© 2007-2012 The Sparrow’s Nest, Inc. Website developed and hosted by LightBe Corp All Rights Reserved.
The Purpose of The Sparrow’s Nest
Alissa Stemple, director, visited the former Soviet Union in the Fall of 1989. Shortly afterwards she became a missionary to the people of the former Soviet Union. She served for a Christian ministry as administrator and International Director in Latvia and Russia for ten years. During this time a portion of her work was dedicated to helping orphans and establishing ‘Hope for the Children’ in Jelgava in the 90’s.
Since 2002 Alissa has pursued her work with the orphanages and crisis centers on a full-time basis. Together with her daughter and son, Alissa returned to Latvia to lead and enlarge The Sparrow’s Nest’s outreach to children.
Today, much has been done to improve the conditions of orphanages. However, there is still a long way to go. The time since the restoration of Latvian independence seems like an eternity to those of us who live in the fast-paced, technology driven world of the west. However those years are as a few minutes to peoples and nations who are recovering from decades of oppression, cruelty, ignorance and betrayal. When a people embrace darkness it permeates their soul and is passed down from generation to generation. Latvia, Russia, and many of the other former Soviet Republics still lead the world in rates of alcoholism and abortion. The economic dislocation caused by the change to a market economy has been tremendous, and has led to widespread poverty.
The resulting damage to families cannot be fairly estimated, but it is enormous and it has left many children alone and uncared for. There are an estimated 1.5 million children in care in Russia alone. As these countries struggle to emerge from their past, it is imperative that Christians continue to pray and to work to bring the Light of God on their lives. Sparrow’s Nest has been called to reach out to these children, their families, and to be a testimony to the people with whom we work.
We have already seen tremendous fruit as people who were initially opposed to our opening an orphanage in Latvia now look to us for help and advice. God has laid a foundation of integrity and stability that has helped to replace skepticism with respect. Pure religion is a powerful instrument of social change. We are called to help some of the most difficult children and as God’s love transforms them, He is powerfully glorified.