The first month of the year is already behind us and there is much to be thankful for.  In late January, ROR’s Russia coordinator Slava Lontchakov made a visit to California.  He was able to meet with the board in person during their monthly meeting.  He also spoke at an event held in Promiseland at Sierra Bible Church.

Status reports are positive from all the current ROR projects.  There is a new resident living at the girl’s home in Chernovtsy, Ukraine; a girl that house mother Alyona first met 5 years ago at a Young Life camp.  Alyona writes of her…

A recent birthday party at the Chernovtsy girl's home.

“She is from the same trade school group that most of the girls were from.  She goes to the evening school now and after she graduates she will go to the university.  She is very smart and her grades are good.  I pray she will be a good example for the other girls of diligence and knowledge.  Praise God that He works in our house and changes lives.“

English lessons are back in full swing at the girl’s home in Ryazan.  There were fewer classes in December because of university exams, doctor’s appointments and the rehearsal/performances of the Christmas program at the orphanage.

Christmas gifts and visit at the Rybnoye orphanage.

From the Ryazan boy’s home, praise that a new stove has been purchased and installed.  Slava, the house father, told the board, “The kitchen there is getting better and better.”  Praise too that orphanage graduate and house resident Kolya shared his testimony at church in January.  Slava writes…

“It was inspiring to listen to him and also even fun as he shared some jokes and seemed to be at ease with the microphone.

Maybe there is a future of a preacher/teacher for him!  It was also good to listen to him share about Oleg and Nina Petrovs’ ministry and how it affected him.”

Please pray for the accountability groups at both of the Ryazan homes.  Specifically, for those on the fringes of the group, that they would choose the the Lord’s path and give themselves fully to Him.

Oleg and Nina Petrov continue to make trips to the Zarechny and Solotcha orphanages.  They write…

Nina Petrov (seated left) with the director and children from the Zarechny oprhangage.

“We would like to share about the Zarechny orphanage which nobody visits besides us.  The roads are bad and it is located far away. You can hardly find anywhere else such love as is expressed here by these kids. As soon as they see us coming, they run out to meet us all together, they hug us and they all talk at the same time: “It is so good that you came, we miss you so much!” They share about their studies, their holidays, which crafts they make, who is new, who ran away. The orphanage director told us how she sent three of ours to a different orphanage because they were being disobedient. We are praying for Jesus to save them and we decided to make it our goal to visit them.”

And lastly for this month, a giant praise for God working to benefit ROR orphans in a totally unexpected way.  Ksusha Petrov, Oleg and Nina’s daughter has been working in one of Russia’s largest retail stores (Metro) while she continues her academic studies.    In December, the store GAVE Ksusha new winter coats and jackets to give to the orphans!  The Petrovs write of Kolya’s reaction…

Kolya in his new winter jacket.

Kolya said: “The others were laughing at me saying that I have a bad coat and nobody takes care of me.  Now I will say that the Lord took care of me and I even have two coats – this warm one with feathers inside and one made of real leather”.

The entire ROR board of directors thanks you for your continued prayers and support of this ministry.  It’s all for Him!

RUSSIA FACT:
Statistically, February is the month with the driest weather in Russia.

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Russian Orphan Rescue, Inc.

PO Box 58

Standard, CA  95373

info@rorescue.org

Please excuse the last minute nature of this message but we cordially invite you to join us on Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 7pm in Promiseland at Sierra Bible Church in Sonora for an informal meet and greet with Slava Lontchakov.  Slava is ROR’s Russia Coordinator who lives in Ryazan and is here in California for a brief visit.  Come on out and hear first hand how your support is making a real difference in the lives of Russian Orphans.

Tuesday, 1/24/12

7pm in Promiseland at Sierra Bible Church

First, the Supozhoke orphanage closed at the end of 2010.  The younger orphans were moved to the Zarechky orphanage and the older ones moved to the Solotcha orphanage, both about 50 miles from Supozhoke.  Oleg and Nina Petrov try to visit the kids every week but it does mean a much longer drive for them.  Oleg is set to start a weekly soccer practice with the boys this year.

House in Supozhoke

With the closing of the orphanage, ROR has decided to scrap plans for the Supozhoke transition home.  The house is currently on the market and ROR hopes to use the proceeds from the sale to fund another transition apartment in Ryazan.  Please pray for quick sale of the house and for travel mercies for Oleg and Nina.

A praise report from the girl’s home in Ryazan – a new refrigerator was purchased last month for the apartment.  House parents Alina and Max write:

“We want to thank all the sponsors who helped us to cover this need. Now there is enough space to store the food for each person, it is not getting spoiled and not going to waste.”

