Priorities

The last week was crazy.  I barely had enough time to sleep and entered the weekend extremely tired, physically.  Why?  Well, God blessed Oles and I by our engagement and we had to run around Kiev last week trying to fill out paper work in order for me to stay here in Ukraine past my 90 days.

So we were doing all the paperwork and traveling on top of all the normal stuff I do every week here. I was also thinking a lot about English clubs and how to prepare for it, how to conduct it etc, and it was exhausting, just thinking bout where to start.

Last night I expressed to Oles all my concerns about my schedule and confusion about how I should prioritize my time here in Kiev.  So, we got out my phone and made a list of how my priorities should be so that I can most glorify God with my time. So far today, I have referred to several times to check myself and how I'm using my time.

Priorities:

1. My prayer life and time in meditation - listening for the Holy Spirit and what he's telling me to do. 

2. Reading and learning scripture (basically just as important as number one, because they always go together).

3. Filling any free time with preaching, reading christian books, other spiritual things that will help me to grow in my relationship with God.

4. Quality time with my parents and sisters.  I need to schedule regular times each week when I can just meet with them individually to talk and spend time together, because before I am married, they are my next priority in relationships next to God.  Make sure to pray about them everyday and tell them I am praying for them.Ephesians 6:1-4 "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord"

5. Care about my roommates and their physical and spiritual needs.  They are my closest neighbors, and the bible says I should care about my neighbors.  Mark 12:31 "The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”"

6. Care about Oles, my fiancee, and his needs.

7. My personal time of rest - specifically caring for my physical needs

8. All of my ministries - including English clubs, orphanage visits, children's ministry

9. Time spent with other friends and planning my life (wedding stuff specifically)

10. Learning Russian

This might not be the perfect order for everything in my life, but generally, on the level of importance for growing God's kingdom and storing up treasures in heaven, I think this is how my priorities should be.

The last few weeks I've realized that my priorities are not right most of the time here in Ukraine.  I think this is due partly my sinful nature as a human being, partly my personality, and partly my American culture clashing with Ukrainian culture.  I try to put God first always, but everything after that can often fall in any order of importance in my mind, and it usually causes me stress when I realize I haven't done something that is important.  It's a daily challenge to figure out the best way to manage my time, especially when I'm still experiencing cultural shock every day (language, people, transportation, culture, food, etc...)

Today I prayed that God would fill me first with the longing for him and his word, and second that He would fill me with the love for others, more than the love for myself.

Please pray for me, that I will continue to seek God first above all things and make Him the highest priority and the most precious relationship in my life.  He is indeed worthy of my time and my affections!

Matt 6:33 "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

Practicing patience

Part of my ministry here in Ukraine is teaching English to the church staff.  When the pastors proposed this idea to me about 8 months ago it sounded great!  I would be helping the church a lot by this service and it would help them to serve in many of the church's ministries!

Well, little did I know exactly how difficult it would be to meet one-on-one with a non-English speaking person to talk about English grammar!

For instance: My student the other day told me (through google translate :) that she can't pronounce the "th" sound in English.  I thought to myself, well...I certainly can't tell you how to pronounce it!  It's just one of those things that's natural to me, but not to her.  I found this cartoon on the internet that looked a little like what we were trying to accomplish (but no teeth falling out lol) :)

The most difficult thing for me is when they just don't get it, and no matter how many times I try to explain or translate, it just doesn't work.  I feel like I have failed them sometimes, and this was especially hard to cope with the other day.  I felt like, because of our language barrier, we couldn't be as productive in learning English.  That certainly is true, but I don't think I was giving God enough credit for the power that He holds over this situation. And, it was sinful for me to become discouraged over that situation.  I am remembering now more than ever that:   "“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me." 2 Cor 12:19

Please pray for the English ministry here in Ukraine.  So far the lessons with the staff are going fine, but it's challenging for sure, and takes a lot of patience and encouragement from God.  We're likely going back to the orphanage this weekend to visit the kids again, but please pray for this also so that we may continue spreading Christ's love to them!

Some things about Ukraine I've noticed

Any time I meet a new person, either at church or our in public and they find out I'm an American, they immediately start asking me questions.  I think the top 2 questions I get asked are:

- What is strange for you here?
- Why did you come to Ukraine?

Both of these questions reveal they people's shock that I choose to come and live here.
When I was asked the first question it was hard to think of an answer.  What is really strange for me here?

Well, after living here for 5 weeks now, I've come to a few ideas of things that are out of the usual for me.  Not bad, just different.  Some of them are quite funny, at least I think so :)

1. Public transportation in Ukraine:

a. The cheapest, fastest and cleanest way to get around is by the metro.  The metro is one of the best and easiest to use systems in Europe.  Here's a few pictures:

Here's a map of the metro stations.

