A Bag Of Macaroni

Another amazing day in Moldova. There are so many things I could write about tonight. Lunch, dinner, the zoo, shopping in the world's most disorganized street market, Petrica getting car sick. But, instead of all those, I want to focus on what we did this morning.

This morning we went to Metro (sort of the Moldovan Sam's Club) and bought food for about 50 families. I don't know what all was in each bag, but I do know each bag contained a bag of macaroni and some cooking oil. We took the food to an apartment building that is occupied by deaf people and their families. In Moldova there are very few opportunities for people with any kind of disability, so these people are very poor, even by Moldovan standards. On the way there, D'Ann and I explained to Petrica why we were going there to pass out this food. We told him that we were doing it because God loves us, and a part of receiving that love is to go out and share it with others. We told him that by giving this food to these people, we would be sharing God's love with them. After we arrived at the building, we sorted all the food items into each sack and headed inside to distribute them. There are three girls from the orphanage who live in the building, so they led us around and told the people through sign language why we were giving them the food, and also helped us find out how many bags we needed to leave on each floor for those who were not home.

We were on the third floor before I had an opportunity to give my bag of food to someone. I handed the bag to a woman, and she smiled and signed "thank you" to me. I smiled back, unable to communicate anything else to her. After we had given out all the food for that floor, everyone turned to go back to the stairwell and head up to the fourth floor. I was the last one on the hall, and just as I started to go through the door, I stopped and turned back for a moment. The woman I had handed my bag to was standing there. When she saw me look back, she put her hand over her heart, looked me in the eyes, and without signing a word to me, told me how much our kindness, God's kindness meant to her. I cannot begin to express the emotion that came over me looking into that woman's eyes. I thought about what Jesus said about doing things for the least of those among us, and in that moment I was truly standing face to face with Jesus. I don't know how I managed to maintain my composure while we finished up on the fourth floor, but somehow I did.

I've thought a lot about that woman tonight. I've thought about what a perfect example this day was of what it means to be a Christian. I've thought about how much of my life has been spent doing all sorts of other things besides sharing God's love with the least among us. I've thought about how much this place has changed my life in just a few short months and two trips. I don't know how long that bag of macaroni and bottle of cooking oil will last for that woman. Not very long I imagine. But hopefully what will stay with her (and me) long after it and we are gone is that there is a God who loves all of us more than we could ever imagine or deserve.

Sugar!

Wow, what a day. We started out today going to the orphanage and meeting with Ms. Galina. She talked with us about several different things. She talked about how long she has been working at the orphanage (she calls it an "institution") and how the work is wrecking her health. She's been there for 18 years, and the comment about her health may be a bit of an exaggeration, but then again, maybe not. She also told us that she knew visits from people like us are a blessing from God. That was really good to hear. The most important thing she talked about was how the government of Moldova is trying to close all of the "institutions" like Internat II in hopes that it will somehow help Moldova get into the EU. She made it very clear that she's not a fan of the idea, and even remarked that no one has invited them into the EU, an no one outside of Moldova seems particularly interested in them joining. We talked for a good while about all of that and asked a few questions. All I'll say about it all is that I shudder to think what might become of these kids and all the others like them that will just keep being born into this country in the years to come.

After meeting with her, we went to the gym to hang out with all the kids for a while. We talked, laughed, and had some devotional time with them before leaving with our kids for lunch. We took them to a pretty nice restaurant and had a nice lunch that everyone seemed to enjoy. After lunch we got back in the vans and D'Ann started the Petrica sugar fest with a few Hershey's kisses. I should mention that Petrica had ice cream twice yesterday. We took the kids bowling at a place called Ice Bowling. Now we all thought that the name indicated that ice was somehow involved in the bowling, but it turned out to be just a regular bowling alley with a strange name. We had a great time though. I think most of the kids had never been bowling before. I know Petrica hadn't, and he had a great time. He did really well too, breaking 100 in both games. Late in the second game I realized that he was doing so well that I should try to make sure he won. I was trailing him by only three pins in the last frame, so I decided to throw a couple in the gutter and celebrate his win. I didn't want to be too obvious, but I got the first one in the gutter with no problem. I then stepped up to throw the second gutterball, but it slipped from my hand before I could intentionally throw it across my body, and I threw a perfect strike. I guess it was actually a spare in this case, but either way I beat him by a few pins. I felt really bad, but he hardly seemed to notice. I hope that doesn't keep me up tonight.