Alina continues to teach cooking with the girls as well as leading Bible study and prayer.  Max’s English language study group has 5 regular students with, as he describes them, “the most serious attitude.”

There are now 6 boys living at the boy’s home in Ryazan.  House parents Olga and Slava report they are all doing well.  Slava leads a weekly Bible study and discussion time for the boys in the home and a few other boys from their church.  In addition, he and Olga visit the Rybnoye orphanage every Saturday.  Slava writes:

Olga with orphans at Rybnoye Orphanage

“Kirill, one of the boys from our transition home, wants to be involved in this ministry.  He always wants to know when we are going and wants to go together with us.  This is quite rare as usually orphan graduates do not want anything to do with their past and do not want to go back to the orphanage.”

Please pray for strength, love and spiritual accountability for both of the Ryazan homes.  Specifically, for the boy’s home, please pray that the Lord would provide dishes, kitchen cupboards, a vacuum cleaner and a washing machine.

There are positive reports also from the girl’s home in Chernovtsy, Ukraine.  House mothers Alyona and Tanya have felt a gentle nudge to think more about the “big picture” writing:

House mothers Alyona and Tanya (L) with orphan girls

“We have started praying, thinking and collecting thoughts, ideas – everything that could help us to see His purpose and create the Big Picture for our ministry.  So that we might be extremely blessed and extremely sufficient living with these girls and taking new girls for the project.  We know that you are praying for us and we need that more than ever!  Please
continue to pray and ask everyone you know to pray for us.  We need a lot of wisdom right now and the revealing of God’s special plan in our lives and the lives of our girls.”

Finally, on a house keeping note, ROR welcomes new board members Dorothy Arndt (treasurer) and John C. Brown (communications manager).  The entire ROR board of directors thanks you for your continued support of this ministry.  It’s all for Him!

Russian Orphan Rescue, Inc.

PO Box 58

Standard, CA  95373

The Holidays were busy. We started all the fuss on the 28th of Dec. to be able to prepare the Christmas program for the orphanage (Russian Christmas is Jan. 7). This year the Christmas program was a real fun and success. We made new costumes for the wise men. All the kids were happy to participate in the theatre. On Dec. 30th we went to see the kids in the Zarechensky orphanage to wish the kids a Happy New Year and Merry Christmas. After the skit Santa gave the kids Christmas gifts. All the kids wanted to sing a song or read a limerick. On Dec. 31st we prepared a lot of food for the kids to celebrate the New Year holiday. We had 30 people at our home. The meal was so good! We also had a fun program, all the kids were happy- especially those who were brought from the orphanage. Every day during the holiday vacation we watched Christian movies with the kids and had a time of discussing them in small groups.

We were very excited to have Kirill over who came to see us from St Petersburg. He is studying in the Seminary there. He shared with us about his life and studies in St Pete. Some of the kids wanted to join the Seminary.

On Jan. 6th all our kids got dressed in the Magi, Shepherds and Angels. It’s an old Russian tradition to dress like that on Christmas eve and go see people to wish them a Happy New Year and to bless them. They came home late at night and brought a lot of candy to drink tea with.

Thank you so much for all your support and prayers.

We have some needs:
We need to have the boy’s house repaired. Everything in their home is old and the living conditions are not good. We need to change 7 old windows; they are so old that they let the wind in the house. We also need to have the floors repaired there and we need to get some new furniture.

Please, pray for Kostya. He is serving in the army at the moment and it doesn’t look like it’s a good place for him. Please, also pray for Max and Alina Zaretski. They are starting their ministry to the orphans in Ryazan and need a lot prayer these days. Before the New Year holiday they got in a car accident. A drunken policeman drove into their car and smashed it. Praise the Lord Alina and her baby are fine and so is Max. Alina is in her 6th month of pregnancy now. Starting in February they are taking Nastay Dergacheva to their home to take care of her. They want to participate in the orphan adoption ministry and are also looking for finances to buy her a new bed and cover the rent expenses. If the Lord puts it on your heart to help them with your prayer or financially, that would bless them a lot.

Bless you all, and may grace of our Lord Jesus be with you all!

Nina Petrova

Thank you for sending money. I have received them successfully. Thank you for supporting our ministry. We have been doing good with the girls. Right now some of them are sick because of flu epidemic that we have in the city, but they are getting better. The rest of the things are good, we talk to them, invite them to clubs and church.And they come sometimes. Most of the time they stay at home and they like when we do things together. Continue to pray that God would move their hearts.

