Buna Ziua from Arlene! That's "Good Day!" in Romanian--which pretty much sums up today and every day at the Ivancea School/Medical Treatment Center. We've been having an amazing time building beds and doing Vacation Bible School. Today our Bible Point for the day was "God is Awesome!" For any of you who are familiar with VBS Bible Points, you will know that each time the Bible Point is announced it is followed by a specific group exclamation. Our exclamation for the Ivancea kids has been "YeeHaw!" Imagine that in a Romanian accent. Priceless. But kids are kids everywhere and these kids are no exception. They have embraced all of the VBS activities with such an amazing enthusiasm. More often than not they are the ones ministering to us! But anyone who works with kids knows that's usually the case.
Today we talked about Mary's experience with Jesus. How she loved her little boy, how she watched him grow into an amazing man. How she watched as he displayed his power through miracle after miracle. And finally how she watched as her son was arrested, condemned, and crucified. Then how she experienced the awesomeness of God when He came back to life. We wanted them to understand the pain God must have gone through allowing his Son to die for us. We hoped they would see his great love for them through his sacrifice. To further illustrate the message, the unsung heroes of our time here, our translators, acted out an amazing "human video" along with youngest members of our team.
Please watch the video here.
Pay special attention to the lady on the far right playing the part of Mary. Warning: find the Kleenex first!
Friday, June 04, 2010
Jesus loves the little children
The last two days have been so full I don't even know where to begin. Emotions have run the gamut, laughter and tears abound on all fronts, for all of us. It's hard to believe that we've finished the beds, and finished VBS with the kids at Ivancea. It's amazing to see how quickly and how well our team has gelled together in such a short time. Truly evidence that we are all one in Christ.
Yesterday, when we saw the kids at the orphanage in Orhei, I was overwhelmed by the thought that even though the world has deemed these kids as less fortunate or worthless because they can't move or think or talk like the majority of people, God sees them as valuable and loves them with an indescribable love. I loved seeing the kids' faces light up at the sight of a banana, and they just devoured those things with all that was in them. These kids love with abandon, and don't care what anyone thinks. They are free from the hang-ups and insecurities that most of us struggle with, and it gives me a glimpse of the life that God truly intended for us - living and loving life and being grateful for simple things like bananas and yogurt and hugs.
Today was our final day in Ivancea. Again with the emotions! Because of the big party we'd planned for the afternoon, snack time was taken over by craft time, and the kids made picture frames. We'd taken pictures of each kid, as well as their groups, and printed them off for their picture frames. Seeing the kids' faces light up and hearing their giggles when they saw their pictures was yet another highlight of such a memorable trip. I love their smiles. And do they ever love the chicken dance. We even finally broke through the Cafeteria ladies' Eastern European reserve and caught them chicken dancing! Yeeeeeeeeeeeeehaw!
And, I've been deemed an honorary Texan! I have yet to use "y'all" subconsciously in a sentence, but I've been practicing. When Texas secedes from the US, I've been invited to immigrate to the country of Texas. My stipulation was that the snakes stay in the US. I'm still waiting for the invitation to join the country of Tennessee.
OK, it's time to sign off. It's really hard to concentrate when you're being told you could offer yourself as a "mail-order bride" to a Moldovan policeman so that we have enough people to go bowling tomorrow night. There has to be another way.
Yesterday, when we saw the kids at the orphanage in Orhei, I was overwhelmed by the thought that even though the world has deemed these kids as less fortunate or worthless because they can't move or think or talk like the majority of people, God sees them as valuable and loves them with an indescribable love. I loved seeing the kids' faces light up at the sight of a banana, and they just devoured those things with all that was in them. These kids love with abandon, and don't care what anyone thinks. They are free from the hang-ups and insecurities that most of us struggle with, and it gives me a glimpse of the life that God truly intended for us - living and loving life and being grateful for simple things like bananas and yogurt and hugs.
Today was our final day in Ivancea. Again with the emotions! Because of the big party we'd planned for the afternoon, snack time was taken over by craft time, and the kids made picture frames. We'd taken pictures of each kid, as well as their groups, and printed them off for their picture frames. Seeing the kids' faces light up and hearing their giggles when they saw their pictures was yet another highlight of such a memorable trip. I love their smiles. And do they ever love the chicken dance. We even finally broke through the Cafeteria ladies' Eastern European reserve and caught them chicken dancing! Yeeeeeeeeeeeeehaw!
