Our Trip In September

The Hostel for Girls aged out of the orphanage

Hot Plate Central at the Hostel

Judy and Yana with girls from Zmiev Orphanage

Being Greeted at the TB Sanitarium

The return to Green Forest Special Needs Baby House

Zmiev Orphanage
Wow, alot happened between our trip in September and I neglected to post about it. It has been on my mind to update for a while, so here goes!

Our trip was fantastic. We sensed the presence of the Lord with us while we were there and when we were able to share with the children.

Our visit consisted of visiting Vysoki Baby House (where are girls are from) or Green Forest Special needs baby house, 2 times. We visited the Vysoki or Green Forest Internat once. There were 2 girls who had just graduated from the internat and are now living in Kharkiv who went with us. They were darling girls, and are being trained to paint walls. They had very little money and one of the girls did not have a warm coat, only a jean jacket. They are attending Papa Dima's church, and from the last report, doing well.

One of the most precious places was visiting the hostel for girls. I so much enjoyed talking to about 35 girls. These girls are from various orphanages and are staying in a very bleak environment. In fact, they only had hot plates for cooking, no refrigerator, no washing machine, and only one small shower. It was pretty sad. We were able to purchase for them 2 stoves with ovens, 1 large refrigerator, hair dryers, cooking utensils and a really nice washing machine.

These things will make their lives a little easier, but the most important thing we did was share the love of Christ with them and talk about the changed life we can have in Christ. Christ doesn't see "orphan" or "poor", He sees us all the same and we ARE all the same. Some of us know we are poor and naked and blind and sinful, others do not. That is the only difference. We have all come into the world exactly the same.
Naked, and in need of a savior.
We will all leave the same too. Our body will die and we will be buried. But to those who believe, we will be raised to eternal life on the last day.

We were also able to visit the TB Sanitarium twice, and that was a real pleasure too.
The second visit was with older children and they were very attentive.

The home for older people was very well kept and I was actually impressed with how well the people were cared for. We met a girl at that home who had actually lived in Erika and Sarah's orphanage when she was little. She has arthrogryposis like Erika, but had her legs amputated due to infection. She was getting around on a dolly.
She had a room with a TV and decorations and seemed to be happy, but as she looked at our pictures of the girls, she told us, she never knew what it was like to be loved or have a family. :( That was something she could not relate to or comprehend.

We went to Zmiev and enjoyed visiting the children. They were gathered around saying, "Please adopt us, please adopt us~". When that happens, it just breaks your heart. The need to be loved is so very great.

It then helps you to see how much danger the girls in the hostel are in. They have a great need to be loved, and at the ages they are, they can easily seek that need in all the wrong ways. Many become pregnant, and with no way to care for a child, the cycle begins once again and another baby enters the heart breaking system that leads to misery and emotional trauma.

Please pray for these girls as they learn about life in Christ and begin to grow.
Please pray for their emotional and physical protection and that we will be ale to minister to them once again.

I have so much to write about: more soon