Members of the local church organized a Christmas camp called Give Hope, for orphans at a local orphanage. This boarding school has 155 children, most of them (80%) are orphans with no relatives: children without parents or relatives in general (died, deprived of parental rights, etc.), and the rest 20% have only one of the guardians (only a father or a mother, or relatives) who for various reasons cannot provide for their children or take care of them.
Our Christmas project consisted of several parts. The first part of the project was a Vacation Bible School (VBS) itself and a final part was a concert with the presentation of gifts to the children.
Our team consisted of twenty three people. Fifteen members of the team were Christians from our church. The rest of the team was composed by volunteers: youth and teenagers who either did not know God, or had only a small knowledge of Him.
The main goal was to draw children closer to God, strengthening their knowledge about Jesus Christ. Also through this camp we wanted to show the orphans what real Christmas was, and how the birth of Jesus Christ affected the world, and in particular all of us.
Did we succeed? Absolutely!
Orphans heard the Gospel, received a lot of positive emotions and at the end each one received a wonderful Christmas gift that was lovingly collected from the residents of the city. Christians have been able to get out of their comfort zone, serve society and respond to their needs. It was nice that eight unbelievers guys, who first visited as volunteers, they all became friends with the Christians of our church. Of these eight, seven young men began to attend small groups, Sunday services and other activities of our church. And just four days ago one girl from the team of volunteers repented. This is a victory! Serving God by participating in the needs of society, we sow the seed of the Gospel to unbelievers, and it brings a good result!
Thank you, friends, for your prayers and financial support of the Christmas VBS! We together were able to make a Christmas celebration for orphans and show the love of God for these young children who most need it!
Galina, a teacher in the orphanage: “Thank you for the work that you do. It was nice to see a lot of smiles and happy faces here in the orphanage. These small gifts let children think that they are not alone in this world. This is a good project, and you do well. In this world, it seems that our orphans are forsaken by our state and our nation. On your arrival time goes differently. We begin to understand that we are not forgotten, and we are needed. And children become kinder and more open.”