Feb 17
Feb 17
At times as I look back I wonder, “Where did time go?” My schedule in Russia has been fairly intense and I am frequently behind or just simply have no time to do emails or write my blog as much as I desire. I hope that my silence time to time does not make you worry where I am. I am thinking about you all the time and praying for you.
For the past two weeks children from the orphanage #18 who come to our VTC on Saturdays have been asking me to visit them. I have been promising to do that, but have not been able to until last week. As I was planning my trip to this orphanage Nastya one of our graduates called and asked me how I was doing. I told her that I was going to visit her former orphanage and she wanted to join. On our way to the orphanage we stopped by a store to buy a cake for the tea time. This orphanage like many others is standing in between apartment buildings. It is four stories high and has bright yellow color. It looks very nice and you would never be able to tell that this is an orphanage. They also have very nice playground. Note: This is the biggest difference today and the time when I was in the orphanage. St. Petersburg governor Valentina Motvienko said, “Northern capital cannot have orphans and street children.” Thus, she has order to do whatever it takes to improve the quality of orphanages so that they do not look like ran down buildings and the most of all is to downsize them so that there are fewer orphans in the city. Being here for the past 2+ months I have to say that orphanages do look much nicer and there are fewer kids, but once again it is only socio-economic approach. Some people might think well this is you Alex thinking that. Well, when Nastya and I were leaving the orphanage one of the administrators asked Nastya, “How do you like the new look of our orphanage?” Nastya said, “I do like it, but it has positive and negative side to it.” She was surprised that Nastya said that and she wanted a clarification. Nastya answered, “The positive side to it that it looks nicer, but the negative side to it you do not feel the warmth and love in it.” The government spent 60 million rubles ($1.8 million). This would be unheard of in my times.
As Nastya and I were approaching the orphanage there were kids playing outside. From the distance they looked like little ones, but as I was getting closer I realized it was young adult orphans who come to VTC. I recognized two of them and yelled, “Hey Sergey this is Alex.” Sergey ran to me and shook my hand. He has very nice bright white perfect teeth, which is a rarity in orphanages. He gave me a huge smile and how much I wish he would smile more frequently. Sasha who is one of my favorites was on a swing. We walked into the orphanage and a granny asked me a question, “Who are you and what can I do for you?” Since Nastya used to live here they recognized her and let her in whereas I have never been here so I am a stranger and she said, “I cannot let you in without permission from the orphanage director.” At the same time Victoria a caretaker who normally comes with our VTC participants from this orphanage was downstairs with the girls. They were happy to see me. Victoria and the girls were going to the store so they asked me to sit downstairs for half an hour so I sat downstairs with bunch of guys talking, joking and doing random file transfer on our cell phones via Bluetooth. The boys are so funny because they constantly want to transfer songs, pictures and video clips onto their cell phones. By the way I noticed that almost every child in this orphanage had a cell phone. In my mind I am thinking how can they afford to buy a cell phone especially when the cheapest decent model cost $150 and goes over $1,000. Please do not ask me how they afford to buy cell phones at such price because this is a mystery to me also. It is the same as how do Russians here afford to buy coffee at $4-7 per cup because I do not even spend that kind of money in the states. I can tell you one thing. Since 1987 all orphans are getting monthly allowance and now it is something like $15-20. Of course, this is not enough to buy a cell phone for $150, but some of them are also working at the orphanage like janitors so they are earning some income. Thus, they get to buy anything they want because they do not save any money. Orphans need to be taught how to spend money wisely and save otherwise they learn the hard way. Anyway, Victoria and the girls returned to the orphanage and we went upstairs. This orphanage has about 50 or 60 kids. The fourth floor is occupied by girls, the third floor is occupied by boys and the second floor is occupied by older boys and school classes. This is a specialized orphanage that has school attached to it and it goes all the way to eleven grades. However, they do not have many subjects that you would typically have in a norm school. Yet, these kids are so talented in arts and sports. On the second floor you will find tons of trophies that kids have won and it is very impressive. Since girls live on the fourth floor so we went there. They quickly arranged tea time, but for some reason the boys have limited access to this floor. I am sure most of us know why, but I wish they could have made an exception for the ones that I know so that they could join us for the tea and cake time. Unfortunately they were not allowed and I was saddened by this. We still managed to have a great time. There were a lot of good jokes and smiles on the faces. This gives joy to my heart when I see orphans smile and laugh because many have been hardened by this rough, dark and hopeless life; yet, they find strength and opportunity to relax.
