Finishing up Christmas in Russia!

Did you know that the Russian people celebrate Christmas on January 7th? So, if you enter a home in Russia right now, you might still see a Christmas tree still standing decorated and in lights. Right after the Christmas celebration, our Novgorod Director, Marina, made sure the kids in the only unofficial orphanage in Novgorod really knew the meaning of Christmas. Once again there was singing, dancing, sharing the Nativity story and giving out presents!  This orphanage is divided into three sections: preschoolers, elementary and High School.  Each group of kids received their presents and had a celebration of their … Continue reading

Christmas in Russia.

Once again the TB Children Center in Novgorod was busy this past December with getting ready to show their friends the story of Jesus’ birth!  So exciting to see the kids and teens acting out the Christmas Story! The children were so eager to do the play “The Birth of Jesus” this year again that Marina, our Director in Novgorod, could not resist their excitement to do the performance even though on the first days it was hard to organize them. They behaved so badly that we were about to cancel the play. But to her surprise, on the next … Continue reading

Vanguard: Tomorrow we say goodbye…

Our time here in Russia is quickly winding down to an end. Tomorrow, we will finish the wonderful and fun two week day camp at the TB children’s center. It feels like just yesterday that we were meeting the kids and playing our first game of Russian zombie tag with them! Over the last two weeks, we performed a continuous skit in which Sean played our helpful and loyal guide. We used this character to convey the aspects of God and how we can relate to Him as our Heavenly Father. The rest of us acted as a group of … Continue reading

Vanguard: Three days left…

We came to the realization today that we have only three days remaining with the kids at the children’s center. The time here in Novgorod has been flying by. We started out our first week of ministry anxious about how the kids would receive us, but soon found that they were as excited to get to know us as we were to get to know them. There are about 50 kids currently at the TB children’s center we are working with. The kids vary in ages from toddlers to teens. It is inspiring to see the people who work at … Continue reading

Vanguard: Greetings from each team member!

Lindsey—Hi Mom, Dad & Aaron (and everyone else)!! We are having a great time with the children!! They are so fun and full of love!!  The team has been staying healthy (minus the MANY mosquito bites) J, the crafts and Bible games have been going very well and the kids are so welcoming—all thanks to all of your prayers! Please keep praying for health, safety and most importantly for the 50 children that we will be sharing Christ’s love to! Love you all…see you in a few weeks! Love, EE Sara – Greetings Everyone. It’s hard to believe it’s been … Continue reading