WHERE ARE THEY TODAY?
Timely Help Changed the Lives of Three Siblings
The main image is from our March 2015 newsletter: Vassa, Saveli, and Valya before coming to the shelter home.
Vassa, Valya, and Saveli grew up with much hardship. Their mother abandoned the family when the children were young, and when their father lost his job, he turned to alcohol. Their home had no electricity or running water. Filth, hunger, lice, and ridicule from classmates were faced on a daily basis.
“Our team visited the family regularly,” recalled Natasha, director of the shelter home in Yekaterinburg. “These three children also came to the shelter to wash, do their homework, and be cared for. That enabled them to continue their studies at school.”
In 2015 their parents lost custody and the children were placed in the care of our shelter home staff. The siblings lived at the shelter for the next ten years. While there they found friendship, love, and a new family. They also came to know their Heavenly Father. Vassa and Valya responded to the gospel the first time they heard it!
Today it is a joy to see the direction their lives have taken.
Both sisters have graduated from college. Vassa works as a cinema supervisor, serves in her church, and is a foster parent. Their younger half-sister Sima, their mother’s fourth child, also had a very difficult and dysfunctional upbringing. Thankfully, Vassa was able to gain guardianship of her.
Valya also serves actively in her church. She works in a café in St. Petersburg, a city she first fell in love with during a shelter home fieldtrip. Brother Saveli is in his third year of training to become a firefighter.
When we sow God’s word into a child’s heart with love, we have the privilege of seeing lives transformed. Just as wounds and destructive patterns can pass from one generation to another, so can grace and love. The children we help today often become the helpers of tomorrow.
FROM A “HOPELESS CASE” TO A MODEL STUDENT
When Saveli arrived at the shelter he could neither read nor write. At school he was considered a hopeless case. With tutoring and support at the shelter he proved to be very gifted. In the photo Natasha helps Saveli with his schoolwork.
