A Constant Love
Russia and Belarus
Children in orphanages in Russia and Belarus have so little hope for the future. Often they are forced to leave the orphanages at age sixteen or seventeen. They are sent out into the world to fend for themselves with no family and no skills for the job market. Too many of them wind up in prostitution and the drug world - many commit suicide. West Texas mission teams meet many of these young people in the summer youth camps outside St. Petersburg and in Belarus. In January our mission teams will return to visit the children in the orphanages. The teams will bring warm clothing, new boots, blankets, school supplies, money for nourishing food and much love in the name of Jesus. West Texas teams are helping to buy equipment for computer labs and are funding salaries for computer teachers. With computer skills the orphans have a better chance to survive in the future.
Our friendship began this summer at a camp in Belarus. He tried to scare me by hiding in the bushes, making pig noises, and jumping out at me as I walked by. He succeeded almost every time! So fun loving, how could his family have given up this eleven year-old boy?
He doesn't even remember the last time he saw them.
Yura Zhilko does know he has seven siblings and that he's the youngest. He also knows he's the only child who was left at the orphanage, but he doesn't know why. Yura suffers with chronic leg pains due to the radiation fallout from Chernobyl. Indeed, he is a child in need of love.
God never turns His back on His children. In Yura's experience, the most important people in his life will never return. But God's love is so much greater, and He promises never to leave or forsake us!
As Yura and I spent time together, God began to reveal how I could exemplify HIS love, and He placed in me the desire to sponsor Yura for a year and visit him as often as I can. I will not love Yura and then turn my back on him.
God is using me in small ways so He can do great things. I look forward to watching Yura grow into the young man whom God created him to be. Yura knows that His God loves him very much and that he will forever be my "Belarusian brat" (brother in Russian), and I will forever be his "American sistra".
Erin Shaver
Director of Youth Ministries
Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, Corpus Christi
If you would like to become a part of the Russian/Belarus ministry, please contact Trent Timberlake at 210-826-9611 or (cell) 210-602-9611.
Donations to fund the computer programs or winter supplies to:
Diocese of West Texas (marked for Russian Orphanages)
P.O. Box 6885
San Antonio, TX 78209
Attention: Betty Chumney
