Orphan's Tree

Orphan Tree's comes alongside adult Russian orphans. "Orphan’s Tree was founded in 2008 to bring the benefits of family and God’s hope to orphans living in Russia who will never be adopted." (http://www.orphanstree.org/). This organization is unique, because just about any other work I can think of focuses on the orphans that are minors. From a marketing perspective, supporting the younger orphans is quite appealing. I admire Orphan Tree for their dedication to the orphans who become adults (at age 15-16...). Russia defines youth from ages 15-29. This group is stigmatized and forming groups and developing life skills and leadership is critical for these young adults to become contributing members of society.

The Mosiac model

I heard Eric from Christian Associates International talk about the Mosaic Church in Scotland. Their objective is planting churches in the post-Christian world. Eric described the church in Scotland as one that has ways to involve Christians in the community. Some of their events such as city clean up and helping the homeless even have non-Christians helping out. What I found interesting is that the church has tables for meeting. They gather for several hours and also eat together. They have formed a community. Also the number of immigrants and refugees opens many doors. Now there is quite a move of the Spirit in Iran. Many Iranians believers in Christ are fleeing to other countries. Eric talked about one family taking in an Iranian for a weekend. The family ended up having this person for one year; this experience transformed the Iranian believer.

What I am seeing for our house is an opportunity to disciple men from other countries. How this will happen, who will come, what this will look like is still to be determined. We will take in three individuals and eventually become a little church. That sense of community in which others can watch Sveta and I live out our lives according to the Spirit of God will be powerful.

New house

We bought a new house. The story is quite long, but our second attempt opened up an interesting opportunity. We will remodel the downstairs into three bedrooms (one currently), a kitchenette, and add a shower. A bathroom, family room and laundry room are already there. Our vision is to have three international students rent the rooms. That would help cover our costs and enable us to take mission trips. I would like to have orphan leaders that are going to college, but that may be later. I am not sure how this is going to unfold, but we got a really, really good deal on the house. There is much work to do to remodel the house. Depending on the pace, it could be 3 or more months before we have the place set up to take in students. As I think about being an empty Nester, having three guys from different countries is a shift in the lifestyle I envisioned, but in terms of the eternal, not a big price to disciple people from many nations.

Russia without orphans 2020

In my dissertation I ran across an article about an interview on Russian television. Russia has an initiative called "Russia without orphans." The target goal would be 2020. The initiative is quite aggressive for time lines, but a very valiant effort. I found a group called "Russia without orphans"-the site is only in Russian. The article discusses the speech of the presidential representative, Pavel Astakhov, of the "Russian Federation for Children's Rights". The prospect is very good. They say the rate of domestic foster families has grown 72% from 2009-2013. The annual decline of orphans is around 36% and the dependence on foreign adoptions down 61%. That means Russia is prospering and taking more care of its own. That is good to read, yet the youth still need mentoring for some time to come. What my role in helping mentoring orphans is still unclear. I am still seeking God for guidance for more. This blog is one on my steps to keep engaged in the process.

House hunting

The end of this week was overwhelming and I finally got back to the blog. We have been on an interesting journey these past 6 months. We sold our house and in the meantime we were trying to find a house in which we could bring in international students/orphans. Looks like our second house is about to fall through. Perhaps I am missing something, but we wanted to have a place to

One of my close friends' wife had a word from the Lord that this second house is not our house.

In my prayer time in the middle of the night, I felt I heard the Spirit say to me, "I will give you your dream house." I interpreted this as heaven, but this could be on the earth.

So I am praying for further guidance.

Moldova-Children without mothers

I was researching films in our library for my class on International Business Communications. I was reviewing one on Moldovan women who migrate to the West to work illegally. The film is called "Mama Illegal: Undocumented in Western Europe." The documentary seemed to be made by Austrians as the languages used were Romanian and  German. The time frame is 2004-2011. 

What hit me among several parts of these women's stories was a classroom of children- I am guessing about 10 years old. It was winter and they were wearing winter hats and coats as the heat must be lacking. Over half the children have one or more parents working in Western Europe- Italy, Austria, Portugal, Greece, etc. Some were crying as the teacher related where the parents were. What broke my heart was the girl who was asked by the teacher, "What would you say to your mother if you could talk to her?" She replied, "Please come home." 

This film reminds me of the calling I have to help the orphans in their distress.

Helping orphans in Honduras

I heard a speaker in our global Sunday school share about rescuing children in Honduras. His own personal journey is quite interesting, but his family's work in Honduras is amazing. They have taken in children stabbed - one case up to 150 times and those raped and seen the transformation of God in the young people's lives. He shared about one baby that was placed in boiling water in a ritual and left for dead. This child fit in the palm of his hand when brought to him. The power of God healed the child and restored body functions to normalcy. Their work definitely fits under the umbrella of James 1:27 to look after orphans in their distress.

See http://www.freetheoppressed.org/

Samuel

An interesting perspective on orphans is Samuel in the Old Testament (1 Samuel 1 &2). In gratitude to God opening up her womb, Samuel's mother, Hannah, dedicates her first son to the Lord. According to our current definition of orphans as children without parental care, Samuel qualifies as an orphan. Samuel grows up in the temple. According to the story, his parents only saw him once a year when they made the annual sacrifice. His mother brought him a robe each year. "And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with people". This phrase is similarly used of Jesus in Luke 2:52: "And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man". As an orphan Samuel became of the great prophets of Israel.