After our tea time I went downstairs to spend time with the guys. Zhenya, Max, Sergey, Sasha, and Igor gave me a wonderful tour around the orphanage. They took me to their rooms and showed me their beds, closet, photo frames and other personal items. They do not have much, but they treasure what they have even if it is little. Many of us can learn so much from this how to be grateful even with little that you have. It brought bitter sweet moments from my childhood when I had almost nothing and realized once again how blessed I am and that is why I want to share many blessings with others. Zhenya holds a janitor position at the orphanage so he even took me to the bathroom to show how clean it was, but it was not his bathroom, but little kids one. I asked him why you don’t show me your bathroom and the boys laughed and were embarrassed. We did end up going to their bathroom and there Zhenya was so proud to show me some flaws that they had discovered (i.e. tile is broken, pipes are old and rusted already; yet, it has been only 7 months since this orphanage had gone through major capital renovation, etc.) I guess boys are boys no matter where you go. The boys also wanted me to take some pictures of their trophies with them. Our tour was over and we went back to the fourth floor. There Sasha decided to dance for me and it was very impressive. He has a talent and how much I wish this talent could be developed further. Well, no matter how much I was enjoying my visit I had to leave because the kids had to go on with their schedule and it was 7 p.m. Please pray for this orphanage, Victoria the caretaker and many kids that we know by name who come to VTC. Pray for Zhenya, Max, Igor, Sasha, Sergey, Grisha, Vanya, Sasha girl, Katya, Sveta, Ksusha, Lena, and many others. Thank you.
Two weeks ago Vicka our graduate helped us to found additional teacher for VTC computer class for the morning Saturday group. That morning we have Ilya, Vitalik and Kostya who have been begging me to teach them something more interesting other than Office 2007 programs. Katya is our new teacher. She is teaching our guys how to use Adobe Photoshop. I told the boys that they need to show interest toward it because Katya spends two hours one way to get to us every Saturday morning. She is our volunteer and I pay her 250 rubles ($7.50) per Saturday to cover her transportation cost. I personally have never used this program and Kostya was taking a different class so I joined Ilya and Vitalik. This was fun because I learned something new myself, but Ilya constantly was using bad words and wanted to play his games. Thus, I end up telling him that he needs to change his attitude and participate in the class. As you read this now you know why our VTC has two levels: introductory and professional.
Our introductory level tries to accomplish following areas:
a. Increase our influence among more orphans and orphanage directors
b. Expose as many orphans as possible to as many career possibilities as possible
c. Love on the kids, develop relationship with as many as possible, be a step to leading them to Christ
d. Using this as a screening process to find good candidates for future The Harbor participants
Last week Victoria from the orphanage #18 could not bring our participants so we had a much short day than usual. In the afternoon we were supposed to have a group of six “graduate” orphans from four different orphanages who want to study at our VTC. We have arranged for them to arrive around 3 p.m., but at 4 p.m. only two arrived: Sasha from orphanage #51 and Vicka from orphanage #8. I have mentioned Sasha in my previous blog entry that have graduated from technical college as a barber, but currently is working at Sport Master Store. Vicka from the orphanage #8 is currently studying landscape design at a technical college. This is her first year and she has two more to go. Prior to that she studied computers for four years and knows them pretty well. She would like to major in computer design so this is what she wants to take at our VTC. Thus, I need to find another teacher that would teach computer design. If you have any connections in St. Petersburg and know someone who can teach computer design please let me know. Please pray that we can quickly find someone to teach this class. We are hoping to meet with four other orphans that did not come sometime this week and figure out how they can participate in our VTC. In addition, Luba received a call from the orphanage #46 that has three graduates and their former caretaker who are interested to come to our VTC to study English. Luba asked me to teach this class for now until we find someone else. Thus, now I have additional class at VTC so I am teaching two classes on Saturday, two classes on Monday and potentially another class either Monday evening or sometime Friday. Please pray for continuous classes at VTC and for the lives to be transformed.
