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Russia was the place where my heart was broken for orphans.
In 1997, I took my wife and eight-month-old son to run a camp for 150 orphans in the Vladimir region. I was never the same after that experience.
We met a little orphan girl named Anya who was ten. She became our daughter one year later. When I returned to her orphanage to tell her she was going to be our daughter, a hundred other kids were staring at me with empty looks in their eyes.
They were longing for something, something I wasn’t sure I could give them.
Two little girls burst out of the crowd and hugged my legs as they looked into my eyes and said, “Papa. Papa.” I knew they wanted a family.
That day I made the decision not to turn my back on the rest of those orphans. Instead, I started asking different questions. What could I do to help their lives be different than what the statistics showed?
I couldn’t chalk up those times in Russia as merely more experiences in my journey. The orphans I met and the things I saw were just too important. I had to continue changing my life in such a way that Russian orphans were more a part of it. They deserved a better life than the one they were facing, and I could do something to help change their circumstances. That’s exactly what I did.
At about that same time, Woodmen Valley Chapel was getting involved in the Russian orphan ministry of Children’s HopeChest. They began taking their first trips, and having the exact same experiences as I just described above.
One couple, Dave and Sondra Wayman of Woodmen Valley Chapel, decided to sponsor children at the Mstyora orphanage. This video below is from Yana, one of their sponsored children, as she reflects back on what sponsorship meant to her as a child growing up in an orphanage.
Next week, I’m taking Woodmen’s senior pastor Matt Heard to visit Yana’s orphanage in Russia. To follow our journey into the Real Russia, please subscribe to the blog or follow me on Twitter.
posted May 18, 2012 at 8:03 pm
Tom,
I look forward to hearing of the great experiences with Matt in Russia. I pray we can give this vision to all our sponsor families!
Safe journey and you will be in our prayers here in Maryland. Hope you can come see us later this year.
Steve
posted May 19, 2012 at 8:45 am
Thanks for the beautiful video. It reminded me I haven’t written to the child I sponsor through Compassion for awhile, so I took a moment and did.
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posted May 25, 2012 at 9:57 pm
Hi Dave,
My name is Zhanna Jacobo (Manushina). I was in the orphanage with Yana. This video is so amazing and true. When I taken to the orphanage I was so scared because I didn’t know what to expect. It turned out that it was just like a big supportive family. But, there was one thing that was always missing, mother and father and everything else that comes with it. “American people” that came to the orphanage always made me feel like that they cared about us like a mother and father should. I just want to take this time to tell you how much I appreciate what you guys did for all of us and how you made us all feel important and how you made us believe that there is hope out there no matter if you are an orphan or a person that lived at home with their families. After getting adopted from the orphanage in 2000, I’ve never forgotten about you guys and wished that someday I would get this opportunity to tell you THANK YOU. You guys gave me things that I thought I will never be able to have again (love, care, importance and more).
THANK YOU,
Zhanna