Dear Stoneworks Family,
I am always glad to be sharing about what God has been doing in our lives.
The school year is over and the children are on vacation now.
It was a blessing to meet transportation expenses for Snezhana Chura in order for her to be able to go to a vocational school. She made that choice last year to quit secondary school in the village and join a vocational school to learn how to be a seamstress (which she doesn’t like, but it is the place where they accept everyone). That decision was made by her because of great fear of the consequences of her disrespectful behavior towards the teachers and the school director. Of course, she believed that she was not treated in a fair way, and, of course, she did not bother to think that her mother (who has two more younger daughters) could not possibly give half of her salary for Snezhana’s transportation fees to travel to school to the city and back every day. It was a really difficult situation since in our country when a child is not of age yet, he or she is supposed to be enrolled at some kind of school or otherwise she would be taken from the family to a shelter. Snezhana is quite difficult to deal with, very rebellious and her behavior is not perfect in any way but at that moment I was sure she needed to be helped out. Both Snezhana and her sister Vika stopped going to church and it has been very sad for me. At the same time I felt very strongly that God’s mercy and Christian love do not stop for them even when they stop “being good”. And when they turn for help, I am happy to be of help as much as I can. Though I believe it strongly too and had to tell Snezhana that she has to find a job for the summer in order to earn some money for her next school year’s expenses.
Her sister Vika – who is a year younger – takes life more seriously. She graduated from 9 years of school and is planning to go to a vocational school to become a housepainter. Now I am helping her to see some doctors to get a medical paper proving that her health condition is suitable for the job.
As for other kids, they continue to come to church and Lera even started to learn how to play the guitar and practice for praise and worship time. And Seryozha sings.
They need a lot of prayers. It is such a difficult age for them when they start making decisions of their own . And the choices affect their future.
I am so thankful for the strong youth ministry at our little church where the kids are the first priority.
Then I have been deeply involved with the foster family from Papernya village. The mom – Sveta – is a wonderful Christian woman who has been a friend and a prayer partner for many years.
Being a single mom in the village has lots of challenges. One of them involves taking care of an old house which needs lots of renovation. The biggest project has been to get a new heating furnace (the old one got completely out of order). It is such a blessing for them that Stoneworks could provide for it. It was quite an adventure to unload and carry it inside, because it weighs 238 kg (525lbs) and even 5 men could not lift it and had to pull it with ropes. It is still in the process of being installed but for sure Sveta and Vadim will be warm in winter!
There is another family in Papernya village where the mother is in and out of hospital because of thyroid surgery, the father is away at work and there are two girls – Aleksandra who is 12 years old and Margarita is 8 years old – who are left by themselves all days long and there is no one to look after them except for Sveta when she comes home from work in the evening. So it is wonderful to be sending them to a Christian camp for three weeks.
These are some moments from our everyday life and I am honored to share them with you – the Family in Christ – and happy to be making steps for God’s Kingdom together.
With Love in Christ,
Vita