Hello, my dear friends. It’s been a month since my last update, and a lot have happened in my life. Let’s see where I can start. Work Let’s talk about Lighthouse at first. Our first group of mentors have been meeting with their kids for more than two month already, and it is very exciting to see the dynamics of their relationships. | |
Two weeks ago we started to shoot a video about our work, and I had a chance to talk with some of the teenagers who have mentors. All of them had different stories of what they do with mentors, and what they talk about, but what was common among them is the feeling of respect towards their mentors. I also felt that some of the children started to trust their mentors. That was really special for me to see! Usually it is hard to gain trust and respect of orphans fast since they’ve had many people in their lives come and go. I think what really makes a difference is the model of regular and one on one meetings that allow to foster the development of the relationships with this kids. Also, it is very cool to talk with mentors. Often when they share about their experience with their mentees, they start by saying how much this relationships influence themselves. God is doing a lot in each pair for both parties – mentor and mentee. I cannot say that we are trouble free, of course. We have one girl in the program who is skipping meetings with her mentor, skips school as well and misbehaves a lot. If you are praying about, pray about this girl and her mentor.
Our coordinator and psychologist are meeting with teenagers in the center who want to have a mentor, and demand is pretty big. Plus, they’ve built a dormitory for graduates of orphanages close by, and when it will be open, graduates from many different places will live there. With such a demand, we are working hard to gather and train second group of mentors by the end of the summer. We plan that this group will be bigger – 15-20 people. Also, we have people in three different regions of the country who want us to spread our program there (two regions are very remote). Of course, right now we cannot even try to do that. First we need, to continue our work in Bishkek. From the other hand, the need in regions is greater; thus, we are praying to have an opportunity to travel to the South during the summer and see if we can start a small group of mentors there. For that we need resources and a person whom we can train to be a coordinator there.
Money became a big issue recently. We depleted our initial funds, and right now are working towards build a good fundraising network. I’m contacting my friends all over the world, offering them to become one of our volunteer fundraisers. We need about 3000 US dollars every month to pay salaries, rent, prepare trainings and develop marketing material. It is not that big for a nonprofit, but it is a lot when you have just 7 kids in the program. Makes the cost per child over 400 dollars. The good news is that even when we have 27 kids, the monthly cost stays the same. And when we have more children, it will increase insignificantly. Our goal is to have 75 children and 75 mentors in the program by the end of the summer. The costs will be about 4000$ then, but per child it will drop to 53$. Sorry, for all this math. If you know me somewhat, you know that I like numbers and efficiency. In our nonprofit as well, we want to develop slow enough to maintain good quality of our work, but at the same time fast enough to use our funds more efficient.
The good news is that we finally are able to make donations tax-deductible for our donors from US! We registered our organization with Joy To The World foundation in US which will be now our mediator there. Well, the conditions were that we will be able to gather our first 2000$ in two weeks, but we believe that anything is possible for our God. Check out more info here
Our coordinator and psychologist are meeting with teenagers in the center who want to have a mentor, and demand is pretty big. Plus, they’ve built a dormitory for graduates of orphanages close by, and when it will be open, graduates from many different places will live there. With such a demand, we are working hard to gather and train second group of mentors by the end of the summer. We plan that this group will be bigger – 15-20 people. Also, we have people in three different regions of the country who want us to spread our program there (two regions are very remote). Of course, right now we cannot even try to do that. First we need, to continue our work in Bishkek. From the other hand, the need in regions is greater; thus, we are praying to have an opportunity to travel to the South during the summer and see if we can start a small group of mentors there. For that we need resources and a person whom we can train to be a coordinator there.
Money became a big issue recently. We depleted our initial funds, and right now are working towards build a good fundraising network. I’m contacting my friends all over the world, offering them to become one of our volunteer fundraisers. We need about 3000 US dollars every month to pay salaries, rent, prepare trainings and develop marketing material. It is not that big for a nonprofit, but it is a lot when you have just 7 kids in the program. Makes the cost per child over 400 dollars. The good news is that even when we have 27 kids, the monthly cost stays the same. And when we have more children, it will increase insignificantly. Our goal is to have 75 children and 75 mentors in the program by the end of the summer. The costs will be about 4000$ then, but per child it will drop to 53$. Sorry, for all this math. If you know me somewhat, you know that I like numbers and efficiency. In our nonprofit as well, we want to develop slow enough to maintain good quality of our work, but at the same time fast enough to use our funds more efficient.
