If you take an abandoned child and a child from a family, dress them equally well, buy them ice cream, give them your care and smiles…then look into their eyes, you will still perceive in the eyes of the first an abandoned child…
 “My eyes….look into them and you will understand everything! Truly! You say it is difficult to understand? Well, look carefully! In my eyes you will understand why I am sad, or the opposite—why I can’t stop being happy, why I can’t read difficult words, and where I once again hid my shoes. You will understand why I again can’t complete a difficult school assignment and again don’t want to eat. You will understand whether I am deceiving you or telling the truth. You will understand that I need to hear… “I love you!” Look into my eyes, you will certainly understand!...”
 Building renovations
We thank the Lord and all our friends who have made it possible to begin renovations to the second part of the building where the Good Shepherd Shelter is located.
In 2003, thanks to the support and active participation of the Schmidt Family Foundation (B.C., Canada) and Harry Schmidt himself, we were able to purchase a former school building. At that time we fully renovated part of the building, which currently houses 50 children. We thank God that we are able to move forward in the renovation of the remainder of the building, in order to help a larger number of children. The roof has been replaced thanks to support from Mennonite Central Committee (MCC- USA/Canada). We thank the Schmidt Family Foundation (B.C., Canada) for the ability to purchase windows and a replacement floor surface for the gymnasium. Dear Harry, thank you for your understanding—our young athletes are simply delighted!
New worker, new blessing
For a long time, we prayed and searched for a person to look after our grounds. The Lord loves to delight and answer prayers—a new worker had appeared to manage our land. Oleg is bringing order and cleanliness to our grounds, and is carrying out landscaping work in the large yard around our building. Our goal is to keep the territory in good order and care for that which the Lord has entrusted to us.
 School days
Another big blessing has presented itself to us in the form of our teacher Olga Vasilievna. Olga Vasilievna has worked with us for four years now, leading the homework studies of the middle (primary school) group of children. We thank Ray Grayham for the support and ability to have a supplementary teacher for the children.
During summer vacation, we had the ability to prepare the children for the upcoming school year. Olga Vasilievna worked with the children on math and reading. Many of the children showed marked progress. However, there tend to be problems with laziness, so we continue to labor!
 According to our “statistics,” our children’s favorite school subjects are math, sports, literature, work, and drawing. Sergey Polchaninov excels in math, when he puts forth the effort, and Dasha Ustimenko is the best English student in her class. But sometimes things such as this happen: our first grader Olechka Surina (6 years old) returned from school and told us, “Today at school we formed animals from clay, and I made a turtle. I was given a very good mark and praised, but, you know, it didn’t resemble a turtle at all!...”
 Our children’s stories
At the Good Shepherd Shelter there is a little girl named Natasha Burukhina. Natasha is eleven years old. She doesn’t know her birth parents. They abandoned her at the hospital. When she was eight months old, a family took her in. They lived in Russia (Vorkuta), but problems arose in her new family, and her parents divorced. Natasha moved with her mother to Ukraine. Here, her mother began to have problems with drinking. Natasha has a difficult, but strong character and there are struggles in raising her. Difficulties arose between Natasha and her mother that they couldn’t overcome. Natasha was left completely alone. Now she has lived at the Good Shepherd Shelter for about 2 years. Natasha is a good girl and comprehends a lot. But, because of her strong character, it is difficult for her to interact with people. She tries her best to study at school and be helpful at home. And, she is the best soccer player among the girls! The boys often order her to be goalie, but she can also score goals quite well! She is exceptional, she is able to find joy in defending herself and others. The heart of this girl is strongly tied to her family, and sometimes she comes with tears and says, “Mama called me. She is drunk. She began to drink again…”.
Please pray for the fate of this girl, that the Lord would look after her future. We have faith that the Lord is our Good Shepherd. He never abandons any of us, including Natasha. Just think—God never abandons us!
Our thanks to the Lord:
We give thanks for our children and staff. We give thanks for a marvelous summer, for the opportunity to improve the health of our children at Christian camps, and for the provision to renovate the remaining part of our building. We give thanks that the children have successes and challenges in their studies, that in overcoming these challenges, they learn patience and how to strive for results.
Our prayer needs:
good health for the children and staff
spiritual rebirth in the children
strength and wisdom for the staff as they raise the children
the children’s school studies
cooperation from social services in receiving documents for the children
Our material needs:
a couch for the children’s playroom
school supplies for the children
shoes and clothing
fuel and maintenance for the van
Meal for children
Salary material support for the staff
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