After bowling, a few of us had to go to the airport to pick up the bags that didn't make it with us on Saturday. I remind you that this is now Monday. After we got back to the house Jen noticed that there was a red tag around the handle of one of her bags that read "rush". Truly hilarious. While we were gone to get the bags, the others that didn't need to pick up any bags went downtown to walk around with the kids for a while. Someone had the great idea of taking them to a pastry shop. D'Ann said that Petrica got some sort of thing that was just pure sugar. Then, he started pouring packs of sugar into his Sprite because another kid was putting sugar into some coffee drink that they got. To top it off, he then started eating packs of sugar. After all of that, we all met up at a pizza place for dinner. After his dinner, Petrica had an ice cream sundae. We were laughing and joking about how much sugar he had had today, and how he would probably be up all night. He told us that he would probably throw up tonight. I asked him if it was worth it and he said it was. Good times.

D'Ann and I are just so happy to be here sharing these experiences with Petrica. While I was gone to get my bag, D'Ann taught him to say "I love you" in English. With a little bit of prompting he said it to me in the van on the way to dinner. It may not have been completely spontaneous, but I know he meant it, and that's all that really matters.

Tomorrow we plan to take the kids to buy food and then to distribute it in the deaf village. That should be a really good experience. D'Ann and I will also have our conference with Ms. Galina to talk about Petrica. I'm really looking forward to finding out whatever she can tell us about him. Stay tuned.

Stuart

Joyful

Joyful is my word for the first day. I really did not know how I would react to the sights, sounds, smells of this world and the children for which this is their reality. But today was joyful. We started off the day meeting our children for church. I cannot fully describe how wonderful it is to sit in church (even for the two hours that it was) and listen to a packed house of people speaking a language I do not understand praise the same God I know. The singing was beautiful. It was truely joyful.

After church we took all the children to McDonald's for lunch. Petrica had never been and it was fun to watch him eat most of his icecream before his meal. We then walked around the outdoor art market. Petrica is such a sweet and shy boy that he will hardly tell us what he needs or likes. While in the market he was fascinated with a man playing a wooden flute. He just kept turning to watch him. It was joyful to hear Petrica play the flute we purchased. While in the shops he finally told us he needed a cap. Here you have to look in every stall to try to find what you need. We finally found one for him and although he was hesitant, we finally convinced him to pick one himself.

After a short trip back to the team house, we met up with the children back at the school. We had movie and pizza night. There were about 80 kids there tonight and you would not believe how quiet the lunch room was during dinner. Anyone who has visited their kids lunchroom lately would have been amazed.

After a wonderful day together, it was time to load up the van to come back to the house. When I got in the van, Petrica kept coming to the window and holding his hand up to the glass and smiling that Petrica smile that just melts me. A great end to a great day.

When Stuart first came home this summer he said he did not know if I could come because I would just cry. While I am not promising that I won't cry for months and months after coming home, here I am joyful to have this time with these amazing kids. In their eyes you can see joy and hope, and you can see that they are making the best out of what life has handed them. I am so blessed to get to share a small part of their life.

d'ann

The Chisinau Sponsor Trip Is Underway

Well, after about 20 hours of travel time, the Chisinau sponsor trip team is on the scene. We arrived tired and a little stinky, but glad to be here. Our trip was pretty uneventful. We did have a few bags that didn't make our last flight into Chisinau, but we should have those tomorrow. The only big deal about that is that Jen only got one of her three bags, and the one she got didn't include any of her toiletries. I guess we'll have to loan her some stuff or else no one will want to sit next to her at church tomorrow.

We got to go to the orphanage for about 45 minutes this evening before coming back to the team house for dinner. It was wonderful to see D'Ann get to meet Petrica. He's still the same sweet, shy boy I met in June. I saw a few other kids that I meet in June too. They were all really glad to see us, and we were really glad to see them too. Of course our time with them was too short, but we'll have lots of good time with them this week. Tomorrow we'll take our sponsor kids to church with us and then spend some time in the outdoor market before heading back to the orphanage for a pizza and movie party with all the kids. It should be a great first day. That's all for now I guess, but stay tuned for more updates in the coming days.

