What a gift we've been given...

As I reflect on the trip to Moldova in December of 2011 and January 2012, I’m struck with the fact that I have never begun a new year in another country before...at the same time, I’m overwhelmed with the fact that I’ve never started a new year without a warm, safe, comfortable place to sleep. Oh, I’ve gone to bed too late on New Year’s eve before or I’ve probably slept somewhere other than my own bed, but I’ve never been faced with sleeping in a 50+ year old, broken down bed with a urine-stained mattress in a marginally heated institution with others who have no home or no parents. In fact, I can’t remember a single New Year’s where I wasn’t somewhere I chose to be, even if it wasn’t at home or with my own family. I have never before been forced to depend on someone else to care for me because those who God gave me to, decided someone or something else was more important. Am I fortunate? You bet! Am I more blessed than someone else? In some people’s estimation. What about in God’s eyes...Am I more fortunate...not really...I’m doomed to the same fate as every orphan; an eternity of separation from God. It is only because of Jesus that I have been adopted into relationship with God the father. I was fatherless just like many of these orphans, but by His grace I am an orphan no more. Am I more blessed...not hardly...the blessings that have been showered upon me are available to all, it is simply the fact that I have been made aware of those blessings and have received them. Jesus said He came that we would have life and have it to the full. Some of you may say, but Tony you live in America, and you have a job and a family, etc. You are MORE blessed. Those are things God has given me and I am grateful for all of them. But the most important blessing I've been given is the knowledge of who Jesus is. Most of these children do not realize what they don’t have, but they do understand compassion and affection and genuine love. And they do understand when the love of God is shared with them. What an incredible gift has been given to us as followers of Christ to share His love with those who don’t know Him and those who are less fortunate than us. I’m more determined now than ever to share that love and I hope as you read this you’ll make the decision to share the light God has placed in you with a lost and dying world. God Bless you and God Bless the orphans in Moldova and around the world. Let’s make a difference for them through prayer and through action. Let this new year be the year you get involved in the life of “the least of these”. (Matthew 25:40)

Words are not adequate

Spending Christmas in Moldova has been incredible! I am at the point in the trip where I am processing all that I have experienced and can find few words that are adequate. I will do my best share a few thoughts.

I am learning that one of the things I will never regret is loving people well. Loving people well is what Scripture demands that we do. It is what sets us apart as followers of Christ. Loving people well is fulfilling. Being with the orphans in Moldova this week has reminded me of this in incredible ways. We connected quickly and it will be sad to leave them tomorrow. It has been incredible to give them a bed and teach them the significance of the bed. I love that there are 50 orphans sleeping sweetly in their new beds! I love that they will be reminded each day of God's love! I'm thankful that I got to be apart of this!

I wish you could be here with us. Check out this video of an orphan named Maxim receiving his bed. Maxim showed us joy today! It was simply incredible.

On this trip I have laughed so much! I have been reflective. I have seen hard things. I have seen joy in the eyes of orphans. I have been reminded why I believe so strongly in the ministry of Sweet Sleep. I look forward to the Lord showing me more about Himself as I continue to reflect.
 

My first Sweet Sleep bed in Moldova

Maxim

Prayers for you to meet your Maxim..

We went to the orphanage today and began building beds. Our goals for the day were to build half the beds and have story time, craft time and recreation with the children. I'm happy to report that all goals were accomplished with the amazing team that God placed here this week! It is hard to describe the amount of teamwork that happened in that orphanage in Visoca today. My team began putting all the mattresses in plastic covers. We were able to complete all 50. Then we began covering pillows got all those completed also. Meanwhile the other 2 teams were building the frames for the beds. We then completed each bed with new sheets, pillow cases and comforters . Next we had the privilege of showing the children their new beds and explaining that they were receiving them because of Gods love for them. Beaming smiles and hope filled eyes said it all. They were very pleased and so grateful! Lunchtime was fun and interesting as always! This team is full of comedians! We laughed alot and Joe had another run in with a dog! Moldovan dogs just don't like him! Back to the orphanage to play games, do crafts and have story time. I'm in the recreation group- honestly when the first group arrived I'm was a little intimidated by the language barrier. But as we begin and as always God has provided the perfect translators!! We play a game with the hula hoops and a game with soccer balls, kickball and with the younger group instead of kickball we do a Moldovan game named hunt the duck. Children stand in the middle and we roll a ball thru them trying to hit them. Sarah J and I were the hunters- they were fast!! Fun fun times. Then by a divine appointment a little boy named Maxim entered my life. During all the games, fun and excitement he pulls me to the side to simply tell me the beds in the rooms were beautiful! And he wants to know if he will get a new bed. For all the doubting Thomases who asked if ALL we would be doing was building beds--- I pray God sends a Maxim into your life just one time- so that you can see the hope that I saw in his precious little eyes and face-the hope that he might get a new beautiful bed tomorrow! Then picture time began. They love to have their picture made with us! Maybe it's just to be touched or hugged- we were happy to oblige. Each child was able to get 3 bananas today- the director and children were very thankful! They just don't have the funds for fruit. They sang for us and we sang for them. One of their songs was asking God to bless their country and send awakening and blessings upon them. Our time seemed short but as we were saying our goodbyes-my little friend Maxim told the director to tell us that if we built him a new bed he would be good and he promised he would not wet the bed!! My feelings on this were overwhelming to say the least. Absolutely brought tears of happiness, sadness, distress, sympathy and empathy. Wow! Never knew how many emotions that God gave us! We should use them for others more often.

On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

Psalm 63:6-7

Today we went to the Russian occupied area of Moldova called Transnistria. We were able to visit the orphanage in hopes to build a partnership with Sweet Sleep. As you can see, their current beds are in poor condition from the years of use with many, many kids. Hopefully a Sweet Sleep team will be able to replace all 120 beds in March when they return!

