Love Begets Love
July 31, 2017Allies in Youth Development (AIYD) volunteers always strive to bear witness to Christ’s selfless love. Recently, a small group returned to an orphanage in Moldova, and their early arrival made for a pleasant surprise for the children.
“We arrived earlier than usual. They were still eating their lunch but many of them left their food and ran up to greet us,” a volunteer recounted. “They were very glad to see us.”
12-year-old Christy, one of the 29 children who have found a home in the orphanage, could barely hide her excitement and happiness. “I was so happy to see them again,” she said. “I already asked our director a few times when they would visit again because I missed them very much.”
The volunteers have fully embraced their pastoral mission to love and serve others. They understand that orphans, many of whom experience abandonment at an early age, are among those who need love and care the most. “All this is possible because of God’s work in our hearts,” one of the volunteers shared. “We want to help influence their future lives through God's Word.”
The activities for that day were in line with that purpose. After some games, they sang the children’s favorite songs and taught them a new one. They also told the story of Christ’s Death and Resurrection—the ultimate demonstration of God’s love for His people and the Divine means through which sinners are reconciled with Him—and introduced the children to John 3:16, which proclaims that “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
To help the children further appreciate Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and what it means for mankind, the volunteers prepared a special crafts project. “We, together with the kids, made a cross with the words ‘Christ has Risen,” the volunteers said. “We wanted to show that Christ is no longer on the cross but instead is alive. He is Risen!”
Their efforts to share God’s redemptive love bore much fruit, with the children sending them off with joyful hearts. "Lesha, one of the kids, came out to see us off," the volunteers said. ”He was waving us as long as we could see him."