Wednesday 31 March 2010

A day of meeting old friends!

Often in this ministry people who you know and grow to love disappear. You never know where or why or whether everything is OK with them. Are they even alive? Today was a day to be glad. First we met Valya. We haven't seen Valya for over 6 months. She is so much fun. They had moved cities, but continue to live on the streets. They had just returned for the day, but it was great to catch up with them. Then on the way home we met Slava. I was so please to see him. He is an older man who lived in the garage not far from our property and it has been locked for months. I was glad to see that he was alive and well, he is being treated for Tuberculosis at a clinic. There are so many others that we have lost contact and all we can do is place them in the hands of God....

Tuesday 23 March 2010

A life

Jhenya is 22 years old. He grew up in an orphanage and is now homeless. He has spent the past few years just traveling around Russia city to city. He has been to over one hundred and forty cities.
He was watching us serve tea to our "regular" homeless with curiosity, I offered him tea and he wanted to talk. I quickly told him we needed a translator... then the conversation continued. He was very "open" or it seemed he was. One really can not tell if he was lying or not. He kept asking for help. I shared with him that we can give the most help as we continue to build relationship with him. I told him to come and see us, to hang out with us as we walk the streets. He agreed and we set up another time that we would be there so he could be there as well.... I was surprised when he showed up... not on time but he did come. And he came the next time... we went out for lunch with him... I saw him one more time after that in the bus station (his home). We were short on time and so we invited him to come and spend Sunday with us... go to church in the afternoon and to eat with us... he never showed up.
I left a couple days later to Finland. While I was gone Ruth heard that he left town.
I wonder where Jhenya is now...
While we were with him we met another young man who also lives like Jhenya does... traveling from one place to another, just doing whatever comes there way.
How many more young people are out there living like that?
How can we help young people like him?

Maybe one day I will have the privilege of meeting Jhenya again. BUT overall I pray that God will open up the doors to meet more of these young people and open up the doors to see them come off the streets. Maybe I will have the privilege of being involved in that... or maybe you will...

Friday 5 March 2010

Alexei


It is Alexei's 35th birthday today. I was sad because I couldn't find him... I wanted to let him know that he was special and that I was glad that he was born. He really wants to go home to Siberia, to be with his family, but something has happened that made him leave in the first place. He worries that soon he might lose his leg as it is infected and the hospitals won't admit him. Our small medical help just stops it getting worse. Even worse, he feels the threat of death on the streets daily.