During last months we have made a small trip to Ivano-Frankovsk, where Natasha lives and has YL ministry. So, all the girls went and we had really good trip there, walked a lot, helped Natasha with preparing the club, meet her teenagers and had so much fun. That was useful for my girls and I think, we will continue trips like that that they would be able to see other places and meet some new people and make friends. They said that they liked that trip very much and want to go back there!!! This is nice. May be we will go there again in January, or may be to another place… They need to have more activities in their lives….

Tanya still lives with me and helps a lot. Some of the girls might stay for Christmas and New Year and she is thinking of preparing nice party for them and invite some other friends for New Year Night.

So, I am sending you some photos of us being together in Ivano-Frankovsk!
Also, is there a chance for us to purchase a computer for the house that we might teach them how to use it? we want to have it in the house, if it is possible… WE might need $500-$600 for that, if it is possible.

Let me know if you need more information about our girls and the house.

May God bless you and the whole team of ROR… Send them my love. And I sure miss you!!!!
Olya and Vasya are on Skype with me right now and they send their love to you…

With love, Alyona

Merry Christmas to you all dear brothers and sisters!

By the grace of God we are doing well. Thank you so much for your prayer and financial support. The kids are all accommodated and have the essential conditions to do their studies and work on their exams during this time of the year. All of them are involved in the Bible Study groups as well as in different other activities such as cooking, theater, Christian holiday celebrating. At the moment we are making a Christmas skit for the little kids at the orphanage.

Kolya is working a lot on teeth implants these days. Every night he is busy making and molding new teeth implants for his dental college.

We celebrated Arina and Ruslan’s birthday on the 6th of Dec. Arina invited her friends and made dinner.

Stas is doing very good at his studies and enjoying them a lot.

My 2 year old nephew Vitya is ill with infantile cerebral paralysis and last week was brought by his older sister Olga to Ryazan for treatment. Please, pray for little Vitya to develop better no matter this difficult disease. All our kids often visit Vitya in the hospital and spend time playing with him. It makes me proud of them that they express their compassion and care for this little boy.

Patrick, Oleg is asking me to remind you to send the money to pay off the house taxes and ask the Bethany Church if they still remember to send us $1000 for the Christmas gifts for the orphans.

CHERNOVTSY, UKRAINE.  Our transition home is in full operation under the direction of Alyona Mulyar.  Four teenage orphan girls are living in the house.  They all attend vocational schools and are learning to function as a family.  That is very important because orphans in the Former Soviet Union are truly second class citizens and they know it.  They do not feel accepted by people outside their own groups.  Alyona’s effort to get the girls involved in Young Life club, for example, has been hindered by their difficulty in feeling accepted.  We are providing a home where they feel safe and have the opportunity to grow into confident, productive women who are well grounded in the Christian faith.

RYAZAN, RUSSIA.  Our transition apartment continues to function well under the supervision of Arina Poley and Nina Petrov.  Last winter Oleg and Nina Petrov, whose ministry we support, found it necessary to place some orphan boys from the Supazhoke orphanage in the apartment on a temporary basis.  At the time, only two orphan girls, Arina and Sveta, were living there and the Petrovs had no other place available for the boys.  All of these orphans grew up together in the same orphanage and were raised like siblings.  One of the boys, Kolya, is Sveta’s brother.

                We were concerned about that arrangement for both appearance and practical reasons.  Pat and Bill had the opportunity to address those issues when they visited Russia and Ukraine in February.  They came back satisfied that the arrangement was both necessary and appropriate under the circumstances.  When Pat and Mark visited Ryazan in October, that judgment was confirmed and reinforced.  The three girls, Arina, Sveta and Nastya, together with Nina Petrov on her weekly visits, occupy two bedrooms in the back of the apartment.  Two boys, Kolya and Stass, occupy the living room in the front of the apartment.  They all share the kitchen and bathroom.  The presence of the boys provides a measure of safety for the girls and makes for more efficient use of the facility until the next group of girls is ready to move in.

                While Pat and Mark were there, seventeen different young adults, all graduates from the Supazhoke orphanage and products of the Petrov’s ministry, came to visit.  Eight years ago, when Pat first met them as boys and girls at the orphanage, they all had the typical Russian orphan look: hollow eyes, hopeless faces and cautious smiles.  They had no sense of a future for their lives and no awareness of a God who made them and loved them.  Today they are adult Christians, full of smiles and laughter, with hope for the future, growing spiritually, emotionally and intellectually and preparing to take their place in Russian society as responsible citizens, husbands, wives and parents.  They include students of nursing, law, architecture, dentistry, veterinary medicine and pastoral ministry.  They are a huge testimony to God’s blessing and the success of the Petrov’s ministry, in which we are privileged to have a part.