Stuart

Team 3 back in America

Team 3 has returned safely to Tennessee and I think the team breathed a collective sigh of relief as we cleared passport control/immigration in Cincy Sunday evening. No one wanted to leave Moldova, yet we were glad to have survived the long flights and grueling customs agents and lines. Actually the lines were not very long, the shortest I have experienced.

Just wanted to update everyone that we were back! If you see one of us you may want to prepare for a lenghty conversation, we all have tons of stories, pictures, and memories to share.

Thanks to all of you for your support

Roger

So thats Moldova......

Well our week is done. The team leaves tomorrow morning, but I will be staying with Tim until Wednesday when we will fly back together. Dima, one of our translators starts college at Fresno State on the 28th. It turns out that we will be traveling together all the way to JFK in New York. Everyone is like, "what a coincidence, who would have thought you would be on the same flight." I say bahumbug to coincidences and see that God is sovereign and knows best. I do not know why he is on our flight, and maybe I never will. Maybe Dima will learn something from Tim and I. Maybe we will be the ones learning from Dima. Maybe it will just make the transition to a new life that much easier for Dima. Who knows. All I can hope to do is play my small role in the script that was written before I was born and receive the blessings that come with it. Sasha, the man who we are staying with here, has provided me with some things to think about, and part of how I feel about Dima has come from it. As we had our last meal together tonight, Sasha spoke a few words to us, and in that he told a story a preacher had told him.

A man is standing in line at the market behind and old lady. She is buying bread, but is counting her money over and over again. He wonders if he should help her pay for it, but he hesitates, he starts to think about it. He wonders if she has just lost some of her money. Or maybe she has the money but didn't bring enough. Maybe she is just having trouble counting because she is so old. He continues to think, and eventually he thinks long enough to get back to his original thought of maybe he should help her pay for it. Just as he is thinking it, a young man comes and helps her pay for her bread and she is overwhelmingly grateful. What Sasha said next will stay with me for a while. He explained how if the man had just thought quickly and done what he knew he should do, he would have had the blessing and the honor of helping this old lady. Instead he thought about it instead of acting, and his opportunity passed. The other young man received the blessing of helping her. When we do deeds of service, we are being a blessing in someone else's life, but our lives also receive a blessing.

That old lady got what she needed to get, and that is what mattered the most. But it doesn't always work that way. What if we act too late? What if we assume that someone else will help so we won't have to? How many people will miss out because we hesitated? Sure we eventually got around to helping someone, or someone else eventually did it, but what about the period of time that is not accounted for? How much more could have been done? It makes me wonder how many times that I have sat with someone or added prayer requests to a list or heard prayer requests from others for a need and prayed that someone would meet that need, when in reality I can meet that need for them. Instead of praying for someone to be an answered prayer, what if we started becoming that answered prayer when possible? How much more could we accomplish for the kingdom of God? I am thankful for Sweet Sleep and Jen and all those who do work over here. God is using them to answer prayers and lives in Moldova and are being blessed as well as their own lives.

This has been a valuable lesson to learn. I hope that I will seize those moments to bless others and that I will receive the blessings that are intended for me through those moments if only I am aware enough to grasp them. Others are seizing those moments and Moldova is different because of it.

Team Flex

A few weeks before we began our trip, we learned that things were changing with our trip. Our original planned work projects were already changed. Things remained this way throughout the entire trip. Each day it seemed we were evaluate our work load for the day. This team became Team Flex to me, because of the ability to adapt to whatever the situation called for.

Tonight after dinner we were sharing about impressions from the week. One thing that has been clear to me was how much this was a construction team in an unusual form, it was all about building relationships. Throughout the week I was able to see interaction between Jennifer, Brian, Joe, Ame, and several others with their "kids". It was amazing what a difference love can make.
So often we take for granted the little things , such as a hug. Yesterday we went to "dirt camp" and these kids clinged to each of us . One little boy was not out of someone's arms the entire time. I carried him for about 40 minutes, Jeremy and Mark also carried him and I saw him clinging to Leslie, and Jen a few other times. He is a sweet little guy that just needed to feel a touch of heartfelt love.

