Visit to Serdobskiy convalescent home.

Greetings to our brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus!!

Last week I visited a convalescent home in Serdobsk where most of the graduates from the Nizhniy Lomov orphanage live. I had several reasons for making that trip. First, I miss all the youth a lot. Another reason was a phone call from Sergey Antonov (many of you know him as “Scott’s Sergey”) which made me worry.  He told me that he is tired of life.  Usually Sergey is full of optimism and joy, but on the call he sounded sad. He was sent to Serdobsk six months ago. Sergey stayed at the orphanage until he turned 22, yet he is still very vulnerable. I would say that this is a typical situation for all youth with special needs here.

While we were talking on the phone I tried to calm him down and encourage him. As soon as I told him that I was going to visit him, Sergey immediately changed his attitude. When I got there one week later Sergey was just fine.

The convalescent home is a three-story building which reminded me of a dormitory with many small rooms. Most of the residents are elderly people. This place is very different from what I have seen in America where people have marvelous conditions (beautiful buildings, nice meals and a variety of entertainment). The front door guard directed me to the section where all the youth live.  I walked through a long corridor with many art pictures of farm life painted on the walls. It was obvious that the building was recently remodeled yet it was pretty dark and stinky. I turned the corner and almost ran into Renat. He was so excited to see me that for several minutes he couldn’t talk about anything else; he just constantly repeated, “What a surprise, what a surprise!!!”

Then we took a walk around the convalescent home. Renat asked about everyone who ever visited the orphanage before; he definitely has good memories. Needless to say, each of our visits to the orphanage was a big deal for him. While we were walking we met other former orphans of Nizhniy Lomov. They all looked well, yet their eyes reflected sadness.

Renat showed me everything around the place. His favorite thing to do is to play soccer, therefore all the walls of his room are covered by posters of soccer players.  I asked him about difficulties and he relayed that he has big pressure form his friends and other adults because he doesn’t drink.

Renat is 23 years old and his whole childhood was spent at the orphanage. His mom abandoned him right after she gave birth because of his physical defect (split palm hands). When Renat turned 16 he decided to find his parents. I can imagine how painful it was for a teenager to hear all that from his mother and father.  Renat has a sister and a twin brother. When he found them, he had a lot of hope that he would have a home and many relatives, but this dream fell apart. Two weeks after he arrived, his mother kicked him out and demanded he never come back. Thus Renat was abandoned twice. Nevertheless, Renat forgave them.

I asked him what the purpose of his life is.  He replied that he wishes to become a sportsman, a soccer or football player. And someday play for Russia for the World championship.

Then I shared about the purpose that the Lord has for all of us which is to bring glory to HIS name through our faith in Jesus. Please pray for Renat and other youth at that home. They struggle intensely because of the conditions they live under. God knows what is best for all of us. He allows bad things to happen in our lives that we would see HIS Grace and draw us closer to NIM.

 We are working on getting permissions for tent camping for our church. Please hold us in your prayers because it’s a huge task which we can accomplish only with His help.

Angelica and I are excited about guests from the US that are going to come this summer. Please pray that God would help them with different issues as they are getting ready for the trip.

 Our oldest son, Elijah, has graduated from middle school with good marks and is now getting ready for high school. We are so thankful to the Lord for that. He dreams of being a pilot.

Thank you for your prayers.

Serving Christ together with you.

Sergey , Angelica Elijah and David Zelenov