 Here's a typical picture of what the metro looks like here in Kiev.

I experience peak rush hour yesterday in the metro, where we are literally going at a snail's pace.

b.  The Marshutka

This is probably the worst way to get around because of the bad condition of the road surfaces, really dangerous drivers around the bus, potential to ride with an intoxicated bus driver, the bus itself is really old and usually hot, it's usually too crowded to sit down, and the cost is usually more expensive than the metro and you travel much shorter distances.

One day last week I traveled to Oles's home to care for him when he was really sick.  So the only way to get to that region of Kiev is by bus.  Well, the first bus didn't even stop for me, so I waited for the second bus and barely squeezed on.  We were packed in like sardines!  Instead of being frustrated I just laughed to myself and thanked God that nobody around me smelled like B.O. lol.  The bus ride was 40 minutes, and about   of them I spent packed in around other people.  It was a first time experience for me!

c. Train
I have yet to really ride the real trains here in Ukraine, because I haven't travelled outside of the city by train yet.  Most people who travel within and outside of Ukraine take the trains.  I hear they are not very comfortable and very crowded, but maybe I'll get the chance to go sometime in the future!  These are the kind of trains you can actually sleep on!

2. Food products: 
"Yep, I'm in Ukraine" - this is the thought that goes through my head sometimes when I see something really different than I'm used to.

As far as food products go, the cheaper the product, the worse the quality is.  This would include milk, butter and all kind of packaged products.

a. Milk - It was surprising to me to hear that because Ukrainian farming has been on the decline there are not enough cows to meet the demand for milk.  Thus, all milk is imported in powder form from China and rehydrated here and sold as liquid milk!  When I found this out, I thought "I knew there was something strange about this milk!"  Milk smells and tastes really strange here, so since it comes from the powder form, that explains everything! (I'm a Registered Dietitian, so I know about food :)

You see those colorful bags at the bottom shelf?  That's bagged milk!  I never heard of such a thing! lol

b. Butter - In America we only have 3 main types: Margarine (which isn't butter), salted and unsalted butter.  In Ukraine they have every percentage of butter you can think of from 56% butter to 82.6% butter.  So needless to say I stood in front of the butter isle for 15 minutes trying to figure out which one to buy based on price and percentage.  Generally I buy the more expensive, high percentage one, (which is only $1.25 for 200 grams).  At least if I go that way I'm more likely to get a better product.

c. Yogurt products - They have more yogurt and yogurt-like products here than I have heard of in my life.  They also have things like Kefir and drinkable yogurt, but some things I've tried tasted like liquid cheese or really sour milk. :P  Fortunately, I found one drinkable yogurt I like, so I stick to that one.

d. There's no peanut butter here!  This speaks for itself, and is slightly sad, so I guess I'll have to learn to live without it!

e. Coffee - You can tell that Ukrainians are a tired people by how many coffee shops and "coffee carts" are all over the city.  It's just like in America where you have a Starbucks on every corner.  By the way there's no Starbucks in Ukraine at all!  So that means no pumpkin spice lattes for me this fall!

Here's a typical coffee cart - you can get a good latte for about $1-2 here depending on where you are in the city :)

Kofe House - "кофе хауз" - A common coffee shop in Kiev

There's other things that are different for me, like all the poor people everywhere (especially elderly people).  Ukraine does not have a social security system like we have in America, so most of these people are fired from their jobs when they get too old and end up begging on the streets.  It's a very sad reality.

There's also stray dogs and cats everywhere, which is really unusual, but you get used to seeing them all the time, and they are pretty harmless.

It's funny that the weather here is almost exactly like Blacksburg weather: unpredictable, really strong winds that come from nowhere, etc...If you're a Hokie, you know what I'm talking about! ;)


SO...the next question is always: why did you decide to come to Ukraine?
People just don;t seem to understand why I would move to a place that is less comfortable, and especially when I don't know Russian or have any family here.  I tell them:  It was God's will for my life.  I came here once before to serve the orphans and knew it was His will, after 6 months of praying, for me to return, and hopefully long-term :)

There's many strange things about Ukraine, but I really love it here, and it already feels like home!

The most important thing for me to remember is that God brought me here and He has total control over my life.  He will equip me with every tool I need to live in this new culture and to do ministry here.  I try to think about everything as a new experience and a new opportunity for God to teach me something, and help me trust Him more :)

Even though everything around me is different, there's constant stress from the environment and it's easy to get discouraged, I remember a few things:

Hebrews 13:8 
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."


