Hello My Dear Friends and Family,
I truly hope that you are each having a blessed week so far! Sounds like Ohio may be getting some more snow this week, huh?
Well it is hard to believe that I have been here for 3 weeks…Time seems to be going by rather quickly.. I have a lot to update you on since I last sent an e-mail out..( I am sorry I have not be better with sending out an update))
Well I think many of you know that I started last week at the Orphanage. The orphanage is your typical former soviet looking type of building. However, many of the rooms have had “face lifts” so they are pretty nice, and the bathrooms are really nice! I have 11 children in my room. There disabilities are all different, however almost all of them have epilepsy, and none of them can speak. I have two children that are blind.. One of my kids has Down syndrome and he is able to walk as long has he is holding onto something. Another of the boys we are teaching to walk ( He is 15), he can stand and move his legs with help. Other than those two boys all the rest are unable to walk. Several of them are unable to sit up. Almost everyone has twisted and extremely stiff limbs. So I have 4 boys and 7 girls. The youngest child we have in our room is 7 years old and the oldest is 18. ( The 18 year old leaves this month to be transferred to an adult facility ). All 11 of the children can hear although they cannot talk, but boy can they scram! I am working with a German volunteer who has been here for 6 months. Her name is Helena, and she is a true blessing to be working with. She loves the children and loves what she is doing here. In our building there are over 100 children that are disabled. In each room there is a women who takes “care” of the kids for a 24 hour period. ( all nursing shifts and child care related shifts are done in 24 hour period here) So each day when we are with the kids there is a new ‘ caretaker’ learning how each on ‘parterres” things to be done has been something I am trying to master. ( getting yelled at by the old Russian ladies, isn’t fun) Some of the caretakers and nurses that come in our better than others, there are couple that I do not really care for. Each child is allowed 3 diapers a day..That is it!! So a lot of the caretakers put on two diapers to hold more moisture. It is very sad. All of the children have bed sores from being in bed so much, and sores from their wet diapers. We as volunteers are working Monday-Friday 8:30-2:30.. When we leave at 2:30 the children are NOT taken out of their beds until we come back the next morning and take them ou ourselves…When we are not there, every child is fed in bed and with a bottle..In our room of 11 kids we have 3 kids that go to school. School is downstairs and their teacher usually comes after 9:30 to get them for an hour or so.. S those 3 are taken out of bed during the week, if a volunteer isn’t there, but all the others stay in bed.. The same goes for the other children in all the other rooms. If they aren’t “school” children then they stay in bed..When we leave on the weekends its very hard, because we know the kids will be in bed the WHOLE weekend.. It just breaks my heart! I love all my kids, they are so beautiful and sweet. I am learning all their personalities and what they like.
My commute to the Orphanage is going well.. I get up at 5:30 and I’m out the door my flat by 6:40 I then walk about 10 minutes to the metro, from there I take one metro line, and the switch lines. I am then on that line for 40 minutes. I then have to catch an above ground train by 7:34, once I get off train I have a 35 minute walk ( but when it’s cold, we make it in 25 minutes)
I am settling into the flat that I am living in..While it isn’t quite like my home in the States, it’s beginning to feel like home here..I have kept very busy this past week and weekend. I was invited to a friend’s English Class to speak, I was finally able to meet up with some old friends I have not seen in several years. I also meet with some people who are very active in Orphan ministry here in St. Petersburg, which I am hoping to volunteer with their ministry once a week or more.
I have been to several different churches all around the city. But my favorite is still, Hope church which is pretty close to where I live. It’s a church grounded and rooted in the word, very active in teaching spiritual growth. This past Sunday we had a combined service with “ All nations” church. The man preaching was a Russian Pastor that lives in the Ukraine with his family, that . is also where his church is that he pastors. His sermon was on Our Responsibilities and Roles are Christians. Andrey ( The pastors name), was very gifted with preaching and saying what the Lord put on his heart.. It is just a place where I feel at home, comfortable, I am being fed spiritually, meeting people from all around the world. I have also been able to connect with some C&MA workers that are here in the city and learn a little bit more about what they do here, as well as what their goals are.
There is so much more I could share just about the last 10 days, but this is already REALLY long..I am going to attach some pictures as well! You will see picture of the outside of the building, the room my kids live in, some pictures of the beautiful children..
I am truly THANKFUL AND ENCOURAGED by all the words of encouragement and love from home!! I am thankful for the prayers, they are truly felt every day! I do ask that you pray for my every day example of Christ
to shine. None of the volunteers I work with are Christians…I have invited one of the girls to the Russian bible study I attend, and she really liked it..Said she had never been to anything like that before( hopefully that was meant in a
good way:J) I am praying for opportunities to share and talk about Christ with all of them, however, sometimes our examples speak louder than words. While I have adjust to the right time, I am not getting much sleep due to my roommates.. Russians stay up very late…Pray that I can start to get some good rest at night. Also one of my girls her name is Vika she is 14 years old ( she will be in one of the pictures I attach, I’ll be holding her) she has been sick the last two days… Another sad thing is when a child is sick no holds them. They just lie there unloved.. Vika has loved “our cooing” time the last two days! It is very common to walk into an orphanage and see the children rocking themselves, it doesn’t matter if they are lying down or sitting in their cribs, they rock themselves because they have no one else to rock and sooth them… I am so blessed and thankful for you all! I will try to send an update at the end of the week, so its not so long next time. God Bless you and I love you very much! Please let me know how I can be praying for you! (P.S. This was not lucky enough to be reread..So enjoy any typos..:) I can promise you all any typos are at least in English:)