My plate is getting even fuller and I need a rake to sort some things out of my plate. I know that many of you are deeply and sincerely concerned for my well being especially mentally and spiritually. Yes, I won’t hide that at times I feel lonely and have no support here. Yet, I know that my Father is with me. I understand the importance of spending time with Him on daily basis and in prayer throughout the day so that I stay spiritually strong. I do everything I can to stay closely connected to my Father. I know that He is the priority in my life and must be the center of my heart. He is and I am thankful for that. Mentally is another story. I do feel lonely primarily because I do not have anyone in Russia anymore that I can talk to and pour out my concerns, issues, observations, etc. All of us need that person because we can keep stuff like that inside of ourselves for so long before the explosion happens. I thank the Lord that I can talk to Melinda, Clifford and Lori my friends in Columbus and my mama Sue & mama Punkin. I am not sure I would make without them. Please pray for my mental and spiritual being.
Last Saturday I went to Lisa’s home to celebrate her birthday. She had some friends over. It was good to see them because it has been awhile since we have seen each other. However, one of her friends Alexei began to ask questions about America and making fun of American people. As most of you know that I do not allow Russians to talk negative or make jokes about America and I do the same when it comes to my American friends talking negative about Russia. This world already has plenty of negativity and most people are aware of it, but they just do nothing about it. Thus, I would prefer to see people do something about it rather than talk bad or dirty. Alexei went on to the point that I had to raise my voice and tell him that he better changed this conversation or I was going to simply leave Lisa’s home. He did change the conversation. The rest of the evening went well. Pray for the Russian people because they need the Lord badly. Pray for the American people who still do not know the Lord as their personal Savior.
On Sunday I invited Sasha and Max to the Central Calvary Chapel church. Both boys were used to in the orphanage #3. Max recently came from the military. He served in the Navy in Sevastopol, which is Ukraine region for two years. Max has been looking for a job and until he finds a job he is on unemployment support. He gets paid $600 per month, which is very nice according to the Russian standard. When I first met Max he was wearing bright white jacket, rapper’s hat and always a smile on his face, which is quite unusual for a Russian. I can tell that serving in the Navy has made him to be responsible person. He does listen to what adults tell him especially if it has to do with his future. He has many other characters that are very rare for most “graduate” orphans. Once I asked him what he wanted to do and he was not quite sure, but he did say that if he can’t find a job then he will serve in the police. Police in Russia is very corrupt and it is not the best place for someone like Max to work at so I told him that he can always work there, but now he has a chance to find something better. I challenged him to look harder for a better job and he said yes. Then he began to take English courses with Sasha, but the beginner level for Max was way too difficult so he simply quit. Instead of going to his teacher and explaining a situation he just left. A friend of mine in GA paid for his courses and it is not cheap so by leaving linguistics school he just flushed the money down the drain, which is not smart. Please pray for Max.
I met boys in the metro and we went to the church. We got some tea and since we were early I wanted to talk to Max. I noticed that something changed in him because his appearance was different. He now has very short hair cut. He was wearing dark jacket with pointy black polished shoes and dark pants. Dark colors for Russians are very common. I told Max that I care for him and his future very much. I asked him why he quit studying English and why he decided to become a police officer. Unfortunately he could not give me a concrete answer. Simply he just was giving up and this was an easy way out. I told him not to waste his life and use the chance that he has right now to do better. He has people that care for him. They are willing to help him in any way it is possible or necessary so that he comes very successful. My conversation challenged him greatly.
Pastor Boris at Calvary Chapel preached from Heb. 11 on faith, which was huge and so important for both boys. Even though Sasha is a Christian, but he is not growing spiritually because he has no one to help him to do that. Max is not a Christian yet, but he is on the edge. The message was powerful, but a bit long for the boys; yet, they stayed alert and I pray that it will sink in their hearts. At the end Pastor Boris announced that if you would like to serve in the church then you can do that. Currently they are seeking for someone who could help them operating a computer and overhead projector. I looked at Sasha and said that he can do that if he wants to. Pastor Boris came to us and introduced himself to Sasha and Max. Sasha told Pastor Boris that he is interested to help them with their need. This is exciting that he actually initiated it. When we left the church Max told me that he wanted to go home in order to process, analyze and evaluate everything that I told him and the message that he had heard. He said that his brain had a lot of data to process. I am glad to hear that he wanted to process what he had heard. I covet your prayers for Sasha and Max.
