Dear Friends,
We are having a blast with the youth ministry team from Voronezh. There is a tremendous amount of energy and talent in this group. These men and women from Voronezh are ages 15 to 24. They are very passionate about serving the Lord. It is noticable that they have a sweetness and humility in spirit and this has helped to create such unity among our teams. This is their first time to have all members of their team serving together at the same time. All are working very well toegther and it has been both fun and organized. As always the schedules and plans have changed; however, we have been able to use the talents and gifts of both team to have a program that the children seem to enjoy very much.
For New Years Eve we spent part of the day playing sports, singing songs, and making jewelry with the kids still remaining at the orphanage during the holidays. There were approximately 45 children who had no where to go for the Christmas break and there was only one caretaker on staff with them during the day. So they were very thankful to have some planned activities.
Everyone dressed up in special clothes for the evening program. The younger girls were dressed as ballerinas or princesses and the boys in their finest clothes. A very special banquet dinner was prepared by the team for all the children and remaining staff at the orphanage. The tables were beautifully decorated with special food and sparkling sodas. And the entrances halls were lit up with strings of pretty Christmas lights and balloons. The children also enjoyed decorating a tree for the celebration hall as well. As each child entered the banquet the girls were each crowned with tiaras and the boys were given lighted swords. One precious moment for me was crowning the ladies on staff with the tiaras. Their faces were beaming! Truly God desires all women to know how beautiful they are in his eyes. We are all intended to be daughters of the King of Kings.
After our program ended at the orphanage our ministry teams headed to the church for our own New Years celebration. The room was filled with laughter, words of encouragement, songs of praise. The ladies of the church treated us to a very special dinner. The regional director for Association of Spiritual Renewal of Voronezh , Peter Mireychik led us in prayer and reflection at midnight. What a wonderful time fo fellowship!
In my next message I will try to update you on our New Years worship service and community outreach to the youth in Rossosh. Right now the children are in the sports, music, and crafts stations. And they are in for a surprise… Anton is dressing up as Santa Claus and we have presents under the tree for them. This will be the Samaritans Purse Operation Chrismas Child shoeboxes and the Peter Deyneka Russian Ministries BackPacks for Blessing. Each child will recieve school supplies and Christian literature as well as toys.
Please be in prayer for our last evening program tonight. We will have small groups and then fireworks as the finale to the camp. More updates to come in the days ahead.
Blessings,
Christina for the entire team
posted by ATL_ToRussiaWithLove @ 7:12 AM
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