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The
Famous Steps |
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One of those
places was this entrance to an underground walkway, where 50 people lost
their lives in a stampede several years ago. The roses on the steps are
metal, part of a permanent memorial to the victims. Further down in
the tunnel we were able to see finger nail marks in the ceiling, made by
people trying to save themselves. Judging from the height, those who made
the marks were standing on two to three feet of fallen victims. |
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An Orphanage
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By "coincidence" , Spring of Revival, the NGO led by Olga Goncharenko,
needed to visit an orphanage to deliver medicine. Pictured with me
here are the director (left) and nurse. The child just seemed to
materialize. For about $50 enough medicine for several months was
provided. |
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Guess what
these kids are doing - watching TV. Guess what they are watching
- Harry Potter! This was a bit ironic, in that the very next day in church
Pastor Slava included Harry Potter books as ones we as Christians should not
be reading. |
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This little
girl taught me one of my biggest lessons of the trip. At home before
leaving I had to clean out the storage area of our garage in preparation for
some construction. We have about ten large bags of clothing donated by
many different people. We have fallen behind a bit in arranging for the
donations to get to Russia or Belarus. In one bag there were fabric
samples, the kind with jagged edges, about 6 by 9 inches. I thought
"What on earth would anyone do with those?" In this little girl's
small bag of possessions was the same kind of sample, about half size. She
uses it to make clothes for her doll. How I wished I had those samples
at that time.
The lesson?
Bring with you as much as you can, and take nothing for granted. One
person's castaway could be an orphan's treasure.
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Another
thing I had to clean out of the garage were some rolls of adding machine
tape. I think I discarded them. Imagine my surprise when I saw
these girls dipping adding machine tape in soapy water to apply around the
edges of these windows. This is their version of winterizing. I
learned the same lesson twice in the space of five minutes. Bring as
much as you can with you. |
Other
Scenes
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We had a
very nice lunch here in the kitchen of what they call a safe house. Rand,
second from left, picks up a few kids from an orphanage on a Friday night
and has them stay for the weekend. He feds them, entertains them, teaches
them Bible stories and takes them to church on Sunday. Getting away from the orphanage into a home atmosphere is something the kids
look forward to. I'm convinced there will be eternal fruit from this. |
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Here are Yasha and Olga Goncharenko with
Marina (R), acting director of an orphanage just outside of Minsk.
Marina would like to have a team come to work with the kids during spring
vacation. Marina has had several people witness to her, and she is
firmly in "seeker" mode. |
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This is not
the best shot, but I wanted to show something about the service I attended
at New Life
Christian Church. About 700 were in attendance. This is the
church which has had its land officially seized by the government.
Strictly speaking, those in attendance were trespassing and breaking laws
against unauthorized meetings. Their struggle continues. |
