Pastor’s Report

What many people may not know, is that while our focus is on orphans, we also work with and support churches in the Primorsky Krai region. Below is a report from one of our pastor’s on the work in his church:

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
We thank you for your prayers for our family, and the help which you give to our family and our ministry for the sake of the Lord Jesus.
In the last year we’ve had a lot of blessed events happen to us. Currently we have 30-35 adults who faithfully come to Church and about the same number of children. There is hardly enough room for everyone upstairs in the room which we use for the Church services. The Sunday school in our Church is pretty big – more than 30 children. We could really use your prayers about this important ministry. We are in such need for Sunday school teachers. But God is good and our teenagers have begun to minister to the little children. Please, pray with us about it.
One of the exciting events of this year has been the youth ministry which we recently started. In the fall of this year a youth group of 11 young kids age 15 to 20 began to gather together for Bible Studies. Only three of them come from a Christian atmosphere, the rest come from non-Christian families. They recently went to a youth conference in Vladivostok, and came back very excited. Please pray for the ones that have not made a decision for Christ, and for God’s blessings upon this new ministry.
Please also pray about the people who attend our Church but have not been born from above. Some of them are non-Christian husbands of our sisters in Christ. We encourage the ladies to be obedient to the Lord and serve their husbands and express God’s love. Here are the names of the men who occasionally come to Church with their wives, but that are not saved; Sergey, Anatoly, Sergey, Alexander, and Andrey.
In the next year we really long to develop personal evangelism. We have seen that personal testimonies and preaching of the Word of God in a small group by faithful people who committed their lives to a holy life promotes deep changes in people. We ask you just like Paul did – to pray that God would open the door for the Good news to bring forth a joyful result to our Church in the next year.
A year and a half ago our Church building was broken into and robbed for the second time. The Church was seriously damaged. By God’s mercy and despite the heating system failing, we managed to have Church services during the winter right in the Church building. Winters in Primorye are very severe, and the Church building is quite big. We were able to heat up three rooms in the building which we needed for the ministry. In the summer we did some minor renovations in the rooms where we have Church services. The Church has made a decision to begin major renovations of the sanctuary. The floor is completely rotted through in some areas. That was an important decision and we were able to make it only by God’s mercy. For all we have is from Him. We hope that we can continue the works after holidays. We need to install a new heating system. Right now we use electric heaters for several rooms. Our Church is not large in number but we have noticed that donations and tithing have increased. Not a lot but it makes us happy. But in the winter time all donations go towards paying for the heat. But we believe that God will take care of this need.
Christmas holidays are coming soon. We pray that this would be a memorable time not only for the Sunday school children, but for the youth of our Church – this will be their first Christmas in our Church.

With love in Jesus Christ,

Alexander and Anna Zimin

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has enabled me,
For that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.
1st Timothy 1:12

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the staff at the Hope for Life Homes! Christmas is not celebrated in Russia for another couple of days and we hope to be able to share with you updates from the homes as well as the Orphan Christmas Project. It’s not too late to give! If you would like to help, please click on the Hope for Life Homes logo and to go to our main web site. There you can make a donation by clicking on the “Make a Donation” tab.

God Bless -

Christmas Project

The Christmas season is quickly approaching and the staff of the Hope for Life Homes Ministry have set a goal of trying to reach 1,000 children this year.  We will be filling shoeboxes with small gifts and delivering them to orphans in the Primorsky Krai Region that otherwise would not receive a gift.

The government institutions typically do not allow us to go into an orphanage and share the story of the Gospel.  However, by taking gifts to the children, we get the opportunity to share the story about the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and share what He did for us.  For many of the children, this will be the first time they have heard the Christmas story!  Please help us reach these children by donating to our project.  You can do so by clicking on our logo on the right side of this page and then clicking on the “Make a Donation” tab. Will you help share the love Jesus Christ has for us all? To fill these shoeboxes, we must raise at least $10,000.

Your donation will not only allow us to bring a smile to a child’s face, but it will also warm their heart to know that someone cares about them. Please help by visiting our website now at www.hflhomes.com and making your tax deductible donation using PayPal by clicking on the “Make a Donation” tab. If you wish to donate by check, then make your check out to OTAN and on the “For” line, please write Russian Christmas.

Our address is:

Hope for Life Homes
P.O. Box 2440
Winchester, VA 22604

Thanks for your help and support of our ministry -

Jeff & Joye Ballard
Tony & Dawn Baggett
Mary Knisley

October 2011 Visit

This past month, I took my first trip to SE Siberia (Far East Russia) in three years. Days prior to the trip I worried a little more than I should about things. I have never shared the Gospel with a non-English speaking person, so I prayed God would give me the right words to say when it was necessary. God is good and as always, He took care of everything.

After more than 30 hours of travel, I arrived in Vladivostok at 9:30 AM on Sunday morning. First stop – church of course! I attended church with our in-country administrator, Zhanna, and her family. What a blessing! My Russian was quite rusty and add to that the jet lag, I struggled a bit to understand what was being said. However, I did pick-up enough to know what chapter of the Bible the pastor was preaching from. One thing I miss already was the passion the church members have when singing! The pastor’s wife is a very talented singer and she will take songs in English and translate them into Russian.

