The best news ever is the good news of the Gospel, and how hearing it changes hearts and saves souls. Orphan children can sometimes be very hard to reach because of their unusually difficult situations. Most often, sadness, loneliness, and anger have already built up in their young hearts.

However, the Gospel message—along with God’s grace—softens these hearts. When this happens, there is great rejoicing! Not only in heaven as the angels sing, but also among leaders serving through the SGA-supported Orphans Reborn ministry as they have faithfully ministered to and prayed for these children.

Please pray alongside of these leaders, that through the many different ways and means of ministry, the Gospel will continue to be shared, and orphan hearts filled with loneliness and hurt will be filled instead with love and joy through faith in Christ.

From Mikhail, an Orphans Reborn leader in Russia, who shares three wonderful stories of life change:

Thank you, dear friends, for your financial aid and support of our ministry. Through you, we are able to give our time to children! Together with you, we spread God’s love to both children and adults. May the Lord bless you and help you in everything!

Three Orphan Girls

The best news ever!! Well, is there anything better than when a person repents of their sins? When the angels rejoice, when Christ’s love reaches a heart and transforms it. And yet, there is something even better. It’s when three girls from an orphanage are drawn to follow Christ. I received this photo from a friend who serves at a church in the city where one of the orphanages are located. I knew the girls had started attending youth meetings there and had made new friends, but it was so surprising to me to hear of them actually taking this step of repentance. I thought they were just having fun and feeling comfortable there, but it turns out that seeds of faith had sprouted in their hearts. These girls are simply wonderful; I can’t believe that no family has seen the joy they bring to those around them. Their lives are full of hardship, yet their eyes are full of hope and warmth. I can only imagine the love and tenderness with which Christ looks upon them.

After their repentance, my friend and I decided to host a small family gathering for the kids from the orphanage and celebrate the girls. We wanted these girls, along with the other kids, to hear how important a step like this is in every person’s life. I mentioned that those who come to faith at an older age save their souls, but those who come to faith in their youth save their lives. We set the table at our friend’s house and had a nice dinner together; I saw how such evenings warmed the children’s hearts and brought us closer together!

Vitya

We took a photo of the boys dressed in the new sweaters that my friend gave to us. These guys moved [to our city] , where they now work and attend our church. As we were traveling quite often, we weren’t able to attend services at our church. But how wonderful it was to hear that Vitya had come down in front of the whole congregation to repent. And he didn’t do it for me or anyone else to see. He did it because he could no longer—and no longer wanted to—resist the Lord, and so he immediately bowed before Him.  

Vitya used to live at our place. I used to visit him 500 kilometers away, but now he’s here, near us—and most importantly, near Christ. I remember Vitya helping me renovate the church kitchen for two months. I paid him 1,500 rubles a day, while I worked there just to be a blessing. I was paying him for his work; someone even said that it wasn’t wise. But then someone handed me an envelope. Inside the envelope were 50,000 rubles. That money was enough for me to pay Vitya for all his help, and Vitya witnessed this miracle—even though I hadn’t even asked for it, God chose to give. Just yesterday, while visiting an elderly woman, I found out that she was the one who had handed me that envelope back then. How wonderful it is being with the Lord! How kind is He! And as usual, the elderly sisters continue to lend a helping hand!

I hadn’t even had a chance to hear about Vitya’s repentance when our Orphans Reborn teammate, Vika, shared a story about yet another repentance, as follows.

Zina

As we often do as a family, we invited kids from the orphanage to our home. I say “our family” because it’s not just my husband and I doing this. Our children’s involvement is absolutely essential! They’re part of the host team, too—after all, the kids come to our place to stay overnight with them. They share their room, their bed, and their parents, while spending this time living alongside these kids. And you can’t really overestimate how important that is—that’s exactly why the kids from the orphanage feel at home here, safe, and secure.

It was Zina’s first time staying overnight at our house. I asked her to help me teach a class at Sunday school. Earlier, when we talked about God and our church, she had expressed a desire to visit. She was interested in learning more about our church, looking up information on the internet, and viewing photos. When we walked into the church on Sunday, we were warmly welcomed; everyone greeted us, came over, and introduced themselves. Zina saw how we greeted one another with embraces and joy. Then she said that, while she was interested in the church, she had a dream about being in a church, and the church in her dream looked exactly as she saw it reality!

We went to the Sunday school class. Praise be to God, the lesson turned out to be really great. Zina listened along with the other children; the topic of God’s Word touched her heart. She listened with her eyes wide open. She helped set the table for tea, assisted the children with their crafts, and together with them learned the golden verse . . . Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Psalm 119:105.) After the lesson, she shared her surprise at how deeply the children were able to comprehend; she hadn’t seen anything like it in her family or at the orphanage. Suddenly, it was as if she discovered a whole new world, and it struck her deeply.

On our way home, Zina was inspired, saying she had never felt like that in her life. Before going to bed, I suggested she say a prayer of repentance, and we prayed!!! We looked for a Bible app for her phone, but couldn’t find a decent one. Sometimes an artificial voice read the audio Bible, other times the app didn’t support Russian. We tried once again, and having downloaded a Bible app, a verse of the day popped up; and guess what verse it was?! Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. This was the very text Zina and the rest of the children had been learning at Sunday school!!! We saw that as God’s providential guidance!