Update from Spring of Revival
June 7, 2009
Dear Friends,
Greetings from Belarus. We are glad to share with you all the exciting things that God is doing here in our ministry.
To begin with, I’d like to share that our pig ministry, begun years ago at orphanages, has expanded to family homes and foster families.
We now have three families in the Minsk area that raise pigs and a foster family in Zhitkovichi that we have provided with chickens. All of them have 10+ people in a family and it’s a great blessing for them to have food like that. We hope to help other families in the future, too.
Besides the chickens, the Zhitkovichi family home received blankets from us, enough for each child. Recently we visited the home twice, and they also came to Minsk to visit us.
We enjoy sitting at the table and talking about God. They have questions and we are glad to answer those.
We continue the ministry in the Stankovo orphanage, and last month we were blessed to bring a Christian musical group with a concert there. The musicians were from our church as well as being Yasha’s brothers.
The concert was great, most of all the kids enjoyed the trumpet and the song “Let my people go”, that was performed in English.
Also twin brothers from Stankovo, Igor and Vitya, had their 16th birthday. We celebrated it at our home and made a special meal, baked a cake for that event. Post-orphan Lena, who comes to stay with us on some week-ends, was a helper and she was also happy to learn how to bake a cake and a stuffed chicken. We wanted the boys to feel what it’s like when something special is made just for you. I think we succeeded.
Our visit to the Slytsk orphanage was very significant as we spoke to the older girls about their future and the opportunities of getting into colleges and universities. Before our talk, most of them wanted to go to vocational schools as they are easier to get into, but the professions they offer are not very great.
The girls were afraid even to try to apply to college or University, as it would require them to take exams. We not only shared our thoughts but also brought Lena, a post-orphan who is now studying at medical college, to share her experience.
I got a phone call from the director after our visit. She was impressed as we did what the orphanage staff couldn’t: most of the girls are now planning to take college exams. That’s me above with two of the girls Alyona and Masha; and Lena (the girl who is already in college) is in front.
And the last thing to share is our visit to the Brest area. It’s our first time to minister at the orphanages there. We visited two. One for school aged kids and one for kids 3-6 years old. The orphanages are close to Ukrainian boarder and have much less help from outside, in comparison with orphanages in Minsk area.
The kids are so open to talk and share their lives. We played sports, talked and had a great time. We hope to go there again.
Now we are getting ready for graduation parties at the orphanages, our annual fair at the Stankovo orphanage and our summer camp programs.
We are busy getting ready to send children’s groups to a camp in Latvia and ask for your prayers for safe trip and God’s blessings for all the kids and adults who are going (139 people).
Those are family kids, as orphans are not allowed to go to Latvia, therefore we would like to send orphan kids to camps here in Belarus. Stankovo has 15 kids to go and Slutsk orphanage has 40 kids. Please pray for God to provide the finances to pay for the costs.
Thank you for all your prayers and support to our ministry. We thank you for your open hearts and ask the Lord to pour out his blessings upon you and your families.
In Christ,
Olga Goncharenko
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