Pastor & His Wife

On Monday, we visited the Hope for Life Home in Taverychanka which is located just outside of Vladivostok. As we pulled off the main highway, I noticed that it had started to snow. Fortunately for us, the ground temperature was still a little too warm for it to stick and cause problems. However, it was a warning to everyone of the approaching winter season. When we arrived at the home, I learned the older children were in school and would not be home until after 5PM. I spent time playing with Daniel, Victoria, Lera and Luba. In preparation for lunch, I went into the washroom and washed my hands. As I walked out, Luba came running over and started shaking her finger at me – scolding me for leaving the light on in the washroom!

Luba

Lera

The next several days took us to Spassk and some remote villages in the region. In Spassk, we went to check on our house parents, Misha and Lera, in Home #2. Misha had just arrived home from a two week stay in the local hospital following a heart attack. Misha is in need of prayers as he still has a long recovery. We are encouraging him to travel to Vladivostok for further screening. It would be a long ride for him, but they have much better diagnostic equipment that could determine if he is indeed on the road to recovery.

Tony, Misha and Lena

After leaving Spassk, we visited some orphanages and a few detention centers. At the detention centers, we worked a craft project with the teens which allowed Zhanna to share the Gospel. We handed out some toiletries to the teens and then asked the center’s administrator if we could visit the younger children. To the older children (ages 7-12), we handed out study books on the book of John. To the little children (ages 3-5), we handed out candy. As we were leaving the center administrator said, “Thank you for coming and caring for these children – no one else does.” How very sad that these children are forgotten by the masses. Below is a photo from one of the detention centers. I intentionally did not show their faces to help protect their privacy.

Detenion Center Visit

I’ll post more later about this trip. In the mean time, please pray for the orphans – both young and old. Winter is approaching quickly and the night time temperatures are brutal.

God Bless -

Our Family – The Ballard’s

Through personal tragedy and Divine blessings, God has given the Ballard’s a special love for the hurting and needy children of Russia. They have dedicated their lives to making an eternal difference across the globe.

Jeff and Joye Ballard have served with the HFL Ministries since it’s beginning in 2006. Jeff is the Director of Hope for Life Homes. He travels to Russia often; overseeing every aspect of the Russian ministry.

The Ballard’s would love the opportunity to share more of their burden for the orphans and lost people of Russia with you or your church family. Please email us at jeff@hflhomes.com to schedule a meeting!

Thanks! Jeff

The Ballard Family

Misha – Prayer Request

The father in our Spassk home, Misha, had a heart attack about two weeks ago. Please pray for his healing and recovery so that he can return to his family. Our latest word from the region is that he is doing better and there is a very small chance that he could go home sometime next week.

I have added a “Prayer Request” tab in the black menu bar. Please check this often for our current prayer needs.

- God Bless

Our Family – The Baggett’s

In 2006, God put a burden in our hearts for the orphans of Russia.  After much prayer and consideration, we soon found ourselves in the adoption process.  We already had three children so not only was this a major decision, it was uncharted territory for us.  It was obvious God was opening our eyes to the plight of orphans around the world, but I did not really think He intended for us to actually go to Russia.  After all, it was arguably one of the most difficult  if not THE most difficult country to adopt from and, it was the most expensive country to adopt from hands down.  So I made the mistake of not listening to what He was telling me to do.  God quickly shut those doors and it was like He was grabbing me and saying; “Didn’t you hear me?  I said RUSSIA!”  So we prayed, and we prayed and then we prayed some more.

So to Russia we went and in May of 2008, we became the proud parents of three siblings from a small village in far east Russia.  We were now a family of eight.  I will not bore the reader with the details (you can read them on our family blog www.pville8.blogspot.com), but I will say God was with us throughout the journey.  It absolutely would not have happened without His hand in every detail.

We thought we were through building our family.  We were happy and  things were running pretty smoothly and then it happened.  One night in 2010, I was more restless than normal and my wife asked me what the problem was.  I replied, “I think God wants us to adopt again.”  She too had felt this burden on her heart once again, but this time it was different.  We both agreed that we felt He wanted us to pursue a child that was truly unwanted – a special needs child.  So we started the paper chase again and had all the expected roadblocks.  One thing we learned from our first adoption is that the devil does not want orphans to find a home with a loving christian family, so there are many “surprises”.  With God’s help, we got through these problems. Please don’t take this lightly, there is a battle taking place! Some of these issues were just annoying, others were very serious attacks on our family.

In February 2011 we became the proud parents of a tiny four year old from a few hours east of Moscow.  We were told he was born deaf and that he had been passed over many, many times.  He is a wonderful addition to poour family. He is full of energy and will put a smile on your face. Our homes is noisy – very noisy, and with four young children it is very “lived in”.  Lived in – translate that into you will often find yourself stepping on a lego piece as you walk through the house or removing crayons from your chair before taking a seat.

Today we still find ourselves with the plight of the orphans weighing heavily on our heart.  Because of that, we signed up with OTAN missions in April 2011 to continue helping the orphans of Russia.  One of the reasons we selected OTAN was our friendship with the Ballard family and the fact that to the best of our knowledge, no other christian agency is working with orphans in that region.  In four days, I will make my first trip as a representative of the OTAN Russian team.  I will spend about 12 days traveling the region, visiting the two HfL homes, visiting some local pastors and visiting a detention center.

The Baggett Family