The journey part 4

     In November of 2002, I made my first orphanage trip to Russia. I had corresponded with my sponsored Denis through letters. One interesting letter comes to mind. He wrote how all the sponsors had come to Russia but me. I knew that not everyone or even the majority had made the trip, but he really wanted to meet me. I was unemployed at the time and did not do well with raising funds for the trip. I figured it was not God's will as He provides for His work, but a few generous members of the church helped out the team at the last minute. I went with $20 in my pocket and returned with $3.
     The first trip landed in Mstera, Russia. The town was small, but had a lacquer box tradition. Formerly they made religious paintings; then during Soviet times the artists had to shift to fairy tales. For a small town in a more remote area, people had made good money.Post Soviet times were hard on the town. Not much developed until later. Still it was interesting to see the town (As far as Russia is concerned, I had only been to St. Petersburg twice ).

The journey starts part 2

As I reflect on the calling to help orphans, I recall one day in church in 2000. They made an announcement about sponsoring a child from Russia. Being the Russophile that God put in me, I went down to the foyer and found all these packets to sponsor an orphan. Looking over the pictures and names, I saw Denis and it only seemed natural to pick him since my name is Dennis. The picture had him in a Broncos t-shirt and about 12 years old. So I had planned to go on a trip with the church in November and tried to make arrangements, I did not manage to go. My first trip to a Russian orphanage began in November 2002. I wrote letters to Denis in Russian and prayed for him.

How did I come to helping orphans?

As I reflected over the past couple of days over this blog, I pondered "Why am I doing this?". Today in our Global Small Group, Eva Alexander shared about her work with commercial sex workers in India. She stated it was the calling to shift from a social activist in the Indian Parliament to bring the prostitutes to heaven. Then I realized my calling is to help orphans to get to heaven. My calling goes back to 2002 when I heard Henry Blackabee (Author of Experiencing God) share a message that ended with James 1:27 - to help orphans I their distress. I knew I was called to help orphans. This year I had a vision of a city in heaven with one million orphans. Somehow I am a part of this task to bring as many orphans as I can so that they may be relived of their distress and enjoy life in heaven. Now that I am focused, I hope I can do my best to partner with the Spirit of God to meet that objective.

As I look at the calling for orphans, how did the subject even come up? After leaving Germany in 2000, I moved to Colorado Springs. Actually I had to leave Germany due to a tax issue. After retiring from the Army I worked for three years at the George C. Marshall Center. I had my dream job and spoke Russian, German, and Croatian most days. Through the help of the chapel I distributed about 1,000 bibles and about the same number of Jesus videos in 20 languages over the three years. When I came up for the three year review for technical expert status, the German government decided, that I needed to come under German labor law. Well, going from 7.5% taxes for foreign earned income to 45% was going to be a challenge. However, after initiating the paperwork with the German officials, I received a letter that I had to pay back taxes for the previous 3 years. I had a contract signed in both English and German, and since it was under the Status of Forces Agreement, the Germans apparently did not have to honor it. So I was stuck in a difficult situation. I asked if I could have some time to pay. The German authorities gave me three options: pay now, leave the country, or be prosecuted and end up in a Munich prison. At least they were straight forward in laying out the options. And as you can guess, I returned to the states. Next up-from one Russian ministry to another.

The journey to further the cause of orphans

This blog begins a journey in an effort to help orphans in their distress. The scripture that motivates me to help orphans is this: Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress...James 1:27. As I develop this topic, the first part is how I came to the  conclusion to become involved in this endeavor. According to the United Nations, there are approximately 151 million orphans in the world. That would be those under 18 without parental care.  As long as I have strength, that will be my work for the rest of my life.