Katya is a girl from Minsk Family home whose mother died when she was a teenager.  She is a very helpful girl and likes to serve in the orphanages.  While we were there, we also met a girl named Ksusha.  Katya and Ksusha became friends. Ksusha is 3 years old.

It’s very sad, but her mother is an alcoholic and her father was killed 3 weeks ago.  His name was Tolik and we knew him as he also graduated from the orphanage and we shared with him about God years ago.  He was in his early-twenties.

There is also another child in the shelter, whose parent graduated from the same orphanage.  We continue to see the cycle and the statistics that are given about the orphans do not change; still, many orphanages are being closed, like Slutsk , for example.  It really doesn’t change the situation here.

Please continue to pray and cry out to God for those kids together with us.

~Olga

Related posts:

1. Minsk Family Home — in depth
2. Minsk Family Home
3. New Pictures from the Minsk Family Home

The first of September is the official day of the start of school and each child gets a list of things needed as far as school supplies.  Orphans need them, too.

So we had a privilege to provide for the orphans of Stankovo shelter some  pens, pencils, crayons, note-books, albums, as well as soap, detergent, and socks.

Some orphans also received shoes.

There are 20 children at this place 3-18 years old.

They are the ones taken from the very risky families or after the parents have died or were taken to prison.

They can only stay in the shelter for up to 6 month at the most.

The difference between these orphans and those in a traditional orphanage is that they stay there for years, while the shelter gets new kids every few months.

When they come there they have nothing (no shoes, or clothes, no papers, no opportunities to go to camp), so we help the shelter to meet some of their basic needs as well as make kids life happier.

~Olga

Related posts:

1. Minsk Family Prayer
2. God’s Love in Shelters, Orphanages and Hospitals
3. Belarus Slideshow — Sharing the Birth of Jesus

We have two exciting events:

Our baby girl Erika was dedicated on August, 8 2010.

And our son Thomas is starting school this September.

~Olga

Related posts:

1. A New Baby!
2. Update from Spring of Revival
3. Blessed in Belarus

As summer is coming to an end, we are finishing up with all the ministries at our camps.  We want to share with you about the Vacation Bible School that we did for 40 kids, ages 5 1/2 through 12.  Though it was for the first time in the history of our church, the the challenge was taken.

We want to thank the team from Holden Chapel, MA, who came to show us how to do it.  It was a four day camp from 9 am till 4 pm, where we had not only Bible lessons, sports, crafts, and English lessons; but we also learned several great worship songs in English with the kids.  Besides all that, we also did all the cooking.  The kids really liked VBS, even though the team had to work really hard.

Minsk Family home girls had opportunities to grow spiritually through their service in different camps as well. Masha was counselor for other orphans at a Christian camp, Katya helped by cooking, and Alla was a helper at a camp in Belarus and in Poland.

To finish up with the camps, I can add that two groups of 63 kids each that went to a Christian camp in Latvia had a very blessed time there.

Related posts:

1. Belarus Camp Time
2. Camp Time in Belarus
3. News from Belarus — Summer Camps 2009

Our third child (a baby girl) was born on July, 28th 2010.

She is adorable.

Her name is Erika.

We thank God for her and ask His blessings on her life.

~Olga

Related posts:

1. A Personal Update
2. Blessed in Belarus
3. Life and Service in Belarus

Olga and I are in Finland for a few days, taking a break after such a full summer. We’re here with our ’sister-in-law-in-law’ Violeta (her brother is married to Olga’s sister). Violeta, pictured above on Pyhäjärvi (Holy Lake), is from Montenegro and has had a great time in the northland where it’s finally cooled down — temps today are in the 60s F.

We do have some sad news. Christina Melton, SII missionary to Montenegro, has resigned due to personal reasons. This came up suddenly. We’ll very much miss having her in Montenegro and wish her only the best.

