It's almost been two weeks since we moved to Donetsk, and we can't believe how much the Lord has blessed us!
He's given us an apartment that we really love and are so comfortable in. He's blessed us with a few friends that we have grown really close to in just a short amount of time. He's really been speaking to us through His Word and our quiet time with Him. And, most importantly, the Lord has been giving us a strong vision for ministry.
As we've mentioned before, the Lord has called us to orphan ministry, and it's been on our hearts in such a strong way for some time now. So, last week, we felt like we were supposed to commit to serving at a local orphanage called The Good Shepherd (We first started praying about serving with this orphanage around the time when we first posted about them. To read that post, click HERE. )
We visited The Good Sheperd Orphanage yestereday, and we asked the director how we can best support them and serve them. Of course, they have two main needs: they need financial help and they need people to spend time with the orphans. Now, here's what I really appreciate about The Good Shepherd - they know that many people that are willing to serve at their orphanage don't have very much money, including Byron and I, and so, they have come up with a plan to help them earn money through the help of their volunteers...
So, their plan was to open an English school (which they have done), and ask English teachers to volunteer at the school, and then all of the income from the English school go straight back into the orphanage. Byron and I absolutely love this idea, and we were excited to commit to volunteering our time and to agree to teach two classes at their English school once a week.
Their second need is for the kids - They need more people to come and spend time with the kids, help them with their homework, play with them, and, especially for the little ones, to give them hugs and love them. But, since the kids have so many needs, the orphanage tries to be intentional about everything.
Most orphanages don't equip the orphans with many life skills, and lots of the kids grow up, leave the orphanage, and are unable to cook, clean, do laundry, or manage money. However, The Good Shepherd is a private orphanage, directed by Christians, and they try to teach their kids about God and equip them with life skills from an early age.
So, the director wants us to do a weekly cooking class with the 10-14 year old kids, teaching them how to cook fun, easy, and healthy meals and snacks, all while getting to know the kids, spending time with them, and showing them love.
Byron and I start our first cooking class this coming Friday, and we are SOOOOOO excited to start spending time with these sweet kiddos and showing them God's love.
We want to ask for your prayers as we prepare for the English classes and the cooking class. Also, please pray for the orphans we'll be ministering to. We've already met some of them, and they are such sweet kids, we so desperately want them to know that even though they don't have parental love in this world, they have a heavenly father that loves them so so much, and we pray that we can have a positive impact on these kids as we spend time with them and tell them about Jesus.
We'll be taking lots of pictures during our cooking class, so we promise to post them next week :)
Blessings,
Emily
P.S.
If you feel called to give a financial donation to The Good Shepherd Orpahange, please email us at byronandemilyj@gmail.com and we will talk to the orphanage and find out how you can send that donation to them.
He's given us an apartment that we really love and are so comfortable in. He's blessed us with a few friends that we have grown really close to in just a short amount of time. He's really been speaking to us through His Word and our quiet time with Him. And, most importantly, the Lord has been giving us a strong vision for ministry.
As we've mentioned before, the Lord has called us to orphan ministry, and it's been on our hearts in such a strong way for some time now. So, last week, we felt like we were supposed to commit to serving at a local orphanage called The Good Shepherd (We first started praying about serving with this orphanage around the time when we first posted about them. To read that post, click HERE. )
We visited The Good Sheperd Orphanage yestereday, and we asked the director how we can best support them and serve them. Of course, they have two main needs: they need financial help and they need people to spend time with the orphans. Now, here's what I really appreciate about The Good Shepherd - they know that many people that are willing to serve at their orphanage don't have very much money, including Byron and I, and so, they have come up with a plan to help them earn money through the help of their volunteers...
So, their plan was to open an English school (which they have done), and ask English teachers to volunteer at the school, and then all of the income from the English school go straight back into the orphanage. Byron and I absolutely love this idea, and we were excited to commit to volunteering our time and to agree to teach two classes at their English school once a week.
Their second need is for the kids - They need more people to come and spend time with the kids, help them with their homework, play with them, and, especially for the little ones, to give them hugs and love them. But, since the kids have so many needs, the orphanage tries to be intentional about everything.
Most orphanages don't equip the orphans with many life skills, and lots of the kids grow up, leave the orphanage, and are unable to cook, clean, do laundry, or manage money. However, The Good Shepherd is a private orphanage, directed by Christians, and they try to teach their kids about God and equip them with life skills from an early age.
So, the director wants us to do a weekly cooking class with the 10-14 year old kids, teaching them how to cook fun, easy, and healthy meals and snacks, all while getting to know the kids, spending time with them, and showing them love.
Byron and I start our first cooking class this coming Friday, and we are SOOOOOO excited to start spending time with these sweet kiddos and showing them God's love.
We want to ask for your prayers as we prepare for the English classes and the cooking class. Also, please pray for the orphans we'll be ministering to. We've already met some of them, and they are such sweet kids, we so desperately want them to know that even though they don't have parental love in this world, they have a heavenly father that loves them so so much, and we pray that we can have a positive impact on these kids as we spend time with them and tell them about Jesus.
We'll be taking lots of pictures during our cooking class, so we promise to post them next week :)
Blessings,
Emily
P.S.
If you feel called to give a financial donation to The Good Shepherd Orpahange, please email us at byronandemilyj@gmail.com and we will talk to the orphanage and find out how you can send that donation to them.
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