I am sure I have given you plenty of information in this entry to process and pray for during your quite times. Thank you so much.
Blessings and love,
Alex & The Harbor
Feb 09
Two weeks ago I was reading St. Petersburg Times newspaper and saw an article about new Orthodox patriarch of Russia. I found this article quite interesting and decided to share with you. Written by: Leonid Sevastyanov, Robert Moynihan (http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=28140)
Russia is a conundrum. On one hand, it is a profoundly secularized society in which traditional religious practice is sporadic and often superficial. This abandonment of the country’s traditional Orthodox faith is in part due to the period of state atheism from 1918 to 1991 and the subsequent 18 years of nihilism in which idealism is as out of fashion as religious belief. But on the other hand, Russian society longs for political idealism and religious faith.
And so Kirill, who was elected patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church on Tuesday, faces a difficult problem. Within the church, he must go beyond what his predecessor, Alexy II, accomplished over the past two decades, rebuilding the institutional structures of the church. He must fill churches, seminaries, monasteries and schools with fervent believers. Outside the church, he must persuade society to engage with the church and seek to build a post-Soviet Russia that can flourish and provide a just, prosperous life for the Russian people.
Kirill has deep convictions about the role of the Christian faith in the future of Russia and about Russia’s role in the future of Europe and the world. As he has stated on numerous occasions, he is convinced that only a return to “real values” can enable Russia and Europe to confront the current economic crisis. Moreover, he believes that Russia’s greatness, eclipsed in recent years, can only be restored by renewing its ancient Orthodox faith.
Given his relatively young age, 62, Kirill could be patriarch for the next generation. He will undoubtedly set out to fulfill a double agenda. First, he will want to build on what Alexy II accomplished during the 18 years of his patriarchate, continuing the rebuilding of the church’s ruined infrastructure. Thousands of churches have been rebuilt across Russia since 1991. Second, he could start a series of new initiatives to strengthen the church’s voice and influence in Russian society.
The new patriarch can be expected to reopen schools, expand seminaries, renew monasteries and in general restore the outward signs of Russian Orthodox religious life. But Kirill, who was the key figure behind the unprecedented promulgation of the church’s social teaching in a document in 2000, can also be expected to take bold new steps to go beyond renewing the institutional structure of the church.
One big question concerns his relations with the pope and with the Roman Catholic Church. Kirill will be looking for allies in his effort to move Russian and European society in a religious direction. But he will not strive for a theocratic state. Indeed, it is precisely his acceptance of the need for dialogue with non-Christians in a modern, pluralistic state that has prompted some of the more conservative elements in the Orthodox church to be sharply critical of him as too “progressive.”
Kirill, who has been serving for eight weeks as “interim patriarch,” made his thoughts clear in a sermon he delivered on Jan. 6 at a Christmas Eve service held at Christ the Savior Cathedral. Kirill invited those present, including President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, to be valiant during the current economic crisis.
The word “crisis” comes from the Greek meaning “decision,” Kirill said. He said that today, decisions have been affected by attitudes such as “greed, loss of control over consumption, a bid to enrich oneself by all means and have as much as possible.” He said the crisis began when people forgot true values, and that further crises could be avoided if those values provided the foundation for the economy.
Kirill has his own vision for the future of Europe. In an address to the Third European Ecumenical Assembly in Sibiu in September 2007, Kirill said that in order for Europe to survive the tribulations that have befallen previous civilizations, it must retain its Christian identity. An increasing number of Europeans — Christians and non-Christians alike — have come to recognize “Christianity [as] a powerful source of support for European civilization,” he said.
At the same time, Kirill was careful to explain that this does not imply that “there is no room” in Europe “for people of other religions and with other outlooks on the world.”
With Kirill’s appointment as patriarch, Russian society opens a new page in its history.
Leonid Sevastyanov is general director of StratinvestRu and a consultant to the Moscow Patriarchate. Robert Moynihan is president of the Urbi et Orbi Foundation.
Feb 05
It is amazing the first month of this year is over. Another week has gone by and it was full of exciting activities.