Our work in Montenegro will go on. We continue to partner with the Brethren Assembly and will send teams to run summer camps. Vladimir Cizmanski, pastor of the Brethren Assembly, and his wife Marijana will be visiting the US this fall. They’ll spend most of their time in Athens, GA visiting the church and getting much-needed rest and relaxation.

New opportunities continue to arise in Estonia. Plans are afoot to help establish a ministry to disabled children in Jõhvi, and we’ve already had discussions about two mission teams next year. We’d like to open a guest house in Estonia for Christian workers, so people who serve in Russia and the former CIS will have a place to relax and re-charge their batteries. Estonian property prices are low, and it would be great to buy a place to be used for ministry.

More importantly, we are very thankful for the love that the Lord has for us. He is very good. And we are very thankful to be able to serve Him in the work He has given us.

Related posts:

1. Estonian fact-finding
2. Serbia and Hungary
3. Slideshow of the Montengro Mission Trip

One thing Americans and Russians have in common is that they both like to complain about the weather, hot or cold. I have a friend from the extreme north of Russia, and she’s always cold. However, when I was in Congo, I didn’t hear any of the locals complain about the heat. But then again, I didn’t understand most of what was said. I would say it’s characteristic of all humans to worry about physical comfort, but I haven’t polled everyone yet…

As you know, it’s been a warm summer in Russia. While we often wish for “real summer” in St. Petersburg, we forget that hot weather is only fun if you can hang out on a beach and jump in the lake, not if you are required to go to work, do remont (home renovations), cook anything that requires heat, get a good night’s sleep, ride the public transportation, go outside at all, wear anything long-sleeved…

It’s been interesting observing how the extreme weather uniquely affects life in northern Russia. If in Massachusetts the warmer temperatures prompted us to get our first air conditioner (instead of the usual assortment of fans), St. Petersburgers are buying their first fans, ever.

This humorous list has been circulating the Russian web. If you’ve been here at all in the summer, you may appreciate it.

-when choosing a restaurant, you don’t consider the menu, you consider the air-conditioning (McDonald’s!)

-you could care less* about the hot water being turned off (this happens for 3 weeks every summer)

-you think that showering twice a day is too little

-you now like to go out only after 11 pm (that’s when the sun finally goes down)

-you think 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) is chilly

-you think that the best food is okroshka (chilled soup) with ice cubes, and the thought of a barbecue makes you gag

-you tried buying a fan in 10 different stores and failed (see: snow shovel shortage, Winter 2009-10; rubber boot shortage, Spring 2010)

-you’ve thought for the first time about buying an air conditioner for your home

-you sleep on the floor with a wet bedsheet and that is just fine with you

-your windows are covered by foil or other reflective material, and you don’t care that it’s dark in the room

-you’ve practically forgotten how to boil soup and fry meat or potatoes

-you’ve forgotten how to iron and what an iron even looks like

-the three most frequented websites on your browser are weather sites, and you look at them at least 3 times a day (okay, 10 in my case)

-you longingly look at travel guides for Norway and Finland…

-the words “come here, let me give you a hug,” can create a scandal (agreed…a handshake is almost TOO much contact at this point)

-you eagerly jump out of bed in the morning, “to work, to work!” because in the office there is air conditioning (or “to the grocery store!”)

-you take off for Egypt, because it’s cooler there

*meaning, you couldn’t care less. I was going to fix the grammar, but then it wouldn’t be conversational. I came across a lot of forums calling Americans stupid for saying “I could care less” when it means the opposite. So I decided to use it anyway, just to exercise my patriotism.

Related posts:

1. Paradox #1: Security
2. News from Liz Hulley
3. Making an Effort

Dear friends,

We are glad to share some personal news as well as camp news with you!

The month of July was very fruitful. We had a team from MA, ran two camps, and our third child (a baby girl) was born on July, 28th. She is adorable. We are still working on the name. We thank God for her and ask His blessings on her life.