And, I've been deemed an honorary Texan! I have yet to use "y'all" subconsciously in a sentence, but I've been practicing. When Texas secedes from the US, I've been invited to immigrate to the country of Texas. My stipulation was that the snakes stay in the US. I'm still waiting for the invitation to join the country of Tennessee.
OK, it's time to sign off. It's really hard to concentrate when you're being told you could offer yourself as a "mail-order bride" to a Moldovan policeman so that we have enough people to go bowling tomorrow night. There has to be another way.
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Michael's post Moldova
Hello family and friends,
This is Michael blogging on Tracye’s blogger. Day 3 and off to Orhei for a morning visit while the other kids are taking their exams. I thought that I was a little more prepared for the trip today because of Lannette’s stories from last year, but that proved not to be the case. My experience today was filled with many emotions. We were received with open arms, literally…hand shakes, hugs and even a song in the parking lot. We brought bananas for the older kids/men and yogurt for the little ones. We first went to feed some of the more severe cases…emotions ran high with sadness and joy all rolled up into one, sadness for the sickness that these children have had to endure, and joy for the happiness and smiles that were created by something as simple a little bit of yogurt and a touch. Small amount of time was spent for such large amounts of joy shared. Good day. I was not prepared for the next room that I was to enter. The room was similar to the previous, with one exception…half way across the world I was able to find Jonah 2. He was 15 yrs old and about 6 inhes shorter than Jonah, but something caught my eye……the “STICK”. He was carrying a shoe string in the same way. I immediately bent down for a hug and he wrapped his arms and legs around me and hung on. I noticed that he dropped his shoe string so I bent down to get it telling him that he has “dropped his stick”…at the time it was like second nature to call it that, later to realize that I doubt he would call it a “stick”. This experience brought me home for a moment. This day was truly blessed by God and has been added to my memory forever and will have forever changed me. I wonder what God has in store for our team tomorrow!! Today was a great day.
This is Michael blogging on Tracye’s blogger. Day 3 and off to Orhei for a morning visit while the other kids are taking their exams. I thought that I was a little more prepared for the trip today because of Lannette’s stories from last year, but that proved not to be the case. My experience today was filled with many emotions. We were received with open arms, literally…hand shakes, hugs and even a song in the parking lot. We brought bananas for the older kids/men and yogurt for the little ones. We first went to feed some of the more severe cases…emotions ran high with sadness and joy all rolled up into one, sadness for the sickness that these children have had to endure, and joy for the happiness and smiles that were created by something as simple a little bit of yogurt and a touch. Small amount of time was spent for such large amounts of joy shared. Good day. I was not prepared for the next room that I was to enter. The room was similar to the previous, with one exception…half way across the world I was able to find Jonah 2. He was 15 yrs old and about 6 inhes shorter than Jonah, but something caught my eye……the “STICK”. He was carrying a shoe string in the same way. I immediately bent down for a hug and he wrapped his arms and legs around me and hung on. I noticed that he dropped his shoe string so I bent down to get it telling him that he has “dropped his stick”…at the time it was like second nature to call it that, later to realize that I doubt he would call it a “stick”. This experience brought me home for a moment. This day was truly blessed by God and has been added to my memory forever and will have forever changed me. I wonder what God has in store for our team tomorrow!! Today was a great day.
An Art View of Orhei...
OK, today we had a chance to receive one of God's true blessings. We had a chance to take the whole team and translators to Orhei's Casa de Copii (a special needs orphanage for boys). Ahh the impact it had on everyone, including those of us who had been there before. We had a chance to share yogurt and bananas with the boys. That's about all I'll share about because everyone else will be blogging about their experience.
Tonight, yep I am ahead of schedule, I want to share how talented the boys are at Casa de Copii. Below are some pictures of their art work:
Afterwards we went to lunch at Pizza Forte, bought ice cream then went back to Ivancea for another afternoon of VBS. The kids had a chance to experience a true Texas tradition and had a snack called a purple cow (grape soda and ice cream).
That's about it for today...
Check back tomorrow and see how God blesses us and the children..