On Monday morning I met with Sasha Skvortcov who was used to in the orphanage #3. He was a social orphan, but couple years ago his mother got her parental rights back and he went home. There are three other siblings. He is happy to be living at home even though it is challenging financially at times. Note: What happened to Sasha is very rare. Most families once they have lost their parental rights do not try to get it back. Currently Sasha is studying at the university to become a programmer and he is also taking intensive English courses.
He has a friend in America who asked me to help Sasha with English so we have been meeting for three-hour study sessions. The first time I met him I found out that he is a believer. However, he does not go to the church and just now began to read the Bible. He is reading the Bible, but not studying it. I explained to him the importance of the Bible and he needs to study the Word of life verse by verse and meditate on it day by day. Of course, this was a new concept for him, but he was open to hear and accept what I said. From now on when we meet we frequently read the Bible and talk about Jesus Christ, hope, salvation and purpose for Sasha’s life. Please pray for Sasha’s spiritual growth, family, studies at the university, English classes, future plans, wisdom and patience.
On Monday afternoon I went to Sport Master Store where I had to buy clothes for Arthur. There are four or five Sport Master stores in the city, but I went to a particular one because Sasha Grinevich who was at the orphanage #51 works there. He told me to come to his store so that he would give me an employee discount. We agreed to meet at 1 p.m., but when I showed up he was not there. I called him and he said he was going to be late by forty minutes, hmm. When he finally came I purchased nice tennis shoes and a sweater, but then I found out that the store was having a special sale where everything was 50% off, but Sasha’s employee discount was 36% off; thus, the store sale had a much better deal. Then Sasha and I went to McDonalds and we grabbed a quick bite to eat.
Sasha is 24 years old and he was at the orphanage #51 for about nine years. He had very difficult time at this orphanage. He felt lonely and lost. If not for Lenina who was a caregiver, he probably would have committed suicide, which is what Sasha told me when we got together about three weeks ago. Sasha has three other siblings and his mother is mentally unstable. He now lives with his family. Sasha “graduated” from the orphanage about five years ago. He completed technical college with a barber degree. He worked as a barber for a while, but realized that he cannot handle pressure and stress so he found a job at Sport Master where he works as sales consultant. He likes that job a lot, but still feels hopeless and lost. When we met we talked a lot about God and purpose for his life according to the Bible. He said something that caught my attention. He has been visiting orphanages and cutting kids hair. I asked him why he did that and he said because he wants to help. I was pleasantly surprised because it is so awesome to see someone who wants to give back to the least of these. Sasha asked me to call him when I go to different orphanages so that he can go with me and cut hair because this is his passion. Please pray for Sasha’s family, job, ministry to orphans cutting hair and being open to hear the gospel.
On Tuesday I was supposed to work with Rick and Jane’s mission group at the orphanage #8, but due to 65th anniversary of the end of the Siege they canceled the group and did cultural activity. Thus, I had to make other plans for the day. In the afternoon I met with Vicka and Nastya our graduates. I have mentioned them in my previous blog. We went to Pizza Hut for a lunch and then went for a walk on Nevskiy. When we were at Pizza Hut Nastya asked me a question, “Alex is The Harbor a cult?” What a question. Note: Nastya is not a Christian and had a lot of struggles even after graduating from our ministry. I had no idea how difficult it was for her. While at The Harbor she became very good friend with Vicka, but there was still no trust. Once Nastya was under drug influence and she called Vicka and said, “You probably are not going to like me anymore and will want to forget me.” Vicka said, “I will love you no matter what just as Christ loves us.” Nastya was shocked by that response, which has changed her. Since then she quit smoking, drinking and using drugs. Now she is working in the hospital as a nurse. Please pray for Nastia.
Now I want to go back to Nastya’s question. In addition, to her question whether The Harbor is a cult or not, she also wanted to know what we expect in return and why we help orphans. I asked Vicka to answer her question (s) first because she is a good friend of Nastya and then I answered. I shared my life story and why I have committed ten years of my life to minister to orphans. I also shared what the Word is teaching us and why Christians are called to care for the least of these. These answers have definitely made her to think and she was satisfied. Please pray for Nastya’s heart to be open for the gospel, accept Christ into her heart and for the seed to produce fruit in His time.
