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...

Among the homeless of Minsk

Inconvenient compassion

For years our friend Sasha has single-handedly operated a large weekly Bible study and daily feeding ministry among the homeless of Minsk.

We have quietly supported this work financially.

All he asks from local churches is a place to come in from the cold, where his volunteers can cook and serve food —

and then clean up thoroughly, so you can’t even tell they’ve been there.

But like Prodigal’s Home in Arizona, the ministry I served with for several years, Sasha’s ministry has been turned away by church after church.

I guess it’s one thing to say you’re doing the work of Christ, and quite another to actually do it when it becomes inconvenient.

As the brutal Belarusian winter approached, Sasha searched more and more frantically for a church that would take them in.

Finally, at the beginning of December, a Seventh-Day Adventist church said yes.

There’s a small café in the basement, with a counter and stools on one end, and a number of tables.

It’s a light, bright environment — the best situation this ministry has ever had.

Faina, 77, has been faithfully serving with Sasha for years.

(That’s kvas — basically bread juice — a Belarusian favorite.)

Sasha always insists I say a few words. I greeted the group on behalf of the many people in the U.S. who have come to love Belarus through New Thing,

and who are praying and giving so that we can bring some measure of help to people in need here.

Valentina, homeless for years, is a woman of prayer, and of true compassion. She has become a dear friend. She carries a photo of our daughter Lydia Charlotte.

I make a point of greeting each person individually. Some of these folks almost never encounter someone willing to physically touch them.

Sasha is a talented artist. He funds his ministry to some extent through sales of his paintings.

My art-gallery-owner wife Kristina hopes to arrange an exhibition of his work, with Sasha in attendance, in New England this fall.

Valentina gave me a big good-bye hug. "You are the one who always comes to us," she said.

I take it as high praise. And I thank you for helping us keep coming to them.

Thanks for journeying with us!

Much love,

Doug Brendel

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