Belarus | Stoneworks International

A Letter about Minsk Family Home

By Mike on July 28, 2011 / Belarus / Leave a comment

We’ve recently sent this letter to previous donors who have supported Minsk Family Home —

We value you as a prayer partner for Belarus and the ministry of the Minsk Family Home, and thank you for your previous financial support. I want you to know about the challenging time that the ministry now faces.

Minsk Family Home needs our support more than ever. In addition to the Belorussian economy facing serious trouble (inflation is rampant, the money supply is drying up), social unrest is growing and the culture is less stable each week. Olga Goncharenko recently wrote,

“Please keep us and our ministry in your prayers as life here is very unstable. You can read it online in the news, but besides all the prices going up rapidly and being tripled in the last two months, it’s also becoming strange to us how many people get arrested downtown. So we need God’s protection.”

Supporting Minsk Family Home is a way we can help believers in Belarus. Our support (spiritual, emotional, financial) has always been an encouragement and a ministry tool but is vital now in the midst of the unrest.

Also, after looking over past and current support levels, it’s become clear that Minsk Family Home needs an additional $3600 in gifts or pledges to keep the program viable for the remainder of 2011.

These are trying times, and Christian workers and orphans need a sense of continuity and provision from those outside of their culture.

Please feel free to share this letter with anyone you think may be interested in helping Minsk Family Home continue their-life changing work in Belarus.

Timothy House — A New Home In Minsk

By Mike on April 26, 2011 / Belarus, Projects / Leave a comment

We are very excited to announce our next project in Belarus: a home for young men we hope to open this Fall.

In 2009 Spring of Revival and Stoneworks opened the Minsk Family Home, a home for young ladies who are leaving the orphanage system and need help making the transition to life on their own. Timothy House is a natural extension of this ministry to graduate orphans.

If you would like to donate to help establish this home, please send a check to Stoneworks or donate online.

You can see and download a brochure here: Timothy House Brochure.

Here is an open letter from board member Jill Tyson:

Dear friends,

From the first days when I met Olga Goncherenko in Belarus I understood immediately that hers was not a casual relationship with the orphans in her country. I knew from the way the children smiled and hugged her while we were there that what she and her team were building special relationships that would last through the years.

Indeed, the commitment of our dear Christian friends has yielded much fruit in the lives of 100s of orphans in Belarus. One result of their discipleship and devotion to the children was the beginning of the Minsk Family Home in the fall of 2009, a home for Christian women who have graduated from the orphanage system in Belarus and want to continue their studies in a safe place.

Spring of Revival and Stoneworks International now announce the next step, the founding of a home for men. We will call this home Timothy House, because we feel these young men will truly become Godly examples in Belarus.

Please see the attached brochure, and pray about your involvement in this endeavor. We are committed to raising 80% of one year’s support before we give the “go – ahead” to begin in fall of 2011. A Christian Belorussian couple is willing to parent the home, and we already have several young men in mind to live there. If you are able to help distribute the brochures or raise awareness for the need, we would sincerely appreciate it, and we would also be grateful for a one-time gift or commitment for monthly support in any amount.

We are excited to be a part of revival in Belarus, one life at a time. Belarus is under-served in World Missions from the USA, partly because no American missionaries are allowed to live there. The environment for ministry is hostile to Christians, and no private orphanages are allowed. The government watches everything, especially foreign help which makes legal cooperative efforts at times impossible without God’s working miracles (which He has done on a regular basis!) Praise God that He doesn’t depend on rulers or laws to accomplish His will!

With a thankful heart for your interest and concern,

Jill Tyson

Birthdays And Clowns

By Mike on October 3, 2010 / Belarus, Staff / Leave a comment

Another great update from Olga Goncharenko in Belarus…

It has been a big part of our ministry to bring clowns and it was one of the ways how we could get into the orphanages in the first place. Now the team is bigger and even MFH girls like to participate. Our clowns bring joy and Jesus, run Birthday parties, give gifts and share cakes and sweets.