That evening I called the orphanage where Arthur lives to confirm my trip to Kingisepp on Wednesday. The director said that Arthur was in St. Pete. Furthermore, he was supposed to be back at the orphanage, but he was not and no one knew where he was. She gave me three different numbers where I could find him. I called those numbers, but did not find Arthur. One of the numbers was his older brother’s former guardian Anton who has been looking for Arthur and his brother George also. Thus, now we have both boys missing. I decided to try calling those numbers until I would find him, but no luck yet.
On Wednesday once again I had to change my plans and notify my friend that we were not going to go to Kingisepp. In the morning I scheduled to meet with Sasha Skvortcov. We worked for three hours and our primary focus was to prepare for his oral exam on Friday. He had ten different topics. In the afternoon I went to Eugene’s home and spent time with his family. Thus, Wednesday was somewhat relaxing day.
On Thursday I finally connected with Rick and Jane missions group. I arrived to their hotel at 10 a.m. and according to Russia that is early because some folks do not get up until eleven or later. Rick and Jane’s team had five Americans and four translators. You might wonder why so many translators because they want to make sure that every American has a translator. In the morning we went to the hospital #15. It is a special hospital, which is used as a transitional facility. When government takes children away from their families due to physical or sexual abuse, drug or alcohol use they place them into this hospital while processing the paper work. Kids can stay up to six months and then get transferred into an orphanage. On our team we had Meredith, Stephanie, Dasha, Anya and I. Anya works at the hospital as a mentor. She took us to the second floor where they had twelve babies and toddlers. We went into the room where there were four children. One boy was standing in the crib jumping and crying. Every one of us picked up one child and we were holding, playing, singing Christian songs to them and loving on them. Based on my practice/experience I know that children who are not used to male typically get scared, but these children were not. I picked a baby thinking it was a boy, but Anya pointed out to me that it was a girl. I then noticed a list hanging on the wall that had children’s names. The girl I was holding was Diana, Meredith was holding Aziza, Dasha was holding Sasha and Stephanie was holding Renat. We noticed that Aziza had a fever. It is sad that she was sitting in the crib with a fever and no one was trying to help her. I would not say that she was fully neglected, but one nurse can help limited number of kids at a time. When we laid down kids into their cribs they were screaming and crying. I realized that this was my opportunity to lay my hands, pray and kiss every single one of them so I did that. I prayed for peace, love and protection. When I left the room they were quite and I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit. Please pray for Aziza, Diana, Sasha and Renat. Please pray for the staff at this hospital.
Sasha
Me and Diana
Meredith and Aziza
Stephanie and RenatIn the afternoon we went to the orphanage #13. On our way we stopped by Teremok crepes kiosk and bought for lunch tons of crepes with different fillings. We brought them into hotel and quickly ate them because the minivan was waiting for us to go to the orphanage. The orphanage #13 has never had any foreign visitors before so you can imagine how thrilled the kids were. It is actually not an orphanage, but a boarding school/internat that has 32 children. The group brought a lot of games and planed to do a skit. We played games for about an hour and then Meredith shared a story about God’s love. The older kids were loud so it was hard for the little ones to concentrate. When Meredith finished sharing a story we played more games. One of the games we played was Old Maid a card game. The kids were thrilled especially because in Russian I called it babusya “a granny”. The boys were piling on me and punching me during the game. This has given us a great bonding moment. Right before we left Rick and Jane brought some clothes, but I guess the kids were not thrilled with it that much because nowadays the state gives nicer clothes than it did ten years ago. I guess they have been spoiled a little. We did leave some clothes for the girls.
On Friday in the morning the group went to the Hermitage so I did not arrive to the hotel until 2 p.m. The minivan arrived around 2:30 p.m. and we went to the orphanage around 3 p.m. This time Meredith was planning to do a skit with the kids. We chose three kids and they were thrilled because they were actors. Then we broke into small play groups. One group was going to go outside to play Frisbee and soccer in the winter and it was 10 F that day. I guess only in Russia or Alaska you would do that. I was going to go outside, but the boys begged me to stay inside and play babusya card game. They were screaming and going nuts. It was a blast. One of the caretakers Zinaida Alexandrovna who likes to talk came to me and began to ask questions. Somehow we end up talk about God and religion. I told her that I was a former orphan and found the Lord through American missionaries. The Lord had rescued me and has called me to minister to the least of these ten years ago. She said that you cannot fully know the Lord and I said, “Yes you can through the Bible.” This was an amazing conversation. She shared with me a story of being healed from cancer and losing her husband due to cancer. I find this story very fascinating. Please pray for Zinaida Alexandrovna.
