Sosnovo Day Center

This is our 5th year working at the Sosnovo Day Center. It’s seen a lot of trials and obstacles these past 5 years and it seems even more so during the last 2 years. Despite these issues, the Day Center continues to be a light of hop to these at-risk children in the Sosnovo community.

This year we had again invited Pastor Slava from the Czech Republic to join us on this mission trip. Pastor Slava used to be the pastor of the church in Sosnovo and was and still is greatly loved and missed by the community. Unfortunately, the Icelandic Volcano prevented him from flying and coming to be with us. For me, it felt like someone was missing the whole week.

We stayed at the small hotel that we had stayed at in the past. It was under new management and they were working to renovate a section of the hotel into a store that had previously been a gathering room for our team to enjoy tea and prepare our ministry things for the next day. As it turned out, the rooms were not being renovated, but the rest of the hotel was! When we got there, there were no working heaters in the room. They had to go get the previously installed electric heaters and set them up on a block of wood in front of the new heaters. I guess the new heaters hadn’t been fully connected up yet. The most precarious thing was getting to our rooms. New outside steps were under construction and then there was no floor between the entrance and the hall to the rooms! That first night we had to straddle the support beams balancing our suitcases to make it there! It was quite a circus!

My son Sergey had made arrangements with Andre, a long time volunteer with the Day Center, to have the team eat at his home. Lunch and sometimes breakfast was at his home. Ladies from the church would come to Andre’s home to cook our lunch in the morning. Breakfast items were usually brought in the morning (meat, cheese, bread) while other things had been bought by Sergey at a large store called “Lenta” (much like Wal-Mart) in St. Petersburg. Thanks to Sergey, Andre, and all the ladies who helped cook for our team!

Lenoid and Galina last year cooked for our entire team and would bring us out to their dacha for lunch and dinner. Our team, that included several volunteers, was lager this time and so meals were held at Andre’s home. Nevertheless, one evening we were all invited out to Lenoid’s home for dinner. It’s always a great fellowship and he always fires up the “Samovar”, the big Russian tea pot where the water is heated with pine cones and coals. Lenoid and Galina have been tremendous hosts!

Early in the week, I stood at a bus stop waiting with Sergey for our bus to come to go to the other side of town. A young teenager walked past me starring at me and I recognized him. He was one of the kids I knew at the Sosnovo Orphanage. Since I had no team members last year and I know the orphanage was going through a transition, SAC hasn’t visited the orphanage in a couple of years. I went to greet him. He’s now 14 years old, but he remembered me. He was a little shy and he didn’t seem to have that joyful smile I remembered when I had seen him last at the orphanage two years ago. I reminded him that God loved him and he nodded slightly in agreement.

One morning, we went to visit the Sosnovo Orphanage. It had moved from its location in the town of Sosnovo to a new location about 20 minutes away. I wanted to visit Rayisa the Director to reconnect and to see the new location. About 3 weeks ago, the kindergarten that was occupying the building traded locations with the building in Sosnovo. The building we had worked at in Sosnovo is now a kindergarten. The new location for the orphanage is one train stop south at stop #69 of Sosnovo. It is very hard to get there. The roads are not paved for the 3 kilometers drive from the main road. It is very hard for the staff to even get to work. Taxi to this location from Sosnovo is 300p, or about $10 each way. With salaries less than 15,000p a month, I’m surprised that people continue to work there. Conditions there are worse than at their other location. There is no sports hall and no general hall to have activities for the kids like dance and other extra-curricular activities. Rayisa told me that even though the kids helped with the move, the kids are depressed and “don’t care about their lives anymore”. One boy that I know and remember tried to commit suicide by jumping from the roof. It was the same boy I saw at the bus stop. Please pray for these kids at the Sosnovo Orphanage.

In the Day Center, the kids had been waiting with anticipation for us come for a long time. They knew us and we’ve seen several of the kids grow up as they continue to come to the Day Center. They also know that I’m there to bring crafts, play games, and lead them in a Bible Lesson. Each day I brought a lesson that had us doing a game and then a short study in God’s word that related to the game. Kids like it when I do a game and bring a short Bible lesson. More of Biblical truth is absorbed with kids if they hear one truth and then have the rest of the day to think about it. Kids here are very resistant to “preaching” and usually tune out or don’t attend at all unless there are activities that are geared to their age and interest.

One new activity that really interested the older kids was building clocks. I had bought the quartz movements, hands, and numbers for the kids to build wall clocks. Sergey and I went to the store and bought some wood for them to design their own wall clock and then I would help them install the mechanism. Many kids had never used a saber saw before. It was good experience for them to use a power saw and drill (with my supervision) and to be able to create their own clocks!

On this trip I found out that Andre has kids over to his home each Saturday evening for a time of fellowship, singing, and Bible study. This weekly youth club meeting was something SAC has wanted to see happen as a further way to promote the church and have the Day Center and the church work together. Out of his own pocket, Andre spends about 200 rubles a week (~$7) for food to encourage these kids to come. Recently, the Sosnovo church had stopped having Sunday School (another problem) for children and this has become another way to reach the kids.

Andre is also busy beginning a drug rehab program. He invites drug users who want to quit to his home. He talks about addiction and leads them in a devotional that addresses the issue of drug addiction. We were there one morning after breakfast and Andre had a meeting of these men. While we were there we encouraged them and fellowshipped with them. One of the men there had retired from the military after 20 years of service. He was a former Major in the Russian Army. I told him I too had been in the military and had served for 7 years. He stretched out his hand immediately to shake the hand of a fellow soldier. He shared his struggles and seemed to find a sense of hope in our meeting.

On the last day, I was able to share the Gospel with them again. I was glad to see almost all the hands raise when I asked if they had asked Jesus into their lives. I’m convinced that if the Day Center was not there, these kids would go through life without hope and without knowing the saving grace of Jesus. With the Day Center, despite all the tribulations they continue to go through, it’s an effort well worth the cost. Thanks to Nadezhda’s dedication to work there every day to bring this love of Christ to these children in this community. Please pray that the obstacles, daily problems, and forces of evil working against her will not overpower the hope that is brought to these kids through her leadership of the Day Center in Sosnovo.