Dan
Tonight, yep I am ahead of schedule, I want to share how talented the boys are at Casa de Copii. Below are some pictures of their art work:
Afterwards we went to lunch at Pizza Forte, bought ice cream then went back to Ivancea for another afternoon of VBS. The kids had a chance to experience a true Texas tradition and had a snack called a purple cow (grape soda and ice cream).
That's about it for today...
Check back tomorrow and see how God blesses us and the children..
Dan
This Is The Day! This Is The Day!
Hello everyone! This is Lannette...blogging from the beautiful country of Moldova! I can't believe that our time here is coming to a close so quickly! As I sit here thinking of all of the wonderful, bittersweet moments that we have all experienced during our time here, tears come to my eyes. I would like to share some of these moments with you through some of the pictures that have been taken...
It has been a blessing to share this Sweet Sleep mission journey with family this go around. It has been fun to watch my mom and my husband finally meet these kidos that they have heard so much about. It has been such a privilege helping meet their needs alongside my family and this great team.
I have been serving in the arts and crafts area alongside my mom and Rae during our time in VBS. The kids have just loved everything we brought. It is so much fun to get to see the look on their faces when they see the new crafts each day.
We were also surprised to have the opportunity to visit Casa de Copii. This was especially exciting for me because I was able to serve on the team that built beds there last year. It was great to see old friends and make a few new as well. We brought yogurt and bananas as a treat and really enjoyed seeing their faces light up as we fed them this special treat.
Well...its getting late...so I must try to get some sleep. We have a big day planned for tomorrow...it is sure to be an emotional time as we wrap things up at Ivancha. Pray for continued physical and emotional strength as we serve the needs of these sweet children. Lannette:)
It has been a blessing to share this Sweet Sleep mission journey with family this go around. It has been fun to watch my mom and my husband finally meet these kidos that they have heard so much about. It has been such a privilege helping meet their needs alongside my family and this great team.
I have been serving in the arts and crafts area alongside my mom and Rae during our time in VBS. The kids have just loved everything we brought. It is so much fun to get to see the look on their faces when they see the new crafts each day.
We were also surprised to have the opportunity to visit Casa de Copii. This was especially exciting for me because I was able to serve on the team that built beds there last year. It was great to see old friends and make a few new as well. We brought yogurt and bananas as a treat and really enjoyed seeing their faces light up as we fed them this special treat.
Well...its getting late...so I must try to get some sleep. We have a big day planned for tomorrow...it is sure to be an emotional time as we wrap things up at Ivancha. Pray for continued physical and emotional strength as we serve the needs of these sweet children. Lannette:)
all that I can say is that I love this place more than you could ever know
words can't explain our visit to Orhei this morning...such joyful faces in the most unsettling situation I've ever been exposed to...spoon feeding yogurt to 8-10 year old kids and bananas to some older ones in a massively understaffed special needs orphanage...this is an experience that I will never forget...every time I come here I fall more and more in love with this place and my heart breaks more and more deeply for the abandoned children that fill it...
Martin and Victor performed a beautiful song for us!!
I hope you enjoyed the videos! :)
Love, Kelsey
Îmi place!
Spencer McDonald feeding a boy at Orhei's Casa de Copii today.
Debra Thedford feeding a boy breakfast (yogurt) in bed.
Our Sweet Sleep beds, Moldova style, made neatly with their teddy bears at Casa de Copii.
There are lots of things "I like" in Moldova. (Îmi place is "i like" in romanian/moldovan) :) All day I've been looking at this team, this place, the children - thinking... I really like to see ________. Tonight I'd like to share some of the things Îmi place.
Today I liked...
