The Grog and The Light

A game we played at Child in Danger was called “The Grog”. A blindfolded “Grog” would try to freeze tag kids coming into a room with a hidden flashlight. The flashlight was in 3 pieces. They had to find the pieces, put them together to make the flashlight work, and shine it on the “Grog” to make him melt away. The kids loved being chased and it reinforced our Bible lesson about how light can make a dramatic effect on a dark place.

This week, we are making a dramatic effect in a dark place. We have experienced some unusual hardships, changes, and disruptions. Our newly formed SAC Prayer Team is activity praying for us while we are on mission. Many that receive the SAC Prayers Request e-mail update are also praying for us. These prayers are making a difference!

On Friday, October 16, we made plans for a tea for the older children at Child in Danger. It gave them an opportunity to be more grown-up with and activity that interested them. After an hour of talking I asked them if they wanted to know why we had come. They all responded yes. I told them about our missionary work and then I asked if they would like to know the simple story of how to have eternal life. Again, they all responded yes. I gave a simple presentation of the Gospel. I asked them if they would like to pray and receive Christ and have eternal life. They all responded yes! Four kids were saved that evening at Child in Danger! The light of Christ made a difference in a dark place.

At Lomonosov Children’s Hospital on Wednesday, October 21, when doing crafts with the kids. I shared the Gospel beginning with a flashlight. I asked them what it was. “A flashlight”, they all said. I then tried to turn it on and it didn’t work. I asked them why it didn’t work. After some investigation, they discovered it didn’t have batteries. I picked up a pencil and asked if I put that in the flashlight would that make it work? They responded noooo! I picked up some coins and dramatically tried to put them in the back and I asked would that make it work? They responded noooo! So I reached in my pocket and put in the batteries. It worked! The flashlight needed the right thing inside to make it shine its light. I then explained in the same way you need Jesus to allow God to shine His light in the world. I explained how they could receive Jesus and carefully explained that a prayer would be the start of a relationship with him. I prayed and 3 of the 6 kids said they prayed to receive Jesus. Again, the light made a difference in a dark place!

At the Boys Home in Petrohof, the week has been an attempt to tame the wild. Probably it’s better to say it’s something like herding a school of fish with a couple of little nets! These at-risk boys at this school have never been visited by a foreign team. Nothing went right on the first day. There was more cooperation in the comedy classroom classic TV drama called, “Welcome Back Kotter”! Our approach on Tuesday had to be changed radically. The Bible Study lessons I had written were dismissed. We had Pastor Andre explain the Gospel directly to the kids using bead bracelets. A grab of bracelets lead to some older kids have 4 or 5 bracelets on their wrists. Other kids had none, but the message was shared despite a very disruptive environment. Wednesday was a bit better. I had made up a schedule of rotation between Games, Crafts, and Bible Lessons. I split the older kids from the younger kids, but some still floated in and out and with other groups. In the Bible class, I had brought on of the guys from the Drug Rehab Center to give his personal testimony. The kids were surprised. In the younger group, I had about 16 kids listen intently as he shared his testimony of drug use, prison, and a messed up life until he found Jesus. His testimony was in Russian, but you could hear a pin drop as he shared. The boys sat quietly for 20 minutes! After he finished, several of the kids surrounded him and shook his hand or gave him a hug thanking him for coming to visit them. It made an impact. Most of the older boys didn’t show up, but one boy did and Victor shared. This one boy was amazed listened and asked many questions. Slowly, the light of Christ is beginning to make a difference in this dark place!

At the same time, the peace of God has come upon me and I feel that things are going well and we are doing what God has set before us.

More Changes!

Our first day of ministry in St. Petersburg brought more changes. Why should I be surprised? It’s a mission trip and you are supposed to be flexible!

We all went to Children’s Hospital #15 this morning ready to meet kids and do ministry. After several delays, we were finally in the activity room to begin a craft at 11:45am, however we would only be given until 12pm and then we would need to leave. Our team was able to minister to 8 kids with a craft project that took most of the time. However, as we were making plans for the next day, we were told that Americans need to have a ten day quarantine! They were afraid that some of us would be carriers of the swine flu and they wanted to make sure their children didn’t catch it. It seems that the hospital had a bad experience a couple of weeks ago that caused them to make this new rule in the past few days. So, since none of us have been here for 10 days yet, we are ineligible to come back. Again, it seemed that we were knocked out of our planned morning activity. Two weeks ago the Crimson Sail Shelter canceled due to government activities with the kids, and now our back-up plan to minister at the Children’s Hospital has been thwarted. Change and flexibility… that’s the essence of a mission trip!

Later that afternoon, we all ended up at Child in Danger. There were 13 children waiting on us to do activities. They were a great group! We were able to do a craft together, play some games, and lead an age appropriate Bible Story with the kids. We attempted to get them to memorize the focus Bible verse, but only one child was able to memorize the Russian verse from a small poster. Of course, more kids became much more attentive once I gave two Dum Dum pops to the one boy! We explained that we would be there all week and ended our time together in prayer.

During our craft, I was able to talk to the director and found out that 7 of the younger kids are at an age where they don’t go to school. So, with that we decided to come to the Child in Danger Shelter in the morning, play with the younger kids, go to lunch, and then go back and minister to all the kids with crafts, stories, and Bible Stories. So, now all is well and we will be spending all our time with the kids from Child In Danger. That a change I can do!

The other major change is the weather. Today it began snowing as we arrived at the Children’s Hospital. As we came in the snow came down harder and harder. By the time we had to leave, the snow was almost blowing sideways and was beginning to stick on the grassy areas. The sidewalks were full of slush and our coats were getting wet. It snowed for more than 5 hours! It was the big thick flakes that are great for making snowballs. Of course, you know what happened next!

Certainly there are lots of changes here. I’m sure there are more to come!