Deuteronomy 28:1-68
"And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. .."



Romans 15:13
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope."

So far God has helped me to enhance my trust in Him, and abound in the hope that He is working all things around me for my good!

Thanks for reading, ministry updates to come soon!

Sufferings

One of the most famous and most quoted scripture is Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

I have found this verse extremely comforting, especially in suffering, because it is a promise.  It is a promise that God can work ALL things for our good.  "All things" includes the good things and the very bad things.  God has the power and He will work even our greatest sufferings for our GOOD!

Right now in our church, a godly wife and mother may have cancer, and death could be a very real thing for her.  In addition, one of the godly families in our church had a miscarriage.

When I learned about these sufferings, I immediately went into prayer for these families.  I was hurting for them both, so I prayed for comfort, but above all I prayed that they would see that God works all things for their good, because they love Him.

I am realizing more than ever, how suffering is a great faith builder.  This is probably one of the reasons why Jesus said "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Jesus told us we would experience tribulation, and we would suffer.  But we can have peace in Him, and we can trust Him, because He has already overcome the world through the cross and His resurrection!

How trustworthy is our Lord!  How great is our God, that He can use even the worst things in this world to help us grow closer to Him!

Peter also said that "And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you." 1 Peter 5:10

What a beautiful promise from God! When we suffer, it can feel like the suffering will never end.  But God gave us this promise, that in comparison to eternity, we will only suffer a "little while".  And whether or not God delivers us from our suffering before we die, or through death, we will no longer suffer once we are reunited with Christ! For in Revelation it says "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Rev 21:4)

We can be assured that not only does God work all our sufferings for our good during this lifetime, but that He will remove our sufferings from us in Heaven.  He will wipe every tear from our eyes, restore, confirm, strengthen and establish us for an eternity with Him!

I am continuing in prayer for the families in our church that are suffering right now.  I will continue to pray that God will be all comforting to them and that through all this they will continue to trust in Him alone.  Please join me in this prayer for all believers who are suffering right now, and that in the future when we all suffer, that God will be our source of joy, comfort, strength and hope.

To the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

God is Sovereign

I am now reading in the book of Daniel, and particularly, I have been meditating on the Sovereignty of God in regards to my ministry here in Ukraine.  One chapter especially made me think about this.

In chapter 4, Daniel interprets King Nebuchadnezzar's dream about the large tree that was cut down.

²⁴ “This is the interpretation, Your Majesty, and this is the decree the Most High has issued against my lord the king:²⁵ You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like the ox and be drenchedwith the dew of heaven. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes. ²⁶ The command to leave the stump of the tree with its roots means that your kingdom will be restored to you when you acknowledge that Heaven rules. ²⁷ Therefore, Your Majesty, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue. ”

²⁸ All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. ²⁹ Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, ³⁰ he said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the gloryof my majesty?”

³¹ Even as the words were on his lips, a voice came from heaven, “This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you. ³² You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like the ox. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes.”

³³ Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like the ox. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.

³⁴ At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever.

His dominion is an eternal dominion;

    his kingdom endures from generation to generation. 

³⁵ 

All the peoples of the earth

    are regarded as nothing. 

He does as he pleases 

    with the powers of heaven

    and the peoples of the earth.

No one can hold back his hand 

    or say to him: “What have you done?”

³⁶ At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before.³⁷ Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble. 

When I read this I was amazed that the king was so proud that it took 7 years of suffering and insanity for him to acknowledge that God is the most high God and He is almighty, giving power to who He wishes to give power to.  I payed special attention to verse 37 "Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble."

Sometimes, it seems that God allows prideful people to walk around on the earth and do what they please, doing all kinds of evil.  Because of this the children of God may look to their father and say "Please God, humble them so that they may know you!"  I have asked God this question many times about people who I've spoken the Gospel to, yet seen no response in their hearts.

Something this situation in Daniel reminds me of is that God is sovereign.  He has the choice and free will to do as He pleases with anyone.  He chose to let Nebuchadnezzar rule over all the people until one day in the perfect timing, God drive him to insanity for the perfect amount of time it would take for Nebuchadnezzar to come before God, humbled.

"Those who walk in pride, He is able to humble"   God can, and He will (eventually) humble all people before Him.   Romans 14:11 "For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”"

There will be a day when every single person on the earth will know and admit that God is God.  Until then, God will choose who He wishes to humble.  This is indeed even humbling tfor me to hear this!  Only God has the power to change hearts, I don't.  If God allows me to, I can be used as an instrument of His work.  In ministry this is a really good thing for me to remember; God has control, He will choose who He wishes to bring before Him in repentance, so I have no need to worry about whether people will repent or not, God already knows.

