Thursday, March 15th, 2007

Another day of our ministry, more lives that had been touched, more hearts that received God’s love and forgiveness.

The group visited two more village secondary schools and kindergartens in Bragin district. Those two schools had some things in common - fairly young and creative directors - Svetlana and Marina, wonderful and very talented staff teachers and children.

Both schools had never had American guests visiting them, so kids and their teachers were very excited. The children performed, trying to do their best for the guests to feel welcomed and warmly accepted.

Then the group split into tree smaller ones and had an opportunity to fellowship with the kids in a more personal way. American volunteers shared the Gospel with them, many prayed the prayer of salvation, some did it really from the bottom of their hearts, just like one 10 year old girl, about whom one of the team members who was in the class at that time said that “the most peaceful and divine smile appeared on her face after the prayer, so that it was obvious that Jesus has come into her heart.” Moments like this are really worth coming to the trips like this.

Another probably life changing meeting was with a young mother who had a baby boy with a light form of cerebral palsy, which still can be cured. But the family which is just the mother and a grandma, since the father left his wife with a child as soon as he found out about his disease, does not have enough finances. So the woman was given $100 from the GAIN ministry for her baby to go to the sanatorium to get some special treatment and also was offered an opportunity to consult a Christian doctor, who’s a specialist in this field. Both women (the mother and the grandma) were crying, being moved by the care and love they’ve received from the guests who came from so far away.

One more special event of the day was visiting the local Baptist church with its pastor, which was started more then 80 years ago. That was like going back to the past in a time machine - seeing people, who came to know the Lord at a very early age and who remain faithful through all those severe times of persecution and war even until now, when they’re elderly people. But their hearts are full of faith and love to their Lord and Savior and to this perishing world. They are real heroes of faith and it was a real honor to get to know these people and to be able to pray with them for their beautiful country.              

 

Friday, the 16th;  Saturday, the 17th

The two last days are over. It was the time of meeting old friends - pastors, local authorities, teachers and children who we’ve already met before.

While visiting a secondary school in Hoiniki, the group had a chance to meet with the Mayor, who, in spite of being ill, came to see guests from America. Some of them, including Tom M., the leader of the group, he knew already and this time kept calling them “my friends”. It was obvious that mayor Nikolai was much more open and the atmosphere of the meeting was like the one of meeting good friends, who have so much to talk about. He also seemed more interested in what protestant Christians have been doing in his district, saying “we did this” (not “they”), or “we’re working on that”. He also granted a protestant church a building for the rehabilitation center for drug addicts and alcoholics which is a unique situation and a miracle in itself.

So the ties of friendship made a couple of years ago and love of God shown in action during the projects like this serve for the benefit of the local church here.

The rehab center we’ve been to was another familiar place for many in the group. It was so good to see what God has been doing to set people free, to see the faithfulness of pastor Slava and the others who had started this center and have been helping those who are in great need for help and salvation.

The highlight of the Saturday was visiting a huge school #3 with about 800 kids in Hoiniki. It was like coming back home, since we’ve been here before and the doors were wide open. Most of the kids did remember some of the American volunteers from the previous visit, which was very nice of them.

A very interesting and unusual program was presented to three different age groups of the children in turns. It consisted of a short introduction and a skit on a ‘Good Samaritan’ followed by the story of Jesus dying on the cross and being risen from the died which explained the coming Easter to the children, most of which don’t know what Easter really means.

The testimonies, given by the members of the team, including one of the Belorussian interpreters, touched the hearts of many of the teenagers who had a chance to hear about the power that changes lives and gives hope - the power of Jesus Christ who’s alive and willing to forgive.