?

When speaking to our friend Valya, who is probably in her late 50's and has been on the streets 10 years, we realise that life is very complicated for them. I have talked to her about finding a place to live, or some centre to go to so that she has a roof over her head. Her answer is always no, they are institutions and there, there is no freedom. She even said living with a landlady would be too hard and restricted, she has grown accustomed to life on the streets and the "freedom" that it brings; to be her own master.

The question remains how can we help her off the streets? We will continue being her friend and showing her love, but how can we really help this person?

Sasha

Sasha is one guy that we have been ministering to on and off since our ministry began. He was recently in the centre where we took Yura. He is no longer there as it seems that they really only like people who are abled bodied there (he has bad legs). He is trying to get sent by the government to another place that help with making documents (which are vital to life here in Russia). It makes us sad that there is not something we can do more, apart from now just supporting them through friendship and showing them their high value and God's love.

good reputation!!!

The other day when we were serving some homeless people tea and chatting to them, a homeless woman came up and said "Are you the English?" I answered that one of us was yes, and asked how did she know that? She said that there are "good rumours" going around about our team and how we help people who are homeless like her. I asked who she heard from and it was from our dear friend Yura who we have been trying to help out!!!! Since then I have noticed he introduces us to people as his English friends (we also Canadian and Ukrainian at the moment). He seems proud of such friends. We are grateful to God that he is using Yura to make our name known and people already come up to us themselves.

Vasya

Vasya is a sweet homeless guy we have met a couple of times now. He is probably in his fourties. It is difficult to tell sometimes as they often look much older than they are. He has a disability that was caused by an explosion at the end of a war in the early nineties. I think it was with Chechnya. His wife was killed during this time. His life has never been the same since...

sadness

She died: The women at the local train station who had been asleep in the same place for two day. We didn't get to talk to her, to share God's love, the only times we saw she was deep asleep. We didn't even give her tea! That makes me sad.

excitement

Yesterday we met a group of guys that we had been wanting to go up to for a while. It happened all quite naturally. It was great to start building a friendship with them. They are part of the streets. They are homeless, but they "lord" it over the weeker homeless and get money off them for "protection". Hopefully we can influence their lives. A lady who was with them yesterday came up today and told us they all live in an abandoned building as squatters. It has made us wonder how many others live like this and where are they if so?

Yet again Yura is on the streets. It seems that the rehab called for an ambulance because he has an open wound on his leg ( right to the bone) and somehow he ended up at the central market! He is without his shoes and has been drunk all week!!! We are planning to go to the rehab to find out what really happened and if the only thing we can do is get his shoes back we will...

Yura won't be cold tonight. He will sleep in a nice warm bed. He has had a nice warm shower and good food to eat. He is now living in a rehab centre. Thank you Father God!

Frustration and hope

We have been trying to help one man out now for a couple of months. Yura is in his 50's and has a physical disability. During the winter months he got really sick and his legs would no longer work. He was living by some hot pipes near the railway station. We called an ambulance for him to only see him two days later back at the pipes and in the same condition. This time we got the police to call the ambulance and didn't see him for maybe a month. Then we see him back at the pipes, having had a toe or two amputated. This time we drive him to the local government run scheme to help him find a place to live. We worked on his medical requirements and they said that there would be a place for him in the shelter. We left him there hopeful. The next ministry day we see him again back at the pipes. We are so frustrated, we don't know what to do and have done all we can for him! Today we did the same without much luck. However, we met Slava, one of our homeless friends who tells us of the place he has just lived at and said they take anyone. We found a glimmer of hope. We went to this big house with a big gate! It was a Christian rehab centre!!!! They do take anyone and tomorrow we will drive him there and he will no longer be cold or hungry on the streets. Praise God!!! We are learning to be a voice for those who have no voice and that God can make a way!

Welcome

Welcome to streets of Rostov blog. Our plan is to regularly update you with what is happening in our ministry. We want to tell stories about the people we meet and share with you our new plans and how our ministry is developing.