is your love in action, inside the former Soviet Union

A report from Doug Brendel to all who support or follow our New Thing ministry in Belarus...

“So the poor have hope...” Job 5:16

Your heart is huge here

It’s hard being poor.

In Belarus, maybe even harder.

Because of devastating inflation, Business Insider’s Poverty Index 2013 lists Belarus as the fourth-poorest nation on earth.

So the work of our Response of the Heart team, bringing tons of donated food and goods into the country

and sharing it with the poor, is more urgently important today than ever before.

Response of the Heart is the single largest distributor of humanitarian aid in the entire nation

... thanks to the generous support of friends like you.

The needy ones gather at the designated hour: the blind and the deaf at one time ... the homeless at another time ...

large families (supported by the state to counteract the post-Chernobyl population decline).

A group in Germany provides food.

Each box has precisely the same assortment of non-perishable foodstuffs.

And in each box, there’s a bonus. Instead of filling in empty space with packing material, the donating group includes random used clothing.

Body wash and other hygiene products are prized.

Anatoly, who pastors the church next door, runs our warehouse operation with astonishing patience.

Donated kitchenware is a real luxury for the poor.

If you can’t carry your own box, Response of the Heart volunteers will help you.

My books of practical biblical teaching are always distributed with the humanitarian aid.

But it was an interesting feeling to do the distributing myself.

Andrei Bukharov, a prolific writer, introduced himself in very good English.

He focuses mostly on scientific and environmental issues.

He wanted to know what I write — and was surprised that I could immediately hand him two examples!

In this culture, books are highly valued. When you hand a book to a Belarusian, almost invariably they begin reading it immediately.

Used clothing and other fabric products are available, but you have to hunt to find something that fits.

Under Belarusian regulations, nothing is thrown away. The remains will go to smaller aid organizations around the country.

The children were painfully bored. I tried to engage them, but little Viktor in particular was having none of this American stranger, even when his papa encouraged him.

Interpreter Katya went scrounging in the warehouse for toys. She found exactly four stuffed animals — which I presented to the four children in attendance.

His father is blind, his mother is deaf. So perhaps Viktor has plenty to frown about.

But when he refused to smile even for a stuffed dragon, I took it as a challenge. I invited him to sit for a portrait.

On the inside front cover of one of my books, I began sketching a cartoon of Viktor.

I left the smile for last. “How big of a smile do you want on your face?”

He did his best to smile big, and I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Finally, when he saw the silly cartoon, he cut loose with a huge grin.

On the church office floor sits the scale. It is feared and despised.

Each family is approved by the state only for a specific number of kilos.

Anatoly’s wife Elena keeps the meticulous records required by the government.

And now I want you to meet Monica, a longtime friend of Anatoly and Elena.

Monica, who has 11 children of her own, donated half of her house to become Anatoly’s church.

She also gave her “garage” as a warehouse for Response of the Heart.

She is the unsung hero of our ministry.

But now the local government is forcing her out, in a huge neighborhood development operation.

Numerous old houses will be leveled, the residents relocated in flats elsewhere.

Anatoly’s congregation has already purchased another church building.

There’s room there for two massive containers, to serve as our new warehouse.

With the help of our friends, we hope to be able to install the containers there, before the bulldozers arrive here.

We received a generous Matching Challenge, with a May 15 deadline. I’ll let you know on the 15th where we stand.

Thanks for journeying with us!

Much love,

Doug Brendel

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