Welcoming New Studio Assistants
Welcome to Daniel Taylor and Ana Lavrukhina, who recently joined the Ella's Backyard Vlog film crew.
Ana remembers watching Ella’s Backyard as a child in Russia. Now living in Winnipeg, she is grateful to God for the opportunity to help Ella deliver God’s truth and love to her audience.
“I've learnt that being a good puppeteer is not just about being excellent with the puppet, but being able to work side by side with the team,” says Ana. "It's difficult to operate a puppet when you can't see it. The whole process teaches me to be patient with myself and others.”
Introducing Fish of Justice: the Latest Addition to the Cast
There's a new puppet on the set! In keeping with Ella’s Backyard viewers who typically choose strange online user names, the new character is called, “Fish of Justice”. He represents kids who watch the show but don’t believe in Jesus..
Like most kids, Fish of Justice watches videos and plays games on his phone. He video calls with Ella, using the actual comments of real viewers who are opposed to Christianity. Adding Fish of Justice to the cast gives these viewers an authentic voice on the show, and Ella can interact directly with their opposing opinions.
These are the conversations Garri already has with viewers in the comment section on YouTube. Now these conversations can be part of the show, for all to see.
“We pray for viewers who are very critical of Jesus and the Bible. They often have complicated questions. Many of them are searching – that’s why they keep watching and commenting even though they do not agree,” says Garri.
Making A Critical Impact
When Russia invaded Ukraine, producers Garri and Albina were too discouraged to even think about creating new episodes of Ella’s Backyard Vlog. How could a children’s puppet show be relevant at a time like this? Many of the families in their audience come from Ukraine; Garri and Albina assumed that views from Ukraine would decline drastically as parents wouldn’t want their children to have anything to do with Russian!
They were very surprised when views from within Ukraine tripled! It seems that parents are looking for comforting and positive family programming, especially in a time like this!
Garri and Albina explain: “The mission of Ella’s backyard Vlog right now is not only to help parents distract their kids from the terror outside, but to bring true hope to these small people with big hearts.”
Views from teenagers have also gone up. Garri and Albina use search words related to the war, which many teens have questions about. They may not be looking for Christian videos, but they find our YouTube channel because of the search words. Pray that they would find answers in Jesus and His love. The Ella’s Backyard Youtube channel just surpassed 3.9 million views.