Spiritual journey part 3

I remember being depressed even though I was in the process of salvation. One winter day in the High School library, a power came over me. I had this incredible joy. The Spirit of God descended on me and I was filled with the Spirit. This act culminated a 6 month time of spiritual searching and processing the scriptures and the teachings I heard at church. I had become a new creation.

I had a full scholarship to an engineering college and an appoint to West Point prep school. My SAT math scores were in the upper 2% of the nation; however, my English scores were not high. Ironic considering I studied 6 languages and am fluent in 4 (English, Russian, German and Serbian-Croatian). The other two were Romanian and Finnish. So what caused the shift from heavy math, science, and German to a liberal arts college? Stay tuned...

Lev Tolstoy

In my dissertation I covered Lev (Leo) Tolstoy. Lev means "lion" in Russian and Tolstoy means "thick".  Most people recall his novels "War and Peace" and Anna Karenina."  Lev was an orphan and wrote a book called "Childhood." This text became the ideal concept in the Russian mind of the joy of childhood without adult responsibilities. His parent died while he was still young. The family took in Lev and four others. In university he was considered unteachable. He went through a spiritual transformation and actually wrote to help the Russian church. He was excommunicated for his radical ideas. One of his Christian ideas was the non-violent resistance to government. Violence was not allowed in the scriptures and he considered governments as corrupted and holding too much power. Of interesting note is his writings influenced Mahatma Gandhi, James Bevel, Martin Luther King, Jr.

The spiritual journey part 2

God is merciful because in my anguish at age 17, my mom came up with a cause that the family situation was bad because we stopped going to church. In our church shopping, one pastor invited me to the youth night on Wednesday. I had not been to a youth night that I can recall, but since I was invited I went. I felt like I was the only one there and no one talked to me. I left telling myself I would never go again. However, when I went to open my car door, an unexpected event happened. The youth were having a water balloon fight. Someone came around the corner of the church and threw a "Hail Mary" in my direction. I estimate it was about 12-15 feet. I watched it sail through the air like the balloon was in slow motion. It landed right in the middle of my chest and exploded. I was so shocked I found myself chasing the person and then getting involved in the water balloon fight. I owe my salvation to a random throw of a water balloon. Strange but true.

Spiritual journey Part 1

My memosphere is not remembering the details of my orphanage trip, so I will have to wait until I recover my pictures and scrapbook from storage. In the meantime, how did I get from spiritually renewed to a doctorate and the interest in orphans. Since I am not an orphan, the topic is unusual. I recall back at 16 being aware of God but not something I would call an integral part of my life. I had become bitter at my circumstances. I was happy in Klamath Falls, Oregon, but the move to Vancouver left me isolated and alone. When I tried to make friends, it did not seem to click. Unconsciously or consciously the devil took control of my life. I was demon possessed and had all kinds of strange supernatural experiences.

The journey part 6

After the trip in Nov 2002, I went in May 2003. Since I made 9 trips to Russian orphanages and 24 mission trips to Eastern Europe, some of the details are starting to blur. I do recall spending time with Denis. He was always with me. When I needed a break we went into the director's office. Denis would impatiently wait for me outside the door. Sometimes I needed a power nap as the days were long. I would crash for 20 minutes and then go back out. Even though I spoke Russian, the key ingredient was being together. It means so much for the orphans. When I look at the task of caring for orphans in their distress, it seems so overwhelming. I have to keep in mind my role is to research and write so that the body of knowledge is available to help orphans.

The journey Part 5

When I met Denis in Mstera in November 2002, we bonded quite quickly. Fortunately I spoke Russian, but it took some time for me to register my language and understand the orphans. They are not accustomed to speaking with a foreigner. Denis wanted to be by my side every minute. I found out from the orphanage staff that he was a discipline problem. He had that wolf cub mentality I researched in my dissertation. One had to be aggressive to get what one wanted and caring for others was not often the recipe for success. When we left it was so traumatic he did not see me off. I understand he ran to his room and cried. Many orphans act that way upon the team departure. fortunately we exchanged letters and I returned several times before he left the orphanage for technical school in 2005.

Defender of orphans - back in 1619

Since I completed my dissertation on mentoring orphans, I had promised myself to read (and understand) a book I bought in Russia on Russian history. This version would be post-Soviet. The text is in Russian and has 350 pages with text and graphics/pictures. In today's reading we go back to 1619. Russia had about 20 years of war with various lands and concluded a peace treaty with Poland-Lithuania. Part of the agreement included the Orthodox Priest Filaret. The Russian chronicles described quite a character and I translate: "he became the tsar's extortioner and builder, defender of orphans, and an annoying/insulting representative." One of his legacies was the defense of orphans which he had to draw from the Old Testament and James 1:27- looking after orphans in their distress. 

The journey part 3

I had posted part 3, but lost it. So here goes. I corresponded with my sponsored child Denis for two years before actually making the trip in November 2002. I would send a gift and letter with the teams. They went twice a year at that time. I recall getting one letter in which Denis wanted to know why I had not come. As he explained it, all the other sponsors had come. Actually I knew that most could not make the trip, but it really meant he wanted to see me. We had quite a number of letters exchanged until the opportunity came for me to travel over to Russia.