At the End of 2017 there were many happy events in our Children’s Ark. And I want to share some of them with you. In December our graduate Vanya got married. We are especially happy for them because they got baptized and went through premarital training together.
In the same month two of our girls were baptized. Diana is 17 and Irina will turn 16 soon. Diana is the daughter of a tutor of the group and Irina lives in the same group with her brother Vitaliy. Irina came to us when she was only four years old and Vitaliy was three at that time. It’s a joy to see that children who grew up here choose to live with Lord. This shows us that we are on the right path.
We all watched how girls went to the baptism class and prepared for their most important day of their life’s. On the day of the baptism we went with a large group of people to the church “At the declining hill”.
We cried and rejoiced, seeing how our girls made a covenant with the Lord and then we had a celebration afterwards.
At the end of December, we celebrated Christmas here in the Children’s Ark. Traditionally is our biggest, most bright and joyful holiday. The preparation of the scene, rehearsals and pastry baking started long before the event. This led to a Christmas atmosphere for a whole month. And two girls, 2 and 8 years old, joined our family and became our Christmas gifts. With the Christmas atmosphere it was easier for them to get involved and welcomed in the first days.
We had a lot of guests and graduates attend and are glad that not gifts, which we had of course, were the center of the celebration but birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Children’s Ark in St Petersburg – Lyudmilla Vasilchenko