Camp for orphans from Sluytsk and foster families. (The story continues below the slide show)

From the very beginning this camp was God’s real miracle. First of all, we got a team of 12 wonderful people from Holden Chapel, MA. The team was led by Pastor Tom. It’s the only team we had in two years. Secondly, as we started looking for camps in the spring, it was not easy to find one that would accept us and the team. But our God is so good that we found a camp on Braslav Lakes. We have never been to that area, so we didn’t really know what to expect. It turned out to be a wonderful place; the lakes were great, but the most important thing was that we had complete freedom to do whatever we wanted and to run our own program. One of our translators, Lena Lisovich, said that have not had such freedom since 2001, when we ran our very first camp.

And thirdly, the group of teenagers was also a great blessing. From the very beginning we were planning to have orphans from Sluytsk. But at the end of May it became obvious that the orphanage would be closed, but no one knew when and until very last week we didn’t know if Sluytsk orphans are allowed to go. In the end, everything worked out very well.

The camp was for 7 days and we had 30 teenagers. The program was prepared by the team from MA and it was great. The team was very well prepared and organized. We learned a lot from them. The teenagers were divided into 4 groups. Every day was full of many events: soccer stations, craft time, small group Bible studies, big group activities, swimming time, etc.

The whole program was based on the message of Salvation. The key verse was Romans 10:9 and everyone learned it. It was really great to see older boys participate in all the activities. At the end everyone was given an opportunity to accept Christ as their personal Savior. It was precious to see those who made the commitment.

As the camp came to an end there were many tears, but everyone knew that it was a great time blessed by God and no one will be the same after it.

Related posts:

1. Belarus Camp Time
2. News from Belarus — Summer Camps 2009
3. Life and Service in Belarus

Our 4th Week in America:

Right now I’m living in a family with Marina Cmirnova, from orphanage #35. The family really loves Marina, especially Charlie, who is 3 years old; he gets really upset when he hears that Marina is going to leave soon.

Over the course of 4 days Marina and I got to see various interesting places: the Benjamin Franklin Museum, the first American zoo in Philadelphia, and the Atlantic Ocean, where we spent a whole day.

On July 24th there was a party, which Marina and the other kids from Ukraine attended, with their chaperons.  It was really well organized for the kids; there was even a pool, nice since the weather has been very hot lately. Marina had a good time and got to know the kids from Ukraine. Marina really likes America and loves her host family.

The family has come to love this little girl from Russia.

Thing are also going well for the kids from orphanage #8: Kseniya Fyodorova is staying in an oceanfront hotel. Zarina and Ruslan got to go on rides, caught fish, and went to a concert, since the host father plays in a band and sings. They also visited an oceanarium. Maksim Udaltsov had his last day at camp on July 23rd and on the 24th ; they went on amusement park rides.

Robert Shigorin and his host family are staying on the oceanfront in a family camp and is helping his host parents to learn some Russian. He continues to study English and says he misses St. Petersburg and his friends and counselors in the orphanage.

Related posts:

1. We Are Orphans
2. Update from MIR
3. Visit to Rita’s Brother

I am enjoying being back in St. Petersburg, despite the very warm temperatures!  I immediately moved into a new flat upon arrival, and have been amazed by the outpouring of support, from carrying heavy things to picking out new wallpaper.

As someone living in another country, there are so many ways that I’m needy, and God never fails to send help.  It is humbling.

I have a 3-month visa with MIR and I hope to be in better contact with fellow workers this year as my studies kept me busy last year.  I should receive my temporary residency permit in the next month or two.

I’m not sure what my weekly routine will look like in the next few months, but I look forward to seeing where God will lead, and I hope to share about it in the next newsletter!

Your sister in Christ,

Elizabeth

Related posts:

1. Russia — Orphanages, Church Life and Visas
2. News from Liz Hulley
3. Revisiting domestic adoption in Russia and Eastern Europe