The same day a young man Anton came to this orphanage for a visit. He was used to at the orphanage #20, but it was closed and a family has decided to become his guardian so he lives with them now. Rick has known Anton for ten years and he talked to me about Anton being a potential for our vocational training center. I had a conversation with him and he seemed somewhat interested, but little bit confused. We agreed to connect the next morning and visit our VTC on Saturday. I was talking to Anton downstairs and an assistant director was sitting there also. She overheard our conversation and came and said to me that she was interested in our VTC. Furthermore, she said that I should be careful with Anton because he uses and smuggles drugs. When she told me that then I knew why Anton seemed little bit confused because he was under drug influence. The assistant director Elena Dmitrievna is a strict and Soviet minded lady. She requested info about our VTC and organization. I am thrilled because we are currently looking for additional participants for VTC. The group was going to take this orphanage to play bowling and have lunch at KFC. Please pray for Elena Dmitrievna, the kids at the orphanage #13 and Anton.
On Saturday I could not join the group because I teach all day at our VTC. In the morning Anton called me, but I missed his call. We were supposed to connect in order to go to our VTC so that he could get an idea what we do. I called him back, but received a message that his phone was blocked so there was no way for me to connect with him. The night before Dasha who worked with Rick and Jane told me to be careful with Anton because he is steals. On my way to VTC apartment Ira called me and said that she could not get in and wanted to know when I was going to come. I was about fifteen minutes away. When I arrived Tatiana was there also and both of them were waiting outside for twenty minutes and it was 0 F that day. We did not know why we could not open the door and we thought that someone tried to break in. We had no choice, but to call the emergency service. We were told that we had to wait for an hour so we went to a nearby café and sat there. I tried to call Anton again, but no luck and he did not call me either. Thus, I began to wonder if the Lord was protecting us from Anton since I have gotten a warning and could not get through his phone and the lock was broken. It seemed to me that it was not meant for Anton to come to our VTC. We had to cancel our morning class, which was a disappointment. The emergency service arrived around noon and it took a gentleman to get into our apartment about ten minutes. He explained to us that no one was trying to break into our apartment. The lock that we have is not meant for outside use so there was a condensation and the water froze inside of the lock. His ten minute service cost us $60 which is ridiculous. I told him that we are a charity and help orphans so could he give us a discount, but he replied, “No, we are commerce and do not give any discounts.” That day we also did not have any hot water or central heating system so it was freezing in the apartment. Three of us made some tea and coffee and sat in the computer room with turned on computers so that it would generate some heat. We end up sitting, talking and praying for four hours before our evening class came. Our evening group went well. Quite a Saturday I would say. Please pray for the Lord’s protection over our VTC, for successfully locating new bigger space, identifying and inviting new participants and the presence of the Holy Spirit.
On Sunday I went to Calvary Chapel Central church. That evening I called Arthur brother’s guardian Anton. We had a long conversation about Arthur and George. I also shared my life story and what I do. Anton said that George called him Saturday night saying that he is ok, but still no word from Arthur. We have agreed to connect sometime in couple of days and see if Arthur decides to get in touch with his brother. By law the orphanage director where Arthur lives is supposed to file a report with the police because Arthur has been missing for two weeks. George is supposed to go to a tech school, but he has not been since November 2008. Arthur is not going to school either so both boys are wasting their life. George was in the juvenile detention and Anton helped him to get into a tech school once he was released. He has invested so much time and effort into George, but he is not getting it. Arthur also has some issues with authorities and if he does something criminal than he will go into juvenile detention also. It is so disappointing that these young men are acting like blind and deaf even after what they have gone through. I am still planning to connect with both brothers and make a trip to Kingisepp. Please pray for Arthur and George.
Well, this blog entry is long enough so I am going to close for now. I covet your prayers. Will you commit to be prayer intercessors for The Harbor residents, graduates, staff, VTC, orphans, and people that we minister to because they greatly need that. Thank you.
Thank you for your love, kindness, passion, and commitment.
Love and blessings,
The Harbor & Alex