The good news is that we finally are able to make donations tax-deductible for our donors from US! We registered our organization with Joy To The World foundation in US which will be now our mediator there. Well, the conditions were that we will be able to gather our first 2000$ in two weeks, but we believe that anything is possible for our God. Check out more info here
Family
There are some important things that are happening right now I my family. First of all, my father. Our relationship weren’t in a good shape lately. Mostly, the reason was my decision to come back home and starting a nonprofit instead of studying Money and Banking in Switzerland… He struggling a lot with many issues in his life. The two that concern me the most are his drinking problem and his “girlfriend” who is very young, and I have many reasons to suspect that she is there for money. Actually, he is very close to being broke, but we are praying for him… That brings us to my mom. She is very uplifted lately. Started to believe in herself more and trusts God. She is thinking of finding an investor to buy out the business from father (bold aint it?) before it goes into bankruptcy.
The most important is my brother Timur. For almost six month now he has been going with me to King’s Kids ministry. Usually, he would come and have fun, but he never would pray or share anything about his spiritual life. In general, he almost never goes to church or prays. About two week ago, on our KK gathering we were talking about servant leadership, and at the end we (staff) we washing feet of our kids, and I got to wash my brother’s. And something clicked in him as I washed and prayed for him. Later we stood together in a circle for a prayer. Something happened and electricity went off at this moment, so we were praying in darkness. Same people who usually prayed were praying one after another, and there was a pause… and then Timur started to pray, and I literally stood there and cried hearing his words. (Was glad that light was off actually) A week after that we were at home with Timur and my youngest brother Jan, and we started praying for our father…
I’m glad that I returned home for many reasons: I’m doing what I love and what God calls me to do, I met my future wife, but also I’m now close to my brothers and can witness change in them!
There are some important things that are happening right now I my family. First of all, my father. Our relationship weren’t in a good shape lately. Mostly, the reason was my decision to come back home and starting a nonprofit instead of studying Money and Banking in Switzerland… He struggling a lot with many issues in his life. The two that concern me the most are his drinking problem and his “girlfriend” who is very young, and I have many reasons to suspect that she is there for money. Actually, he is very close to being broke, but we are praying for him… That brings us to my mom. She is very uplifted lately. Started to believe in herself more and trusts God. She is thinking of finding an investor to buy out the business from father (bold aint it?) before it goes into bankruptcy.
The most important is my brother Timur. For almost six month now he has been going with me to King’s Kids ministry. Usually, he would come and have fun, but he never would pray or share anything about his spiritual life. In general, he almost never goes to church or prays. About two week ago, on our KK gathering we were talking about servant leadership, and at the end we (staff) we washing feet of our kids, and I got to wash my brother’s. And something clicked in him as I washed and prayed for him. Later we stood together in a circle for a prayer. Something happened and electricity went off at this moment, so we were praying in darkness. Same people who usually prayed were praying one after another, and there was a pause… and then Timur started to pray, and I literally stood there and cried hearing his words. (Was glad that light was off actually) A week after that we were at home with Timur and my youngest brother Jan, and we started praying for our father…
I’m glad that I returned home for many reasons: I’m doing what I love and what God calls me to do, I met my future wife, but also I’m now close to my brothers and can witness change in them!
King Kids Ministry and The Art of Being a Man
I will be short on these two. King Kids is going very well. For the last 6 weeks we have been praying and asking God where He wants us to go for an outreach with our teenagers during the summer. He has been giving us answers in various forms: scripture texts, images, visions etc. We pretty sure that He wants us to go to Pakistan. From one side it is exciting since God was somewhat clear on that, and Pakistan was on my travel list for awhile now, but, from another hand, it is a huge responsibility to bring teenagers with us to a highly Muslim country for a mission trip… Thus, we keep praying to be sure that we heard right and also to know when to go there. (We were planning on July, but it will be the month of Muslim most important fast…)
The Art of Being a Man is also a big blessing for me. It is great to see how guys open up, sharing their struggles with each other. Many weeks already we are talking about relationships, marriage, sex, and everything that is related. I’m thinking right now to take a break from it for 6-8 weeks since it overwhelming right now with wedding and work and other things. After the break I will encourage my guys to try and organize a small conference for male youth. We will see how it goes)))
I will be short on these two. King Kids is going very well. For the last 6 weeks we have been praying and asking God where He wants us to go for an outreach with our teenagers during the summer. He has been giving us answers in various forms: scripture texts, images, visions etc. We pretty sure that He wants us to go to Pakistan. From one side it is exciting since God was somewhat clear on that, and Pakistan was on my travel list for awhile now, but, from another hand, it is a huge responsibility to bring teenagers with us to a highly Muslim country for a mission trip… Thus, we keep praying to be sure that we heard right and also to know when to go there. (We were planning on July, but it will be the month of Muslim most important fast…)
The Art of Being a Man is also a big blessing for me. It is great to see how guys open up, sharing their struggles with each other. Many weeks already we are talking about relationships, marriage, sex, and everything that is related. I’m thinking right now to take a break from it for 6-8 weeks since it overwhelming right now with wedding and work and other things. After the break I will encourage my guys to try and organize a small conference for male youth. We will see how it goes)))
30 Days Until Wedding
It is amazing how close it is!!! I’m excited and cannot wait for us to get married. Our relationships are getting stronger and stronger despite the stress that we are experiencing with work, ministry and wedding preps. Just finished our premarital counseling with Roman and Julija Gaiduk. It was a blast! We covered many important things, went through many questions together and separately for some topics. To everyone who is getting married I highly recommend to do premarital counseling! It is better to avoid some mistakes than to fix them later.
