Hey everyone...Ok, I have no idea why these children as soooooo happy. But, if we could bottle it...Anyway, the point being the mood is amazing. Little background; we want to include the children to give them "a sense of ownership". We dont even have to ask for help. For example; we have to put washers on each screw. I caught a room of 7 kids maybe 4 or 5 yr olds watching us...I grabbed 30-40 screws and a handfulof washers and laid them in the floor in front of them. Ok, I got 7 blank looks....I lifted one screw up, slide a washer over the end....YOU WOULD'VE THOUGHT I'D THROWN CANDY AT THEM...They leaped into the floor and in minutes gleefully delivered handful after little handful...With a smile that could easily grace the cover of any magazine.
As we finish the day, we enter each room, kneel beside the beds...its rare for only the child claiming that bed to join in...More the norm for 3-5 kids climbing up on each bed or kneeling next to them to clasp hands and thank God (via the interpreter of course)
Me? Ok, 2 days in, the "dogs are barking", the lower back reminding me Im not 20 anymore....And I havent needed an alarm to get me up and running down the stairs yet.
From filming the kids showing off for either the camera or someone that is actually giving them attention...more likely the later. To the 3 yr olds asking me to twirl them (again and again....and again)....My face, my heart and my soul smiles!
Im truly blessed to have been a part of this experience..not only for me...But for those little faces. And as the older kids explain to the smaller ones who, what and why we were there....Why the Amur-E-Kans came....Father, be blessed! Lord be praised and thank you!
~Todd
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Day 2 In MOLDOVA
Well the day started with bed building staining and bed extraction from the rooms in which we are building the beds. The bed building went fast but the stain still took time to dry so that slowed us way down but we still managed to crank out 53 beds bringing our total to 68 beds. Our bed maker still has not delivered the remaining 100 beds so on our way back to the house we stoped at his shop and tried to speed things up. He said that he would have 20 ready for us on our way to the orphanage and 40 by the end of the day still short of our 200 by 40 beds. He thinks he will have the rest on friday. YAY looks like a late night on sat. Well food is still incredible. I cant wait to share my Pics. with everyone. Well talk to you all tom.
Monday, March 05, 2007
Building Beds with Amazing Kids!
i never appreciated laying horizontally in a bed so much until last night!! it was a long journey and exciting to finally make it to our destination! so today was wonderfully tiring. we built 15 beds and stained about 80. it was fun to chat with the translators and kids, but i must admit the whole talking through the translator thing is kinda strange. i met a few kids that latched on to me a little girl named Elena and a few others. it really is amazing how by simply building beds can truly change lives. they haven't had new beds in i think the head lady said in 20 years. thats ridiculous and 15 kids get new beds tonight just because Jesus is moving so much here right now. its a blessing to be able to be here and experience this. let everyone know (hi family and tyler) that God is on the move and this experience is going to be quite an amazing one. your prayers daily are being put to such good use. love to all. blessings from Moldova.
Sallie Heard
Sallie Heard
First Day At The Orphanage
WOW!!! The kids here are amazing. When we first got there there we were just standing in the middle of a parking area talking about how things were going to work and we saw 2 adoribale kids staring out of a window just watching us. they were so cute. We later found out that the kids in that room were sick with feavers and some of them were itchy so they were confined to that room. well wonce we got the supplys out and started staining there was a wave of kids that came out to help, they had so much fun. we stained almost a 100 beds in like 2 hours. However it was so cold and there were to many clowds that the sun didnt dry the beds so we moved the foam matresses out of a room and brought in everything we had stained which was also all that we had since the rest of the beds are coming on wed. The beds should dry in there. After all that we had some lunch and now we were off to buld 15 beds that were already stained on Sat. by Miller and some of the kids. Now if we thought the kids were excited to help they really started to wont to help. we had kids drilling putting washers on the screws and hellping make the beds with new sheas and confetors. Well once that was done we prayed over each bed we bult and headed back on the GREAT ROADS LOL (NOT) I think i almost hit my head on the roof of the van a cupple of times. We are staying in the mission house but the email is broken there so we have to go to a internet cafe to blog. But back to the mission house it is GREAT hot watter, american showers and toilets. Not to mention good food i think i might gain weight. well until next time. Thanks for your prayers.
PS Natalia a girl on of my sponsors has a child she is sponsoring at this orphanage but she is with some family since it is one of there birthdays and it is her spring break. but some of the kids at the orphange know her.
PS Natalia a girl on of my sponsors has a child she is sponsoring at this orphanage but she is with some family since it is one of there birthdays and it is her spring break. but some of the kids at the orphange know her.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
In Moldova
I received another text message from Jen, and the team has made it to Moldova safely. They should be on their way to the team house in Balti now. The house has internet, so they should be able to blog once they arrive.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Last night in my comfort zone
Last night on American soil. Last night in my comfy bed. Last night in my comfort zone.
Tormorrow a new journey begins. Tomorrow begins a new way of viewing the world outside my selfish comfort zone. I pray on my last night in my comfort zone, I leave my foolish pride behind. I pray I am guided, I am lead, I am used to reach someone.