Lives changed? Without a doubt, now our task is to pass along what we learned . Also the most important thing we can do is make the change last in our lives and make life better for the ones we come in contact with.

Tomorrow we leave on a very early flight and will have much time to reflect on all that we have seen God accomplish.

Roger

A Week With My Girls

The past 7 days in Moldova have been a dream come true for me. I have gotten to spend 6 days with 2 of the most important people in my life, Lena and Lily Lungu! Let me tell you the story of God crossing our paths. 4 years ago when I first heard of and visited Chisinau, Moldova, God blessed me with beginning a friendship with these 2 sisters. Never did I dream what He had in store. I came to see these girls at camp 2 years in a row while they were still young enough to be in the orphanage. We communicated through translators for 7 days while at camp each of those 2 years, but that was all. They were discharged from the orphanage 2 years ago, as they were too old to continue living there. Over the past 2 years, God has further enriched and deepened our friendship by allowing us to communicate through direct emails, as Lena has learned alot of English and continues to learn more each day. It has been amazing to now keep in contact with them year round. Last summer and this summer, I have been able to return to Moldova on the construction trips with Sweet Sleep in the city where Lena and Lily now live. This week as we've been working at the orphanage, they have faithfully come each day to see us and work with us. On Tuesday, they took me into their world here with a visit to their flat here in the city and to a dance class that Lily takes weekly. It has been indescribable and I'm so thankful to God above for this opportunity to be with them and grow closer in our friendship and sisterhood as sisters in Christ each day! These girls are so brave and so gifted! Lena is studying at university to be a teacher, and Lily is studying to be a nurse. Their future is bright and their joy is contagious! I'm so glad I've had this week with them to encourage each other in the Lord! I didn't see them for a day and a half the past 2 days, and I missed them so much. It's going to be very difficult coming home knowing that I likely won't see them for at least a year! I will miss them tremendously! Jennifer Phillips

Best day yet

Wow,what a day! We laid a floor today in dorm 3 and no one really knew how when we started. Thank goodness for Jack. He was the man! It was like herding cats in the beginning but he got us squared away and we were off to the races. Ten hours later we were finished and the head teacher of that floor just cried when she saw that it had been completed. She had checked on us several times during the day and may have been crying out of sheer relief that we had not left her with major destruction! My biggest concern was that we not burn down the dorm nor the dumpster(that we turned over in the fire we had started) as we tried to dispose of the rotten flooring . That was a mighty hot chunk of metal that we had to man handle up from those flames. We have not been known for taking the most direct approach to some of the task we have undertaken here. Lack of equipment,long waits for construction materials and the language barrier have made for some interesting situations! There was a dinner and program tonight with both the TN and TX teams along with some of the graduates. Most of us had tears in our eyes by the end of the night after hearing so many of the orphans here tell us their stories. It is truly amazing what a sponsorship of $35.00 a month can do here for these kids. We are off to Felesti early in the morning to put new beds in the dorms for those kids. I have been told after bounce of the ceiling ride I may no longer be so tall. Guess we will see!
Rob, Andrei really liked the jeans and blue shirt you sent! I shared your other clothes with some of the guys I have meet here. We play here in Chisinau Saturday and will have that one last day to share with these boys that we have come to know in such fun and special ways. God is truly blessing this trip and our prayer continues to be that we will be an example of His love to these kids. Please continue to join us in that prayer!

The Never Ending Work

Our work is never finished, a thought that has been on my mind for a few days.
Today was an awesome work day. We "finished" up at the school (orphanage).
Actually a few members of our team stayed behind late to finish working on a floor they couldn't leave unfinished. We set up the clothes closet today to give the boys that worked with us some newer clothes. They were very excited.

Tonight at our dinner with the Texas team, Steve Davis (CERI Director) made a very profound statement. He said that the Moldovan kids that spoke tonight, have probably witnessed to more Americans that most of us. SO much truth to that staement. That's a great challenge to strive to change.

Tomorrow we will visit another camp and deliver beds.
Hopefully someone else can fill you in on the rest of today's events.

Roger