Something else that is relevant that I remember: Isaiah 55:10-11

"As the rain and the snow

    come down from heaven,

and do not return to it

    without watering the earth

and making it bud and flourish, 

    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 

¹¹ 

so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

    It will not return to me empty, 

but will accomplish what I desire

    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."

What have I concluded from all this scripture and studying?
God is sovereign, and He will humble who He chooses to humble for now.  I am only a tool, and I should expect that God will do what He plans with my ministry, and not worry about the results.  God will take care of everything, in the right time.

Introversion discovered

If there's one thing about my personality that I've realized since I've been here in Ukraine it is that I have become an introvert.  

The perfect example was this past Sunday when I went with a large group of mostly Russian speakers to the river after church.  For the most part they are just like my friends in the states, they have fun in the same way and interact in a similar way with each other.  However, the biggest difference here is just the language.  There's quite a few English speakers in the church but the group I ended up hanging out with after church turned out to be mostly Russian speaking that day.

What I've realized is this: It's hard for me to initiate conversation with anyone who doesn't speak English.  I just don't know what to say sometimes!  It's so strange, because in the states I would consider myself an extrovert by nature!  I love being with people, and I really don't like to be alone most of the time, but for some reason, the Russian company here just doesn't stimulate my extroversion.

Another example (that actually is pretty typical of me here): Last night after Home group, I traveled back with Oles and our friend, who only speaks Russian.  He was using Oles as a translator, and he was initiating all the conversation.  After about 10 minutes Oles said to me "He's trying to talk with you, maybe you could ask him something too?"  I was a little surprised, thinking "Oh, man, what am I supposed to say?"  I thought for a minute and came up with a question for him, which kept the conversation rolling.  I'm glad Oles prompted me to ask some questions in response, because I might not have thought to do it on my own, and our conversation might not have been as fruitful as it was!

I think this introversion may just be a part of the transitional period as I get used to being surrounded by a foreign language.  I certainly hope so, because once we start the English clubs for non-believers, I'll be in charge of starting conversation and leading the students in a conversational topic to learn English!

On Monday I met with a missionary family who has lived here in Ukraine for 7 years (they are from Texas).  They said, if I am an introvert, that's a good thing, because they tend to become less frustrated and do better in the long-term with the language barrier.  That's based on their experience and what they have seen in other people here from the states.

But aside from my introversion, I'm not worried about it, and I'm not worried about anything to be more specific!  God has been very faithful throughout time providing for His children's needs, and I know He'll provide me just what I need in ministry here too!  I believe and hope in His future grace in my life and that's all I really need!

Philippians 4:19 "And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus."

I will start teaching English soon, so stay tuned!! :)

Stories of some of the orphans

Vorzel, Ukraine is one of the hundreds of places in Ukraine where there is a orphanage.  Vorzel is about an hour outside of the center of Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine.  Most orphanages in Ukraine are not as good as this orphanage.  The reasons seem to stem all from God's grace on this orphanage.

Almaz, an evangelical Christian church in Kiev, is the church who spearhead the ministry to the orphans at Vorzel.  The church has cared for these orphans for the many years now and God has provided volunteers from Ukraine and many places in the US to come to Vorzel and minister to the orphans and caregivers through construction projects, playing with the kids, and showing them the love of Christ.  Over the last year, most of the children (who can read) have received a children's Bible.  Every summer our team from Virginia Tech comes to Ukraine to care for the orphans.  This trip last year was my first trip to Ukraine.  Now, I'm here for the second time, and I'm hoping to stay for as long as God wants me to stay here!  I know for now it is 3 months, and I pray that if God is willing He will enable me to stay longer to continue working here in Ukraine.

The last two weeks in Vorzel were a wonderful way to start ministry here in Ukraine.  This year there were many different children than last year, so it was exciting to meet them and be able to minister to a new group of kids (and exciting that some of the kids from last year are now adopted).  On the other hand, it's also a little sad, that there are so many new orphans.  Some of the kids are perfectly healthy and beautiful, and it's hard to imagine how any parent could give up such a child.  Sometimes my heart just breaks for these children, because I know that these years may be the only happiest years of their whole lives.  Life is very hard for orphans in Ukraine and the system works against their integration into normal society once they get older.  The boarding schools the kids go to after the orphanage are tough places, where some kids never make it out alive.  Once they turn 18 they are turned out of the schools, left to be on their own, with no knowledge of how to function in Ukrainian culture and society.  This is why so many of them turn to drugs, gangs, crime, prostitution or other avenues.  For these children it will take God's grace to make any changes in their lives, and to give them a hope for the future (spiritually and physically here in the earth)

Here are a few stories of the kids at the orphanage:

Lierra (Pronounced Lerra)

This little girl is about 2-2.5 years old.  She doesn't talk much, but she is really easy to communicate with.  She is always smiling and always running around finding a new place to play.  She's pretty easy to entertain and I even was able to teach her (and also another little girl, Sabrina) some English words like up and down.  If I had the opportunity to adopt her and her brother, I would, if God blessed me to do so.

