Your Support Helps Orphans Reborn Workers Teach God’s Word and Share Gospel Hope

Olya I.
SGA-Supported Orphans Reborn Team in Russia

Each January, we celebrate the baptism of Jesus Christ in Russia. It is a very important day in Russian culture, so we have a Bible lesson on this topic. There were a lot of questions from the children about the meaning of baptism, what to do if they are not baptized, what to do if they were baptized when they were infants, etc. This topic turned out to be very interesting for the orphanage staff as well.

Zhenya is one girl who asked a lot of questions, and she was very active during the lesson. She said that she was not baptized and she used to worry a lot about that, but now she understands that she needs to be baptized when she has a relationship with God. Now she prays to God when she needs help or if she wants to talk to somebody when she has nobody else. We want the children to think about God more than once a week. So we gave them Christian magazines so they can read Bible stories during the week. They can also use them to solve different puzzles, to play games. The following week, they told us what they had done, had read, and learned. One of the boys named Alexander was very shy and quiet during the lesson. But afterward he came and very quietly said that he liked the lesson and would wait for us to come again. He was holding the magazine and whispered that he would read it every day!

Another boy named Andan came to Sergei with a lot of questions about Christmas. He has developmental problems, but he was so glad to have a personal talk—when an adult was very patient, kind, and ready to answer all his questions without being irritated. Also, Dima (a graduate from the orphanage) comes to church regularly. He stays after the worship service to have fellowship with the youth, and he is very glad to be surrounded by Christians. He remembers our visits and as he said: he had never met such kind people. When he finished his education and was looking for a job, he wanted to find a place where Christians work because he wanted to be surrounded by such people. Thank God, he found a construction crew where the head is a Christian, and where several other members of our church work. He feels very comfortable among them, and he is glad that God has answered His request. And now he’s happy to come to church!

Finally, one day before the lesson, the teachers asked Nadezhda (a member of our team) to come to her. She pointed to Kostya and said that he uses a lot of foul language. He is a very good boy but has this problem. Nadezhda had a long talk with him about swearing, that it is a language that the devil likes and how important it is to have a clean heart, clean thoughts, and a clean mouth. He promised to try to swear less. In a week they had a talk again. He said that he almost did not swear and he would try not to swear at all. She gave him some chocolate and he gave her a big hug. Such small details may seem unimportant, but we see God at work in even these small results. Please keep praying for these children, that more will come to the Lord in faith.