- pancakes for breakfast
- stopping at Metro (Moldovan Sam's Club) for the 3rd time in 3 days
- bringing bananas and yogurt to our special friends at Casa de Copii orphanage in Orhei
- seeing the smiles on the faces of the boys there when we hugged them, spent time with them, fed them - loved them
- watching one of our team members, lannette, in her element -- comforting, feeding and being so sweet with the little ones confined to their beds
- hearing martin and victor sing songs about Jesus to us in the "art gallery" at Casa de Copii
- seeing my friend Vasile again - walking up to me on his knees and telling me how much he missed me and how he had waited so long for this day of celebration when we would visit again
- seeing our Sweet Sleep beds - all 350 of them - neatly made with the teddy bears our Texas friends brought last year on top
- seeing my little buddy, Lilian, smiling and getting closer and closer to getting out of that stroller and walking - hopefully in time for his 7th birthday this August
- branching out to the "atomica" pizza at Pizza Forte after a 16-month love affair with "the diablo"
- seeing kids run faster than our van today to be in their seats in the "salla festiva" (festival hall/auditorium) so they wouldn't miss a minute of our VBS program
- seeing kids glued to Arlene and making fun sounds as each character stepped forward as she told them the story of Esther and how "God is in Control"
- having discussions with a young man who refused to say God is in control, but that the universe was in control - and watching him listen with such great intent as Arlene shared about losing a child and how God was still in control in the midst of difficult circumstances
- sharing with 50 sweet children how they can have a relationship with Jesus in their Bible study groups and watching their little gears turn in their heads as they process all they've heard this week
Thank you for praying for us - for our team - and for these children. Please join us in praying that the children, who are back in their rooms in their Sweet Sleep beds tonight, would spend good time with the Lord, would make decisions to follow Him and that their sleep would be sweet.
Noapte Buna! (Good night...)
jon
Another exciting time with the orphans...
Here we go again... I am blogging first thing in the morning because it took so long to down load everyone's pictures to my computer. Believe it or not, I am feeling less about talking and more about sharing thru pictures. I guess that may be due to the fact that I am continuing to run on 4 1/2 - 5 hours of sleep. Don't get me wrong, I awake refreshed every morning. God is blessing us as much as I believe that he is blessing the kids.. Yesterday after completing the beds, it seemed that there were no kids to be found (could be because they were studying for a final exam) so Jon (our Sweet Sleep staff member) decided that we could do a little local site seeing before lunch. Ahhh, the beauty of Moldova. Afterwards we had lunch at Pizza Forte (can't beat it, feeding 24 people for about $100).. Only problem was that we forgot to plan our afternoon schedule around a 2 1/2 hour lunch (takes a while to fix pizza for all of us). Our afternoon with the orphans was another awesome time. After a our acting out David and Goliath it was off to more recreation, crafts, music, small group time and snack time (my favorite and not because it deals with food. I am part of the snack crew and let's just say that we chicken dance daily.. We ended our day at the orphanage with us the Americans singing "This is the Day" in Romanian along with the kids. We ended the day with a nice dinner, team devotional and then it was prep time.
Ok, gotta go.. Will blog again later...
Dan
Ok, gotta go.. Will blog again later...
Dan
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Debra blogging on Tony's account
Dear Family and Friends,
Well after more than 26 hrs. of fly time we landed in Moldova. Everyone has been great! We have some funny tales to tell you all. In going through the airport security we had two pulled aside but God was there taking care of us. We have all laughed and grown closer as a team. We worked on Bible School supplies, crafts and every thing these kids would need to know about God and His love for them. Our 1st lesson was God is with us! Moses was chosen as our example. Moses tried not to do what God wanted him to do at first but like us as a people finding any excuse we can to not do God's will. May we all find what God has for each of us to do to bring honor and glory to Him. The boys and girls in the orphanage came and helped build their beds with us. They were so eager and thankful. Tuesday we were able to get 38 beds built and set up in their rooms. Even though we have a difference in language smiles and hugs are universal. In the afternoon we went into Bible School mode. A Western theme was chosen. Imagine that. The kids loved it. We will be working on the beds again on Wednesday morning with more Bible School in the afternoon. We're planning a big party for them on our last day to finish with a BANG!
There is a young boy that has been so sweet by giving me flowers everyday. He goes and picks flowers from anywhere he can find them. In English his name is Author. He is one of the children that will have to leave when his test is finished within the next week. Please pray for him and us in all we do here to share God with these children. Thank you for all your cards and prayers.
The Lord is my Rock
The God who can always be counted on. His purposes and plans remain firm through out history. Ps.114-12; 7-10
To my husband and family I love you.