Here you see a birthday party that took place in Stankovo shelter in September.

Everyone enjoyed it.

There were 11 birthday kids and they got nice, but very practical gifts such as pijamas, shirts, hats and gloves, and of course, some toys.

Stankovo Camp Reunion

By Mike on October 3, 2010 / Belarus, Staff / Leave a comment

Olga Goncharenko in Belarus sends this update…

Now as summer is over and they are back to the orphanage it was great to see them again and remember all the wonderful times at camp.

Here is the picture of a group of boys from Stankovo that went to a Christian camp with us in June.

Zhenya is an orphan, who is very talented.

He is at artist and started to attend an art school in town.

They find him very gifted.

We have helped him financially to get the necessary art supplies so he can attend the school.

Minsk Family Prayer

By Mike on September 4, 2010 / Belarus, Staff / Leave a comment

Olga Goncharenko in Belarus sends this report about the Minsk Family Home…

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

A Personal Update

By Mike on September 3, 2010 / News, Staff / Leave a comment

Olga Goncharenko, in Belarus, has this short personal news to share…

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

More Camp News

By Mike on September 3, 2010 / Belarus, Staff / Leave a comment

Olga Goncharenko, in Belarus, has a final summer camp update…

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.

A New Baby!

By Mike on August 27, 2010 / Belarus, Staff, Uncategorized / Leave a comment

Olga Goncharenko in Belarus has some terrific news and pictures to share:

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

She is adorable.

new baby july 2010 050 e1282860200124 300x292 A New Baby!

Her name is Erika.

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

~Olga

Blessed in Belarus

By Mike on August 7, 2010 / Belarus, Staff / Leave a comment

We’re excited to share a wonderful report and slideshow from Olga Goncharenko in Belarus…

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)

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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.

Cooking, Conferences, Cultural Events — the Minsk Family Home

By Mike on May 20, 2010 / Belarus / Leave a comment

Alesya Kuleshova, the Minsk Family Home counselor, reports:

Here are a few words about our wonderful Minsk Family Home.

We would like to thank you for your prayers and financial support as our Minsk Family Home continues to develop and grow.

We have five girls there now. As this school year coming to the end, we would like to share about progress that happened during the first 9 months of the Minsk Family Home existence:

Cooking — The girls know better how to cook and they can cook wonderful meals by themselves. Their favorite meal is lasagna.

Dealing with paper work — The girls are able to take care of the bills, prepare necessary papers, and fill in job applications.

Spiritual growth — Every week the girls attend church, home group and other church’s events.

Conferences — This month I participated in a 4 day conference and training, that was dedicated to Christian camps. I learnt a lot about sporting events at camps, attended camp coordinator seminars, Bible lessons for teenagers as well as crafts at camp.

It was a very profitable time not only in learning new things for camps, that is very actual for us this summer as we are preparing for our own camps, but also a great opportunity to meet new people. About 70 people participated.

The girls attended one day women conference (see the picture at the top) and learnt a lot about how God sees women and what is their role in church and family.

Cultural events — The girls attend movies and theater. This week we all went to the opera Nebuchadnezzar

Also the girls read different literature.

Retreat — This month we go on a special retreat to Poland. The retreat will take place in a nice city of Krakow and also the girls will be able to visit Auschwitz (camp for war victims in World War 2)

Studies — The school year is almost finished. The girls did their best at school. Soon they they will have exams.

Two girls Tanya and Alona will be applying to colleges this summer, so please pray for them to be accepted and also for the other girls’ exams that they take in June.

Blessings to you all,

In Christ, Alesya Kuleshova

Here are more pictures from Alesya — Read more →

Posts Tagged ‘Belarus’

A Letter about Minsk Family Home

Timothy House — A New Home In Minsk

Birthdays And Clowns

Stankovo Camp Reunion

Minsk Family Prayer

A Personal Update

More Camp News

A New Baby!

Blessed in Belarus

Cooking, Conferences, Cultural Events — the Minsk Family Home

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