Homeless, But Not Hopeless

I just returned home to Elektrostal after a week of ministry to a handful of street kids in Moscow. I, along with Carrie and Amanda, a couple young ladies from First Denver Friends, went to The Salvation Army's New Hope Center each day last week to spend several hours hanging out with homeless teens.

Before the kids started arriving Monday, we were a little apprehensive, not knowing what to expect. When it was all said and done, about 15 kids showed up that first day. Some of them were quite wild; others were very quiet. We discovered that most of the kids weren't from Moscow at all, but from east of Moscow. Two of them were even from Elektrostal and one from Noginsk, a neighboring city. None of the kids approached us for awhile. We could tell they were feeling us out just like we were them. They weren't about to make the first move, so we had to. Fortunately, there was a ping-pong table at the Center, so I struck up a game with one of the kids. That's all it took. From that point to the end of the week, relationships grew, in spite of cultural, economical and spiritual divides. As I look at some of the pictures I took now, I find I'm already missing the kids. Praise God!

Each day, there was plenty of time for just spending time with the kids, playing games, listening to music, watching DVDs. In addition to that, at 3:30 every day, we participated in what was called the Circle. During this time, everyone gathers in a circle and shares 4 things with the group. Here's an example of the first 3 things: "My name is Sergey. I'm in a good mood. My plan for this evening is to go for a walk with my friends." The 4th thing is to answer the day's question, something like "If you could take a trip anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?"

Besides the Circle, there is a 30-minute class time when a social worker teaches the kids about something or another since most of the kids do not go to school. On Thursdays, the time is used for a Bible lesson. It's really a good program. The kids were surprisingly respectful, but then again, I guess they don't otherwise have a safe place to just relax and be themselves, so it's not something they seem to take for granted.

To end this post, I'm grateful for the opportunity to take part in such a worthy ministry. Perhaps we will start something similar in Elektrostal for the youth of our city. It's something we've been talking about, so the experience was invaluable.

Patrick

Picture 1 - This is the sign on the outside of New Hope Center. It says "The Salvation Army Russia."

Picture 2 - The young lady on the left is Angela, a staff member of New Hope Center. The girl in front of her is Inga, the daughter of another staff member. The other 3 are Anya, Katya and Dennis, beneficiaries of the program. The sign in the background reads "Our future begins today."