God Bless,
Debra
Well after more than 26 hrs. of fly time we landed in Moldova. Everyone has been great! We have some funny tales to tell you all. In going through the airport security we had two pulled aside but God was there taking care of us. We have all laughed and grown closer as a team. We worked on Bible School supplies, crafts and every thing these kids would need to know about God and His love for them. Our 1st lesson was God is with us! Moses was chosen as our example. Moses tried not to do what God wanted him to do at first but like us as a people finding any excuse we can to not do God's will. May we all find what God has for each of us to do to bring honor and glory to Him. The boys and girls in the orphanage came and helped build their beds with us. They were so eager and thankful. Tuesday we were able to get 38 beds built and set up in their rooms. Even though we have a difference in language smiles and hugs are universal. In the afternoon we went into Bible School mode. A Western theme was chosen. Imagine that. The kids loved it. We will be working on the beds again on Wednesday morning with more Bible School in the afternoon. We're planning a big party for them on our last day to finish with a BANG!
There is a young boy that has been so sweet by giving me flowers everyday. He goes and picks flowers from anywhere he can find them. In English his name is Author. He is one of the children that will have to leave when his test is finished within the next week. Please pray for him and us in all we do here to share God with these children. Thank you for all your cards and prayers.
The Lord is my Rock
The God who can always be counted on. His purposes and plans remain firm through out history. Ps.114-12; 7-10
To my husband and family I love you.
God Bless,
Debra
We're in Moldova, Eh?
I've survived Day 2 of being the lone Canadian on our Moldova team! We are just having a blast here in Moldova, and I think by their smiles and giggles the kids may be having a teeny bit of fun too.
The sight of the old beds in the hallways is both heartbreaking and exciting. Heartbreaking to realize that these kids have been sleeping on mattresses with stains, exposed stuffing and springs, and some only 2" thick. Exciting because now they don't have to! 15 people plus translators and kids makes for quick work putting beds together, so we finished the rest of the beds this morning, for a grand total of 50.
This afternoon was our second day of VBS, and we in the cafeteria had set the bar pretty high yesterday with the candy rendition of Moses crossing the Red Sea at snack time. Moses and the Israelites were played by Sour Patch kids. One of the many memorable events of that afternoon was when one of the kids declared, "I'm eating Moses!" The only thing about snack time is that it doesn't take very long. Even when you turn snack into pseudo craft time (as in, Moses, Red Sea, fish...). And when you have 25 minutes to fill, you get a little creative. Or crazy. Depends on your point of view. We discovered that the "Chicken Dance" is a universal language. And today we found out what quick learners these kids are when we taught them the Macarena. Moldova will never be the same! I'm not sure if they have more fun dancing or laughing at us, but I think we've secured the title of "Best Snack Time Ever". Oh, and we made slingshots out of fruit roll-ups and skittles. And they requested the Chicken Dance again. And we had so much fun dancing, eating, and slinging Skittles and are looking forward to doing it all again tomorrow!
This post brought to you by the Chicken Dance Team. Otherwise known as the absolutely awesome snack team: Dan, Kelsey, and Carolyn.
The sight of the old beds in the hallways is both heartbreaking and exciting. Heartbreaking to realize that these kids have been sleeping on mattresses with stains, exposed stuffing and springs, and some only 2" thick. Exciting because now they don't have to! 15 people plus translators and kids makes for quick work putting beds together, so we finished the rest of the beds this morning, for a grand total of 50.
This afternoon was our second day of VBS, and we in the cafeteria had set the bar pretty high yesterday with the candy rendition of Moses crossing the Red Sea at snack time. Moses and the Israelites were played by Sour Patch kids. One of the many memorable events of that afternoon was when one of the kids declared, "I'm eating Moses!" The only thing about snack time is that it doesn't take very long. Even when you turn snack into pseudo craft time (as in, Moses, Red Sea, fish...). And when you have 25 minutes to fill, you get a little creative. Or crazy. Depends on your point of view. We discovered that the "Chicken Dance" is a universal language. And today we found out what quick learners these kids are when we taught them the Macarena. Moldova will never be the same! I'm not sure if they have more fun dancing or laughing at us, but I think we've secured the title of "Best Snack Time Ever". Oh, and we made slingshots out of fruit roll-ups and skittles. And they requested the Chicken Dance again. And we had so much fun dancing, eating, and slinging Skittles and are looking forward to doing it all again tomorrow!
This post brought to you by the Chicken Dance Team. Otherwise known as the absolutely awesome snack team: Dan, Kelsey, and Carolyn.
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