who are so much fun to be around!
I am enjoying the fellowship, even though they force me to speak Serbian sometimes. 
Because the teenagers are not in school, about five of them helped with the Christmas Samaritan’s Purse shoe box program. I enjoyed getting to spend the extra time with them every day for six days while we distributed tons of shoe boxes.
We have suspended our regular Friday night teenage meetings because of the holidays, but we are doing some fun random events with the teens, including a photo scavenger hunt and going to the movie theater to see A Christmas Carol.
Next week, teenagers from Albania are coming to hang out with our teens, so we are in the midst of planning for that event.
My goal for this month is to really seek God concerning the direction of teenage ministry here. It is important to have a vision statement and to evaluate what can and cannot be expected between now and the end of the semester.
I pray that we will be very intentional in all that we do, and I appreciate any prayers, especially as we try to discern the direction of teenage ministry in the next few months.
read Christina’s blog here.
Belarus Slideshow — Sharing the Birth of Jesus
January 14, 2010
Olga Goncharenko recently sent some very good pictures of the Spring of Revival ministry at a shelter in Stankovo. They brought Christmas gifts, Christian literature and even had clowns, as they shared the story of the birth of Jesus.
