Yuri and Marina – Breaking the Cycle

We have an opportunity to help graduates from orphanages. Two of them are Marina and Yuri.  We worked with Marina in the orphanage and we met Yuri through Marina. They have a boy  Dima, three years old now. This family is trying to make a different way for  their son.

Yuri and his brothers were sent to the orphanage when their mother died.  His father moved to Ukraine with his other three kids.  Yuri graduated and stayed in St.Petersburg. He finished technical  school  and his profession is a welder. He worked for some time but now lost his job.

Marina was put into an orphanage when she was 8 years old. Her mother is drug      addicted and  disabled now. It seems that Marina did not experience her mother’s love and care ever.  As we remember Marina was a very tough teenager and sometimes ran away from the  orphanage.

This is all a consequence of  a difficult life outside a family where no one accepts and loves her. She also was discouraged by care givers in the orphanage. We witnessed a conversation between Marina and one of the care giver, who said “you will never succeed and you will have to bring your children to orphanage to be raised.”

Clothes and Toys for Marina's Family

Marina graduated from a different orphanage than Yuri. Then she met Yuri and they decided to be a  family. They live in one room with Marina’s mother because the government doesn’t  provide for her  apartment yet.

One day Marina asked us (she has our contacts) for help when she did not have  enough food  to feed her baby. So we brought them some food and found that they have basic needs to cover  for themselves and for their baby. We looked through our clothes, our  daughter Nastya gave her toys  and several families from our church gave baby clothes for  them. They were very thankful for  everything.

So step by step we are building our friendship with  Marina and Yuri. Both of them love their  son Dima and hope that he will never experience what they have. God has opened for us a door to share Christ’s love with them.

Watching Video about Athletes in Action

Please pray for this young family:

1)  that Yuri and Marina will come to know Christ’s love and find salvation in Him

2) for Yuri’s new job. It is a complicated situation: employer did not pay for Yuri’s work

3) for a home of their own so they can have their own private space as a family

4) for our relationships with Yuri and Marina to influence them to seek God

Sharing the Gospel with Yuri

We are grateful to all of you who pray and partner with us working in God’s field!

May God be with you,

Yan & Nadya               If God leads you to Support HEART FOR ORPHANS read HERE

                                      To read more news about Yuri and Marina click HERE