SUPAZHOKE, RUSSIA.  A totally unexpected change this year was a decision of the Russian government to close the Supazhoke orphanage which occurred in June.  The orphans were transferred to two other orphanages.  Both are further from the Petrov farm, increasing their transportation expense.  While the facilities are better, these kids have been torn out of the only home they have ever known, in many cases, and the Petrovs are having to start over in building trust with new directors and staff people.  Our house in Supazhoke is no longer of use to us.  We hope to sell it or trade it for an apartment in Ryazan which could serve as a transition home for boys.  The economy in Russia may make that difficult.

                We will try to get some of the stories of individual orphans with their pictures on our website so you can be better acquainted with them and see real people whose lives are better because of you.  Thank you so much for your support of ROR.

Sergey was one of our first contacts when we began working with Russian churches 10 years ago and has developed as a leader of newer Russian churches. During our recent visit there Pat and I had a great time connecting with him around the state of the church in Russia and I thought he had a number of insightful observations that were worth sharing with our friends-hence this get-together and invitation!

He is in the U.S. for a couple of weeks seeking support for the ongoing work there, hoping for 100 people who will give $30/month to expand various Russian outreach ministries.

 We would welcome you to join us for this update on the conditions of the church in Russia…and a nice time of fellowship together.

Pastor Mark Levering
Sierra Bible Church
Sonora, CA

Dear Friends, Grace to you all!

We couldn’t wait to share the latest news with you all.  September happened to be a cold month. What a contrast with the past summer!  All the guys got back to their studies: Valia Dergacheva has passed her entrance exams and entered the Pedagogical College (Psychology Department). She is a committed A-student and all the teachers are fond of her. She comes see us almost every weekend. Nastya  Zaikina is studying at the Medical School and she is also good. Kolya Belyakov would be the first to give her a helping hand in her studies since they are both students of the same school. We had a need to buy medical uniforms for them and get some documents done for them to start this semester with no problem. Arina has started a year course to be qualified as a hairdresser and a hairstylist. She is fond of her studies – one of the best in her class. She has also started drawing pictures as she dreams to do it for business. She is the monitor for the rest of the guys in Ryazan. As far as we see the guys obey her and she is getting better and better in her managing the house and preparing meals. I delegated her some tasks such as grocery shopping and housework. She is organizing the guys to take their turns to clean the house and cook the meals.

Stas has finished his work in the village and gone to Ryazan to start his first semester this academic year. He is very hardworking and also a very good student. Stas likes to be involved in the Bible Studies. He is a joy to see and listen him discuss Bible extracts.

Every Wednesday the youth pastor Slava comes see the guys at the Ryazan apartment where they can talk and have some good time all together.  He wants to start a Bible Study group on Wednesdays. Slava has been a big blessing to all the kids since they like him a lot.

Our concern is for Kirill. Studies at the seminary for him have been challenging. He sounded discouraged last time I talked to him. We pray for him to make good friends and be able to catch up with the studies.

Last weekend we had Serezha Murzin, Sasha Ivankov and Sasha Klimenko visiting us. They helped about the house to be prepared for winter.

Volodya and Lena Klimenko are expecting a new baby. We have renovated the neighbor house for them as they have been always willing to live separately.

All our kids are giving you their love, greetings and thank you for your support and prayers.

Please pray for:

Pray for Oleg and Nina to be able to move into a full time ministry with the orphans. Pray for the God’s guidance for them over their ministry.

Pray for the kids to be deepening their love for the Lord as they live and study in a big city.

Pray for Pastor Slava to be able to continue his Bible Studies with the kids.

Continue to pray for Kiril and his wisdom to make new friends in a big. He needs your prayers to be able to do well at the seminary.

Pray for the Lord to provide us with one more apartment in Ryazan for the boys.

Pray for the other kids’ studies as school continues.

Pray for Stella and Sasha, (oldest daughter and son-in-law), to have the strength to continue with helping these kids daily.

Pray for Alina and Max, (daughter and son-in-law), who live 6 hours away in Moscow to be able to continue to be an effective part of this ministry. Please, pray for Alina’s pregnancy to go well.

How you can help:

Be praying for this family and their ministry. Be willing to give financially to this ministry, through Bethany Church, Canby Oregon.

The girls went to camps for the summer and are now back in the home. Alyona invests informal time with them as well as planned, organized time. Each evening they spend time together studying the Bible and praying. This house gives these recent graduates of local orphanages a safe place to live and the opportunity to become competent, mature adults who have the skills and the desire to live upright, productive and successful lives.