My prayer is for God to grant me or work His wisdom through me...So that after I've left Moldova and those children lay their heads down in a clean, comfy bed, they think of and thank God...We will be long gone, the beds remain. Lets pray the beds remind them they have a Father that does love them! ...I want, need no glory. I want somehow to reach those kids and give them something they have little of...and much more valuable than a bed. I want to leave them hope.
I cant wait to sweat in Moldova!
Tormorrow a new journey begins. Tomorrow begins a new way of viewing the world outside my selfish comfort zone. I pray on my last night in my comfort zone, I leave my foolish pride behind. I pray I am guided, I am lead, I am used to reach someone.
My prayer is for God to grant me or work His wisdom through me...So that after I've left Moldova and those children lay their heads down in a clean, comfy bed, they think of and thank God...We will be long gone, the beds remain. Lets pray the beds remind them they have a Father that does love them! ...I want, need no glory. I want somehow to reach those kids and give them something they have little of...and much more valuable than a bed. I want to leave them hope.
I cant wait to sweat in Moldova!
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Thursday in Balti
Well, my bags finally made it last night. We picked them up at the airport and then headed to Balti - we got the team house around 9PM. There's still snow everywhere, but it seems to be melting, at least off the streets.
This afternoon, we're headed to the orphanage in Falesti. The frames are due to arrive around 2pm and the mattresses are coming on a big truck from Chisinau later tonight. I suspect we'll be in Falesti pretty late unloading mattresses.
I hope everyone on the team is getting ready for the trip. Remember to bring a pair of slippers or shoes to wear just in the team house. When we come in, we take off our "outside" shoes and put on our "inside" shoes. You can walk around in just your socks, but I wouldn't recommend it - it's kinda cold.
Prayer request: Please pray that all the material deliveries work out, and that the orphanage director is accomodating.
Hope everyone's doing well.
Miller
This afternoon, we're headed to the orphanage in Falesti. The frames are due to arrive around 2pm and the mattresses are coming on a big truck from Chisinau later tonight. I suspect we'll be in Falesti pretty late unloading mattresses.
I hope everyone on the team is getting ready for the trip. Remember to bring a pair of slippers or shoes to wear just in the team house. When we come in, we take off our "outside" shoes and put on our "inside" shoes. You can walk around in just your socks, but I wouldn't recommend it - it's kinda cold.
Prayer request: Please pray that all the material deliveries work out, and that the orphanage director is accomodating.
Hope everyone's doing well.
Miller
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Let The Games Begin!
Well, I'm in Chisinau at Sasha & Lucia's house, enjoying their new wireless internet.
However, my 2 checked bags are not here. They're supposed to arrive tomorrow evening from Istanbul - Delta never got them on the plane I took from Atlanta to Rome. I do have another change of clothes, but that's about it.
Let's pray those bags arrive tomorrow!!!
Other than that, things are well. I'm very tired and plan on sleeping about 12 hours tonight.
There is still a lot of snow on the ground, but all the roads are pretty clear. It's chilly, but not outrageously cold.
With God's guidance, those bags will arrive and I'll be headed up to Balti tomorrrow night.
Praise God I made it here safe.
I'll try to write more tomorrow.
Miller
However, my 2 checked bags are not here. They're supposed to arrive tomorrow evening from Istanbul - Delta never got them on the plane I took from Atlanta to Rome. I do have another change of clothes, but that's about it.
Let's pray those bags arrive tomorrow!!!
Other than that, things are well. I'm very tired and plan on sleeping about 12 hours tonight.
There is still a lot of snow on the ground, but all the roads are pretty clear. It's chilly, but not outrageously cold.
With God's guidance, those bags will arrive and I'll be headed up to Balti tomorrrow night.
Praise God I made it here safe.
I'll try to write more tomorrow.
Miller
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Moldova Trip March 3-10
The March 3-10 Moldova Team.Miller Hancock - Team Leader
Jen Gash
Angela Goodwin
Billy Singleton
Jenny Vacha
Jeremy Crady
Laura Amstutz
Nelson Nyman
Paul Grassmann
Sallie Heard
Todd Wilson
Billy Singleton
Jenny Vacha
Jeremy Crady
Laura Amstutz
Nelson Nyman
Paul Grassmann
Sallie Heard
Todd Wilson
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Final Thoughts
Well, it's here. It's our last day. Really, it's only half a day. I'm trying very hard not to let the sadness start before I even see Petrica today.
Yesterday we had a great day. We took the children ice skating in the morning. Petrica had so much fun. He was really good, and just had a huge smile on his face the whole time. He had told us before that he had only been ice skating once before, so we asked him how he could be so good. He told us that he used to slide around in his shoes on a frozen pond in his village before he came to the orphanage. D'Ann and I talked about how based on a few little things like this he has said both on this trip and on my trip in June, that it seems that he had a whole other life before he was abandoned at the age of about six.