We were able to leave the children with a special treat. Long live bananas!

Jet lagged and dog bit

Today in a nutshell; we woke up, ate breakfast and drove in a van to an orphanage. We walked around, handed out bananas and candy, and had lunch in the nearby town. Tony and Dan made us laugh. The drive was bumpy but the people in the van were great. I gained a respect for the people of the land and fell in love with Lucia and our translators. We drove home, saw christmas lights in Chisinau and had chicken and pickles for supper at the mission house. Went to bed.

The day for me was defined by what I think they call "Jet lag". My body doesn't know what day it is or what time it is and I have periods of normality followed by periods of extreme sleepiness. In fact, I had to take a two hour nap after dinner just to be able to process what happened today and put it into words.

Here are some random things I've noticed in my jet lag fog:

-The people here are no different than us, they just have not had the opportunities we have had. In some ways they are better than us. They don't complain and are very greatfull for even the smallest act of kindness.

-Moldova is Moldova not Romania or Russia, Inteleg?

-Transnistria is loyal to Russia and they speak Russian but they are not officially recognized as independent from Moldova.

-The younger women are apparently enamored with the west because they dress rather provocatively with high heels, tight jeans, hair and make-up even though they must of had to spend a large portion of their income to portray that look!

-The locals seem quiet and unashamed of who they are and how they live, in fact they love their country and each other.

-The Orphanage buildings and equipment were very old and in serious need of repair but were clean and organized.

-The teachers and workers make use of anything and everything to do whatever and are effective. Since teachers can't really print things off the internet for teaching and crafts they design and draw it themselves with skill.

-The children were disciplined and respectful and grateful to have clothes and shoes even though the clothes didn't match, the coats may not zip up or the shoes may have no laces.

-So far, the food whether home cooked or in a restaurant has been fantastic!

-Apparently americans stand out easy and may even be intimidating to some.

-God loves the people and the children and the Church must help these people!!!

-I am glad God has opened my eyes to how blessed I have been and ashamed at the same time that I have been ungrateful, selfish and mostly ignored the cries for help from others in the past.

-One cannot see first hand the suffering and depravity of his fellow creation and then not do something about it. Children are children and innocent regardless of where they live or what lanquage they speak. I wonder how my life will change.

A little story, after we returned from Transnistria we stopped by the mission house to freshen up and then go to downtown Chisinau. In the downtown area there were Christmas lights and lots of people and an area where you could have your picture made in front of various back grounds that said "Happy New Year 2012" in Romanian

The background that interested me had a live owl, an eagle and two chinchillas. So Darla and I had our picture made here. The back ground that interested the group had two small dogs and a dwarf dressed like an elf. I grabbed one of the dogs and we began filing in and posing for the picture. My dog was interested in what I had for lunch which was apparently still in my beard.

I was describing what the dog was doing, sniffing and licking my beard as we were all facing the camera. That was when the animal clamped on my beard and tried to rip it from my face. That's when I screamed like a little girl, which in Romanian apparently means "everybody laugh at the stupid american man afraid of a little dog".

Bible verse that comes to mind.

Isaiah 3:13-15

The LORD takes his place in court; he rises to judge the people. The LORD enters into judgment against the elders and leaders of his people: “It is you who have ruined my vineyard; the plunder from the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?” declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.

getting ready for a big surprise!

I will let the photos do the talking. We are going to our first project tomorrow where we will surprise 260+ smiling faces at the first orphanage we will be serving. To give them an extra special time, we assembled gift bags for each child. While the gifts may seem simple to Americans, Lucia (the Moldova Sweet Sleep Manager) assured us that it would bring joy to many hearts tomorrow. We had a great time putting them together, too!

We Made It

That’s right,we finally made it here to Chisinau, Moldova. Our trip started Christmas night as we left home at about 8:30, stayed in a hotel in Irving (I was able to get between 3-4 hours of sleep) and was at the airport by 5:30 a.m. on the 26th. Three flights later, the layover in D.C. at Dulles will be memorable, and we finally arrived in Chisinau at 12:00 on Dec 27th (with all of our luggage and all of our people). We are going to be staying at the IMB House for the next couple of days, then we’ll be off to Soroca, Moldova. Tomorrow we are going to the Transnistria area of Moldova (we’ll get a taste of what the old Soviet Union was like while visiting here) to visit with 260 orphans. Hope they’ll be happy to see us; we are taking them bananas, Kit Kat bars and cookies for each one of these kids. We bought way too many bananas tonight (guess you can’t trust the produce guy at Metro) so the orphans that we see later this week in Visoca will no only get new beds but will get bananas daily (bananas are a big treat here). I am looking forward to seeing how God will use us this week. Go has put us all here for an important reason, so I ask that you take time to pray for this team as we reach out to these special needs orphans in Slobozia and in Visoca later this week. More to come tomorrow. I should even have pics…

Dan McBride

The Journey Begins

Well, we made it; 3 planes and 24 hours later we're in Moldova. What a fabulous team God has assembled for this trip. We've already made several memories during our layover in Dulles in Washington D.C. and were amazed by the ease with which we made it through the airport in Munich. We are settled in the IMB Mission house and are excited about our unique oppportunity to get to travel to the Transnistria area of Moldova tomorrow to visit with 260 orphans there. I'm always amazed how God can bring people from all different walks of life and even different countries together and can create such harmony. It is a beautiful thing to be able to serve with these gifted and talented folks in this precious country. If you're reading this blog, take time to pray for this team as we reach out to these special needs orphans in Slobozia and in Visoca later this week. I know great things are going to come out of this jouuney and I pray our lives and the lives of these needy children will be impacted for all time. God bless!