You Can Still Give If You Want To

Dear Blogging Friends,
The follownig is an email (edited for brevity) from Tim Burns, one of the coordinators of our trip. Sarah, Sacha, and I are on the Orange Bus with a bunch of people. (Hence the greeting.) I am writing for 2 reasons:
1) to give you a rundown of our scheduled time over there and
2) to ask if you'd want to contribute to the needs requested by orphanages over there.

Sarah and I are really excited about the BABY HOUSE!


Greetings Orange Bus –

In addition to Jaye’s email about our Russian staff, I wanted to let you know of some of the special needs and requests given to us from the sites we will be visiting, along with some expected attendance numbers. As you look over the listing, please keep several things in mind:

(1) We are extremely grateful for all the time, finances, and energy you’ve put into this mission already – and we know that God is our ultimate Provider. What He wants the sites to have, He’ll provide for them.
(2) Some of these gifts we won’t be able to carry over with us. Things like books and developmental games need to be in Russian, and purchased overseas…and I don’t know how good of a packer you are, but I don’t know of anyone who can fit a water heater in 55 linear inches of baggage. J Some of these may be items that we’ll be purchasing in Russia with special offerings that we’ll receive as the Lord guides us to do so (which we’ll leave with the local church to purchase later). Of course, this provides a wonderful opportunity for people in your church who want to participate in the mission to have an impact through providing funds for you to take for them.
(3) Some of these items are being purchased in advance (though I don’t have information on which ones) – so we don’t have to feel the burden of bringing along every single item with us. The best thing to do is seek the Lord regarding these requests & follow His leading on what to bring.

With that, I think you have the idea. On a more practical level, if God gives you an opportunity to provide sports equipment like soccer balls or other inflatable items, you’re obviously going to need to deflate them for transport and inflate them when you get in-country again…so you’ll want to bring a small pump along with you that can be left with the facility the equipment is donated to.

Also – you’ll notice on Friday we’ll be ministering in a Baby House (orphanage strictly for babies & toddlers). Our Pennsylvania Distribution Center & Warehouse was able to send 100 bibs for the orphanage to use (praise the Lord!), but we’ll need an additional 20 bibs to cover the need. Perhaps one or several of us could bring this over as the Lord leads. (And as you can see from the request, they’re asking for baby toys too.)

Two more things before getting to the list: do you have people praying for you? I cannot emphasize enough how important this is. After our own personal prayer and devotional times, this is probably the most important thing we could set up in advance.

May God continue to bless you as you prepare to serve Him through the power of the Holy Spirit!

Because of Christ,
Tim Burns




Soudzal Orphanage #3 (Monday, June 18)
30 kids, 3-4 years old
42 staff

Vladimir City Sanatorium #2 (Tuesday, June 19)
105 kids, 3-8 years old
78 staff
Assembly is planned
Requested sports equipment: badminton, balls (large & small), volleyball net, basketball goal, table-tennis
Other requested items: outside toys for young children, legos, games, puzzles, recorder for speech therapist, shovels for landscaping, small tape recorders

Social Rehabilitation Center (Tuesday, June 19)
40 kids, 7-14 years old
62 staff
Assembly & small groups planned
Request: sports equipment, developmental games, small soccer & hockey games, legos

Loukhtanovo Special Boarding School for orphans (Wednesday, June 20)
65 kids
83 staff
Assembly & small groups planned
Request: sports equipment, developmental games, cleaning supplies

Center of Social Help to Families & Children (Wednesday, June 20)
60 children
35 families
6 staff
Request: Water buckets & brooms

Rehabilitation Center for children under 18 years old (Thursday, June 21)
(half the group to attend)
17 kids, 10-18 years old
28 staff
Americans need to have passports
Asking for creative games & balloon-sculptures (animals, etc)
Requests: sports equipment, t-shirts & shorts to be used as uniforms for events, books

Center of temporary isolation of minors-delinquents (Thursday, June 21)
(half the group to attend)
13 kids, under 18 years old
48 staff
Americans need to have passports
Asking for testimonies/lessons from people about dangers of smoking & alcohol
Requests: developmental board games, toilet paper, slippers (rubber made), hand/face towels, dark t-shirts, books

Baby House in Vladimir (Friday, June 22)
108 kids, most under 2 years old
205 staff (60 per shift)
Requests: water heaters, infant toys, bibs

Home visits of needy families from “Mercy” fund (Friday, June 22)
6 families
10 children
We’ll be splitting up into 6 groups for the visits