Kids listening to story times in the morning.

Gray skies greeted us Wednesday, August 18, 2010 the final day with kids from orphanage 2 and 60. We started off in the morning with the little kids again. We shared the verse, Isaiah 49:16, “Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands: your walls are continually before me.” Many of these young people seemed to respond to this verse. Many understanding it and talking about it. The craft today was making picture frames. Then we took each child’s picture. We were going to print them out at lunch time, but the printer malfunctioned. So, we’re going to print them in the city and Olga and her team will take them back after we’re gone.

Unfortunately, I spent most of my time with the memory verse group because of a couple of issues, so I didn’t get to see much of the other groups. I know they told a story, and there was game time, but I have no idea how things went.

Little boy listening to directions.

Just before we left for the morning, we presented Orphanage 2 with donations. We had underwear, socks, clothes, lice shampoo and lots more. I was able to thank the ladies for their dedication to the kids, telling them it was a thankless job. I also quoted James 1:27, “Pure religion is caring for the orphans and the widows….” and I encouraged them to trust God for guidance and wisdom.

The after noon was full of excitement. We started off breaking the teens and older elementary kids into four groups. We actually had more kids than we had the previous day. One little boy was NOT getting along with anyone. It finally culminated when he bit the neck of another boy and wouldn’t let go. He bit so hard it was back and blue. When asked why he did it, he could only tell us that the other boy had taken a blue dolphin bracelet. Not sure that was true. I actually pulled the kid off the pile and put him in a wrestling hold so he

18 watermelons helped us celebrate our last day.

couldn’t bite me and tried to take him back to the dorm. An older teen ran over and encouraged me to put him down. Mistake. She grabbed her hand and bit her hard, leaving a back and blue set of teeth marks.

After he was taken away, we had a great day. Paul told his testimony along with a story out of the Bible. Then

Nastya and Sasha eating watermelon.

Jenn shared her testimony, which also was able to connect with the other teens who were listening.

The day ended with a watermelon party. We’d purchased 18 watermelons. It was gone in 10 minutes or less. It was great fun. It was sad leaving. Be praying for Elya, Alena, Nastya and Zyna. Elya is 14 and we believe she’s close to seeing God do a work in her heart. These others who were special to me. They need Christ’s love, too.