Nikita

Lierra's brother, and he has a fiery, adventurous personality.  We believe they probably came from different dad's since they don't look alike at all.  He's always running around doing something that boys like to do.  He loves riding on a bike, now that we finished the sidewalk for them to ride on.

Nina

Nina is the middle sister of three sisters (Nadia, Nina and Oksana).  She was at the orphanage last year with her two sisters.  Now Nadia is gone, because her mother took her back home.  Unfortunately, w=from what we hear, Nadia is not living in the best conditions even though she is with her mom.  Please pray for her protection and for God's care.  Nadia, Nina and Oksana were all at the orphanage because their mom has 8 children and they are the youngest ones, that she could not afford to care for.  Because they still have a mom who has parental rights, they can not be adopted, even though they are technically orphans.
Nina is a really sweet girl, and like to do things that little girls typically do.  She has a girlfriend at the orphanage, Karina, and Nina loves taking pictures.  This year she even developed a crush on one of the guys from the Almaz team.  It was kind of cute.  Nina also remembered me from last year, which was surprising, but exciting at the same time.

Oksana 

She is the youngest of the three sisters.  She is quiet and really sweet.  She doesn't fight as much as some of the other kids do and she is in general a pretty happy child.  She likes to blow bubbles and put on lip gloss (that one guy on our team brought for her)

There were 4 kids at the orphanage that are siblings from the same family.  This is usually uncommon to see so many kids come from the same family.  Their story is sad, but paints a real picture of things that happen in this world.  They had a family up until their dad died in a car accident.  When their dad died, their mom could no longer afford to care for them, and so she was forced to give them up (likely because of financial reasons).  People generally struggle to make it by in Ukraine because jobs are scarce, pay is low, and the cost of living is high, especially in the cities like Kiev. Below are the pictures of the 4 kids.

Sasha and the smallest brother, Stopa (from the 4 siblings)

Sasha is probably the oldest of the four siblings, which is why he seems to be the most responsible one. He especially looks after his smallest brother, Stopa.  Sasha knows some English and understands us sometimes when we talk to him in English and broken Russian.  Sasha and Justin made a great bond with Seth from our team, the son of Jim Pace (Our VT team's pastor).  

Justin, one of the older brothers of the 4 siblings

He has an immense heart and is a hard worker.  The whole 2 weeks while we did construction, he wanted to help in any way he could.  He a small guy, so there wasn't much for him to really help with, but almost every day the guys on our team graciously found some way he could help (sweeping the dirt, moving wooden 2x4's, watering the concrete, etc.)  He is a great helper and a very sweet boy.

Juliana, the sister of the 4 siblings

When we asked her what she wanted to be when she grows up, she said "A mommy".  You can usually find her playing mommy with her baby doll.

Dianah

 Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to hear her whole story, but she has been at the orphanage for the last year.  It seems that she has some mild cognitive delay, but no one knows for sure.  She doesn't really talk and she plays differently than the other children.  I played with only her for several hours one day, helping her climb up and go down the slide, walk around the play ground and play in the sand box.  She is really quiet and really sweet.  I look forward to spending more time with her in the future.

Masha

This sweet little girl has the sweetest, shyest smile I've seen of all the kids at Vorzel.  She's probably about 2 years old and she doesn't talk.  She gets very attached to the person she is playing with and gets very upset when someone leaves her.  Over all she is really quiet and sweet.  I really loved spending time with her.  As far as I know, she does not have any parents.

Sabrina

She is an orphan from a gypsy family who left her here in the last year.  She has some behavioral issues that will take some time to change, but she is a pretty sweet and funny little girl.  She has some scars on her right arm and the right side of her neck.  The scars are probably from a burn, but no one knows how exactly she got them.  Unfortunately, she probably came from a very neglectful home, which is why she is a little different than the other kids in her behavior.

Maxim

His story is not known to me, but he was pretty excited about this Russian children's bible we gave to him.  It's the Jesus storybook Bible, one of the best ones out there!

More stories to come soon as I continue to visit the kids at the orphanage!