After skating, we had lunch and then went back to the orphanage where D'Ann and I got to have a meeting with Ms. Galina to talk about Petrica. She told us a lot of good things about him, but mostly we talked about the fact that as far as the government is concerned, he doesn't exist. Petrica was brought to the orphanage about five years ago by some people in a village outside of Chisinau who had found him abandoned and living alone in the woods. The kept him in their home for a winter, and then took him to Internat II. He has no birth certificate, and they don't really know for sure when his birthday is, or how old he is. I knew that we needed to somehow get papers for Petrica so that he could get a job and an apartment in a few years when he graduates from school, but Ms. Galina told us something yesterday that made it much more urgent. She told us that in about two weeks, the government will begin checking the papers of all the children in the orphanages, and that without papers to say that Petrica belongs at Internat II, he could be taken away and sent to a school in the county he came from. It is truly frightening to think that in a few weeks he could be taken from here and we might never see him again. But, Ms. Galina seemed confident that she could get papers for him in the next couple of weeks if she could take Petrica to the village and start asking around about him. They have an idea of who his mother might be, and it's likely that if she is even still alive, that she wouldn't want anything to do with him. If they can establish with certainty who his mother is or was, then she can probably find a birth certificate in that town. If not, then she can finally have him declared a true orphan and get his papers for that. I could tell at the end of the meeting that D'Ann was upset by what she had heard, and by the thought of Petrica leaving Chisinau. I told her not to worry because if Ms. Galina wants get Petrica papers, she will do it. Generally speaking, what Ms. Galina wants, Ms. Galina gets, and it was obvious to us that she really doesn't want Petrica to be taken from her school.
After our meeting, we took the kids to a place near the orphanage that cares for children with disabilities. It was the most un-Moldovan place I have seen in this country. The building was very nice and very colorful. We gave the kids there bananas, cookies, and chocolates. After that, we went outside and raked the leaves from around their building. The kids jumped right in and worked hard to pick up the leaves and bag them. When given the opportunity, they are so giving. It's really wonderful to watch.
This morning we will be taking the kids to a home for elderly people to pass out some bananas and cookies. I think it will be another great experience like we had at the deaf community and the school for disabled children. After that, we'll have lunch at the Irish Pub and then take the kids back to school to say goodbye. I know it will be very difficult to say goodbye because I know that I won't be seeing Petrica again until next summer, and that just seems so far away. But, I leave with the happiness of having spent a few more days with this wonderful boy that God has brought into our lives, and that is truly a blessing beyond measure.
Yesterday we had a great day. We took the children ice skating in the morning. Petrica had so much fun. He was really good, and just had a huge smile on his face the whole time. He had told us before that he had only been ice skating once before, so we asked him how he could be so good. He told us that he used to slide around in his shoes on a frozen pond in his village before he came to the orphanage. D'Ann and I talked about how based on a few little things like this he has said both on this trip and on my trip in June, that it seems that he had a whole other life before he was abandoned at the age of about six.
After skating, we had lunch and then went back to the orphanage where D'Ann and I got to have a meeting with Ms. Galina to talk about Petrica. She told us a lot of good things about him, but mostly we talked about the fact that as far as the government is concerned, he doesn't exist. Petrica was brought to the orphanage about five years ago by some people in a village outside of Chisinau who had found him abandoned and living alone in the woods. The kept him in their home for a winter, and then took him to Internat II. He has no birth certificate, and they don't really know for sure when his birthday is, or how old he is. I knew that we needed to somehow get papers for Petrica so that he could get a job and an apartment in a few years when he graduates from school, but Ms. Galina told us something yesterday that made it much more urgent. She told us that in about two weeks, the government will begin checking the papers of all the children in the orphanages, and that without papers to say that Petrica belongs at Internat II, he could be taken away and sent to a school in the county he came from. It is truly frightening to think that in a few weeks he could be taken from here and we might never see him again. But, Ms. Galina seemed confident that she could get papers for him in the next couple of weeks if she could take Petrica to the village and start asking around about him. They have an idea of who his mother might be, and it's likely that if she is even still alive, that she wouldn't want anything to do with him. If they can establish with certainty who his mother is or was, then she can probably find a birth certificate in that town. If not, then she can finally have him declared a true orphan and get his papers for that. I could tell at the end of the meeting that D'Ann was upset by what she had heard, and by the thought of Petrica leaving Chisinau. I told her not to worry because if Ms. Galina wants get Petrica papers, she will do it. Generally speaking, what Ms. Galina wants, Ms. Galina gets, and it was obvious to us that she really doesn't want Petrica to be taken from her school.
After our meeting, we took the kids to a place near the orphanage that cares for children with disabilities. It was the most un-Moldovan place I have seen in this country. The building was very nice and very colorful. We gave the kids there bananas, cookies, and chocolates. After that, we went outside and raked the leaves from around their building. The kids jumped right in and worked hard to pick up the leaves and bag them. When given the opportunity, they are so giving. It's really wonderful to watch.
This morning we will be taking the kids to a home for elderly people to pass out some bananas and cookies. I think it will be another great experience like we had at the deaf community and the school for disabled children. After that, we'll have lunch at the Irish Pub and then take the kids back to school to say goodbye. I know it will be very difficult to say goodbye because I know that I won't be seeing Petrica again until next summer, and that just seems so far away. But, I leave with the happiness of having spent a few more days with this wonderful boy that God has brought into our lives, and that is truly a blessing beyond measure.
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