A Sweet Sleep Mission Journey In Pictures...

Wow! What an awesome week it has been! Our team has taken thousands of pictures this week. As I sat here this evening sorting through the pictures that Dan has spent hours downloading, I picked a few to share with you...hope you enjoy these as much as we do...

The Ultimate Moldavian Experience

After a long week of enjoyable VBS activities and pleasant interactions with joyful children, the boisterous Sweet Sleep team decided that they couldn't have too much of an awesome time and so went downtown to experience real Moldavian culture.

In the morning we went to the Moldavian Zoo to see all of God's wonderful creation in a slightly different, but safer, environment than for what it was originally intended. After that we had some good' Ole American Mickey D's for lunch before heading to the Art Market. The Art Market is a place were very talented artists can sell their goods alongside vendors of traditional Romanian, Moldavian, and Russian wares and antiques. Soon afterwards we stopped back at the Grace House and had a very wonderful homemade Moldavian meal. After stuffing our faces we headed back into town to go to MALLdova a colossal mall. Now although shopping is not really my thing the great people that were there with me made it an enjoyable experience filled with laughter, bowling, and chocolate covered assorted fruit.

Overall this trip has been an amazing experience and I am very glad I had the opportunity to go with such amazing people and have so much fun with the children.
With love,
Spencer McDonald (on Jon's Account)

God's Plan

I finally understand why God had me come to Moldova.

The last day of VBS was AWESOME. The Rec. Team's mission was to make sure no rock was left unturned. We made sure to talk to every child about God's Plan of Salvation. After we talked to every group we gave them a piece of paper and asked them to put their name, their age or the date they were saved and anything they wanted to tell God. The amazing thing was trying to make sure we were communicating to each group on their level and they fully understood what it meant. We had a great team of translators, Miheallea, Kate and Ilie (Elijah) and really, really worked hard to make sure the kids understood everything we had to say about them (the kids) personally except Jesus in their Heart to be SAVED. Then we read the Salvation Prayer and if they wanted to they could repeat it. We had 1 group of the kids where about 8 of them quoted the prayer out loud. I almost started crying while trying to continue with the prayer. What an AMAZING feeling. We also asked every one of the kids to post their requests on a Cross with a Heart on it that repersented giving their heart to God or that they had already been saved. We really worked hard to make sure the kids understood everything we said. Whan all groups were finished we ended VBS and had a party for all of the kids. Dancing, singing and eating snacks, what a great time. Today we took the Cross and had each message translated in english from all the kids and found out that 9 had been SAVED and accepted Christ. WHAT AN AMAZIING THING THAT GOD HAS DONE.

We give all the GLORY to GOD and thank him for us being a part of his plan.

What's next.....???

This phrase has at times been a joke amongst our team while here in Moldova. Mostly directed to our leader, Dan; We would ask "What's next, Dan!" Which was usually met with one of his signature looks...But now as our time comes to a close this phrase takes on a completely different meaning...Now that we've come here; now that we've done what we felt we were called to do; what comes next for each of us? Do we go back to our lives and continue to carry on unaffected; do we forget the images that were planted in our minds as we interacted with and were impacted by these amazing children at Ivancea and Orhei? I can't speak for the team per se, but getting to know them the way I have these last several days, I think I can be pretty confident in saying "No!" None of us will ever be able to just go back to our lives and not be reminded daily of the children who have changed all of our lives. None of us can stop here. Just because this mission is coming to an end, it doesn't mean that our mission to go and tell others has ended. Thanks to Shad for reminding us all of that tonight during our devotional time. What an amazing time we had around the dinner table tonight in the home of our gracious and sweet hosts, Victor and Valentina, sharing what we had come to learn and love about our team this week.

Our final day with the kids today at Ivancea was truly awesome....We sang and danced, we played with them on the grounds of the school...and we partied with them in a special time at the end of the day. Quite a few tears were shed, many memories were made, and we believe lives were changed...and not just ours. God Bless the children in Ivancea and Orhei and God bless this team that has given so willingly this week.

What's next....? I've been thinking all day..."The next time....we can do this....and this..." Next time? Yes, God is already dealing with me that there will be a "next time". I don't know that it will be here... or that it will be with Sweet Sleep...but I know that there will be a next time.

As you read this and look at these pictures from today....Ask God, "What do you need me to join you in God?; Where do you need ME to go?....What's next?"

God is Awesome!

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!

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.

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.

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

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:)

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