Right now we are fully engaged in preparations for the event itself, which is fun but also takes a lot of time, very precious time right now)) Many people are helping us with whatever they can do: some help with decorations, some with food, some teach us how to dance, many pray for us.
Financially, we are still in a hard situation. My dad has been contributing to the wedding lately, but we don’t know how it will go, since there are issues that I listed above. We prayed about it and decided to ask our friends to help us out as much as they can financially. Some of you already blessed us with your finances. Thank you, so much! One person commented saying that what we are doing is wrong, and we should just work hard and collect money ourselves instead of asking other people.
It is amazing how close it is!!! I’m excited and cannot wait for us to get married. Our relationships are getting stronger and stronger despite the stress that we are experiencing with work, ministry and wedding preps. Just finished our premarital counseling with Roman and Julija Gaiduk. It was a blast! We covered many important things, went through many questions together and separately for some topics. To everyone who is getting married I highly recommend to do premarital counseling! It is better to avoid some mistakes than to fix them later.
Right now we are fully engaged in preparations for the event itself, which is fun but also takes a lot of time, very precious time right now)) Many people are helping us with whatever they can do: some help with decorations, some with food, some teach us how to dance, many pray for us.
Financially, we are still in a hard situation. My dad has been contributing to the wedding lately, but we don’t know how it will go, since there are issues that I listed above. We prayed about it and decided to ask our friends to help us out as much as they can financially. Some of you already blessed us with your finances. Thank you, so much! One person commented saying that what we are doing is wrong, and we should just work hard and collect money ourselves instead of asking other people.
Well, we could give up what we are doing for a year and save up for a wedding, but who then will do that? We don’t think that if we do ministry or social work, other people Have help us financially, but w believe that we can ask for help from people who believe in what we do, and want us to be together. Few bucks can be a change in the pocket to some people, but a hundred people like that can make a difference for us. So if you have an opportunity, help us out, if you have not, don’t))) But please, share and like our wedding fundraising page)) | |
My spiritual life
I know I write a lot about things that God is doing in my life, and how things are exciting, and they are, but I also want to share with you my struggles. The difficulties that came with lack of finances, relationships with father, stress and some other struggles revealed to me that I lost focus in all this mess. Again! Again I lost this close relationships with God, again I traded God for the ministry\work\vanity. I lost my focus and was unprepared for difficulties. Didn’t spent enough time with God. Was reading the Bible but mechanically; was praying, but my thought wandered somewhere else. I know nothing new under the sun :) When the hardships came I went into total despair, but slowly I’m coming back to me rhythm with God; praying more, reading more Scripture, trusting more. So if you are praying for me pray for my focus to be on God! That is important now. And always)
I miss you greatly, my friends, and always excited when we have an opportunity to chat or skype... Some of you I'll see soon, but I hope to see most of you in the next year or two. As you know, you are always welcome to visit us in Kyrgyzstan. I can promise you a place to stay and an amazing experience of beautiful nature and pretty cheap food)))
I know I write a lot about things that God is doing in my life, and how things are exciting, and they are, but I also want to share with you my struggles. The difficulties that came with lack of finances, relationships with father, stress and some other struggles revealed to me that I lost focus in all this mess. Again! Again I lost this close relationships with God, again I traded God for the ministry\work\vanity. I lost my focus and was unprepared for difficulties. Didn’t spent enough time with God. Was reading the Bible but mechanically; was praying, but my thought wandered somewhere else. I know nothing new under the sun :) When the hardships came I went into total despair, but slowly I’m coming back to me rhythm with God; praying more, reading more Scripture, trusting more. So if you are praying for me pray for my focus to be on God! That is important now. And always)
I miss you greatly, my friends, and always excited when we have an opportunity to chat or skype... Some of you I'll see soon, but I hope to see most of you in the next year or two. As you know, you are always welcome to visit us in Kyrgyzstan. I can promise you a place to stay and an amazing experience of beautiful nature and pretty cheap food)))