Meet Yulia

This is my little friend, Yulia, who studies at the boarding school in Podusovka (a neighborhood in Chernigov). I met her in the Priluki orphanage when she was 4. When she aged out of that orphanage, she was sent to school here in Chernigov. I was delighted to see her when she began 1st grade here. Now she is in 4th grade and is 10 years old. We see each other every week when our church has a Sunday school time at her school. Every so often, I have her over for lunch and then take her to church with me in the afternoon. She’s a smart, serious girl who knows how to stand her ground and has a happy giggle.
Some other kids from her school have been coming to church lately too. It’s been eye-opening to relate to these kids out of their institutional environment. They are unaccustomed to what for us is everyday social interaction. Practically all their life activities revolve around their school where they eat, study, sleep, play and train for sports or dance. When they do go off the school grounds, it’s most likely for a field trip or competition with their whole class or team. Going to someone’s house for lunch is foreign.
Communicating with these kids can be a challenge. They often deflect compliments about their nice bracelet or hair ribbon because if the other kids around them hear that something might be valuable, they will take it from them. They aren’t used to people making small talk with them either. They normally relate to their classmates or their teachers. They aren’t sure how to answer when you ask what they did today. Didn’t they do what the other 100-some kids did? Why would you ask me that?
It’s my prayer that our church would reach out to the Podusovka kids more. Pray that God would help us to love and care for them, to invite them into our homes and to teach them about Jesus. Pray that the kids would desire to know God and have confidence in God. Pray that God would take away their insecurities as they grow in the security of Jesus’ love.