Church Dinner for Vanya

The day after the office lunch party, Olga arranged for Vanya to be welcomed by the community and the church. The event was held at the Kàôåäðàëüíûé Cîáîð Ïîêðîâà Ïðåñâÿòîè Áîãîðîäèöû, which is a Russian church in Illinois .  If you did not get a chance to see our video on our Ark Mission website of “ Yana and Her Friends”, please watch it and you will be able to see parts of the church where this event was held. There were approximately 200 people who gathered for this event and met Vanya for the first time.  The guests were older individuals where most of them have a Russian background.  Vanya quickly won over their hearts with his songs and poems in Russian. Many guests talked about their childhood memories of their home country, and how Vanya’s cheerful personality brings out all of the pleasant feeling that they associate with their youth. One of the guests had tears of joy in his eyes when Vanya stood in front of everyone and recited a well-known Russian poem.

Olga introduced Vanya to the guests, and soon after everyone was called into the main room of the church. The priest gave Vanya holy bread and wine during his first ceremony.  Vanya took this event very seriously, and behaved as a very respectful and well composed individual. His parents were very proud and happy that their new family member is so well mannered. After the ceremony everyone joined Vanya and his family for a big dinner that was prepared by Olga, his mother, and her friends. It was a very festive dinner that included a wide variety of traditional Russian dishes.

This homemade meal along with everyone being engaged in conversations about Vanya, how amazing it is that he is finally here, life, etc created a warm and welcoming atmosphere. It was very refreshing to see that such a small little boy can bring out the best in people and bring everyone a little bit closer. The feeling of comfort, safety, happiness, and caring took over the hearts of everyone who attended the dinner. At the end, Vanya stood next to Olga and thanked the leaving guests for coming.  The donations that were provided by the guests, who attended the dinner party, were divided between the Russian School in the church and the majority of the money went to the Russian Orphanages around Moscow region.