Christmas for the Orphans, 2010

This Christmas we were not able to be in Ukraine, but our work in the orphanage continues strong. We have a young lady who works for us by the name of Nelya (I have mentioned her on here numerous times) who keeps the work going on a regular basis. Others in our church have picked up the vision and go with her to the orphanage to teach the children from the Bible and help with songs, activities, etc... They also help her with getting the orphans to our church whenever it is possible. Many times the kids are under quarantine or not allowed to church for one reason or another which is why her weekly/bi-weekly Bible lessons are vital to their spiritual growth.

It is amazing to me to see how the Lord faithfully provides for us to give the children special Christmas gifts. Last year, a supporting church took on the vision of providing for this need. This year, a family who came to Ukraine to adopt during the summer, the Fritz family, brought gifts, some of which we saved for the orphans' Christmas gifts. We also had another family, the Lechnowsky family, come with their four children and donate backpacks and other small gifts. We enjoyed watching them give these gifts themselves, but the books and Bibles they had ordered and hoped to give as well did not get shipped in time, so they left disappointed. However, the Lord knew, and we were able to give these books and Bibles at Christmas time!

The books I am referring to are entitled Good and Evil, which were just finished being printed in Russian this past summer. This book has been written by Michael and Debi Pearl from No Greater Joy ministries, and I have been following the progress of the Russian translation for some time now, thinking what a great evangelism tool it would be for the orphans, our teens (I tried ordering one for each teen who attended teen camp this summer but it wasn't ready in time), and our deaf (who would really benefit from the picture layout).

In case you are not familiar with Good and Evil, it is the story of the entire Bible written in comic book form. Someone sent this book to my own children several years ago, and they have spent literally hours pouring over its pictures, asking questions, and using it to tell each other Bible stories. When a book gets this much interest from your children, you can't help but take notice! So you can only imagine my excitement when I found out the Lechnowsky family had already ordered one for each of our younger orphans!

Then, for our older orphans, the Lechnowsky family donated a good quality, full Bible. I have been dreaming of and praying about giving the kids their own Bible for quite some time now. And how it pleases my heart to see how fortunate these kids are to now possess their own copy of God's Word! If they never have a loving mother or father; if they never know what it means to have a home - they are still blessed beyond compare because they hold a Bible!

So, thank you Fritz family for your gifts (which also included three brand-new Bibles) and Lechnowsky family.... and all their friends who helped make our orphans' Christmas possible! May you reap the benefits of one day seeing the results of what God's Word will do in these childrens' lives!